Crooked Looks
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Crooked Looks

New York City, New York, United States

New York City, New York, United States
Band Rock EDM

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Rock Sellout Blog"

Brooklyn, who has never had a problem with self-confidence, now has a new reason to be extra proud: allow me to introduce you to Crooked Looks.

These guys blow me away. “VIP” is going to get a hell of a lot of plays in my car the coming months - I’d be hard pressed to find a more perfect song for summer fun. “Neighborhood Block Watch Mutiny” comes close though with its frenetic guitar, sounding sorta like Franz Ferdinand hanging in, well, Brooklyn.

I’m just going to go ahead and tag “Next Big Thing” on these guys - it simply doesn’t seem possible to think otherwise.

Now head to their MySpace page and check out two more tracks, the amazing “Pay My Way” and the throwback-styled “Well Enough Alone." I don’t think these guys are capable of writing a bad song - they’re certainly giving no evidence of it.

The band have a debut EP release and an East Coast tour slated for the summer - keep an eye on their MySpace page for updates. If you can’t wait that long (and really how could you?), they’ve got some shows coming up soon - check ‘em out:
- rocksellout.com


"Verbicide Magazine Write Up"

Fucking kick ass dance music. Seriously! Just try listening to "Pay My Way" without shaking your ass -- it's so hard to stay still. The organic instruments give the tracks a dirty, sexy edge. Give a listen to the guitar on "Rocket" and you'll see what I mean. The drumming just moves me. Drawing on bands from T-rex to The Killers, their sound is cutting edge, and definitely "now." I have no doubt this band is headed straight for the top. - Verbicide


"Pasta Primavera Blog"

Crooked Looks is a recently formed trio from Brooklyn (one via Philly). They have an EP coming out in July and it seems to be taking my ipod by storm. Like fellow NYCers, LCD Soundsystem, they have a booming rhythm bass that obliterates your legs and mind until you can’t help but move. On top of this rough dance rock groove is street level vocals that let you sing along with ease - pastaprimavera.com


"Philadelphia Weekly Write Up"

If Lex, Trip, Hawk and Jam from Detroit Rock City reconciled and formed a band with those Guido disco meatheads they beat up and left for dead chained to a rail, the resulting dance/rock conglomeration would probably sound a lot like Philly's Crooked Looks. With groovy bass licks slathered like a handful of KY jelly over throbbing drums, cock-rocking ax riffs (that can be performed only while strutting in crotch-stuffed jeans) and swirling synth-soaked vocals, Crooked Looks will have you dancing all the way to the mosh pit and back again. - Jean Luc Renault

- Philadelphia Weekly


"Origivation Review"

“Their songs are of pneumatic melody—elaborately flowing from positronic pumps.”

~A Zakariya Willis proverb…best served when it makes sense one day~

And I can feel it coming in the air…tonight. Quoting lyrics from Phil Collins is the only way I can describe this feeling. Outside of Yards Pale Ale, somethin’ is a-brewin’ in our city of brothers who love each other. Oh man, I’m smellin’ it. Is this a faulty premonition? Did someone slip me a hallucinogenic? Whatever the concoction, keep it comin’, because I like this— I sense something...a presence I haven’t felt since...the Hooters, maybe? Look into the same crystal ball that I’m peering into… a map, I see a map, and Philly music is being put back on it. Clearly, you’ll see reprised avenues and streets leading to our most treasured music venues, and fortunately the oracular boulevard starts off a little “Crooked”.

You don’t need a crystal ball, however, to see how that future is coming to fruition. I only had to visit the Khyber this January to see Rick Smith, lead singer and writer of the Crooked Looks perusing about the stage with beholders admiring his indiscreet twists, clutching the microphone with fortitude, ill-gracefully centering it back into its stand, only to fritter with the many triggers and buttons on his sampler—a mad scientist obsessed. “When you’re waiting for a moment, working diligently on being prepared for that moment, craving that moment…you’re rarely nervous when it arrives,” he excitedly explains. “I love it. We’re amped, confident and ready to perform.” They produce electronic elements of rhythm, incorporating a mischievous pop angle…nothing corny and nothing immersed in complicated 2001: A Space Odyssey-ness—though they occasionally flirt with the spacey shit, hence one of their tunes “Shifting Space and Shapes”. They play with class, a class that is quite unacknowledged these days, which may explain the stunning screen dames of old on their myspace friend’s list, “I dig them. They’re obviously very different than the starlets of today. No ass shots or fake tits needed. I’ve been sorta fascinated by classic music, movies and all. I suppose it may be some turnaround from being stuck so long on electronic music that was typically considered “old” in a week or two (d&b).” Apart from the allurement of Veronica, Audrey and Zsa Zsa, Smith is harmoniously connected to a number of brilliant icons…of course anyone from Bowie (Smith’s singing voice eerily imitates him at times) to T-Rex (symphonic guitar drive) to Sam Cooke’s crude lyrics of passion, “The lyrics are the words of some sort of sleazy, Casanova-type alter ego. A person I find it difficult to be in regular life. I can say all the things in these songs…that I want to say everyday. Example: I wasn’t able to comfortably call my girlfriend “baby” or “sugar” until I began writing rock music. Now it’s easy being sleazy.” Cohorts Matt Fauteux (guitar), Ryan Gallagher (bass) and R Vernon Ingham (drums) were pieced together by a probing Smith, through the cyber-classifieds-juggernaut Craigslist…a bit of everything for everybody in that place. Smith had already some prior experience outside of the electro pop-rock realm, “I’ve been producing dance music for about 10 years. I have a pretty strong knowledge of synthesis, sampling, sequencing music and that type of thing. I used that experience to develop the production style for the music. I just picked up guitar and “singing” about two years ago.” Their sound is reminiscent of…well…everything, but there’s a significant snag in difference, enough to push them a notch or two away from the popular domain of Cure-esque-ness. Crooked Looks are unique in sound as Rick is unique in leading them, and that’s a fantastic start in exhuming a mummified Philly rock scene. We keep forgetting diversity, creativity and dissimilarity are virtues to be admired, and not to be equated with a path for intermittent bands. “I’m happy to be making music and that’s where my overall consciousness of the market etc. ends. We hope that what we’re doing will happen to be hot at the right time. We want to achieve success but we’re having too much fun to look at the overall context of current music, where and if we fit in.”
- Origivation Magazine


"Infused Review"

I have this thing about electro songs or bands that do electro, either use them right or don't use them at all. I don't want to listen to something that sounds as if I have just gone to the funny farm or have been slipped something. But, thankfully that isn't what's going on here! These are cool electros done the right way, there’s balance between everything. The music here makes you want to dance and have a great time; The reason being, because the Crooked Looks have talent, real talent for sounds and beats and how to use them to their utmost effectiveness.

-Kizzy H - Infused Magazine


Discography

4 songs from forthcoming EP available at www.crookedlooks.com

Photos

Bio

Crooked Looks is anything but conventional. Colin’s animalistic style on drums is reminiscent of names too great to mention. His manic, yet measured approach provides the perfect foundation for Rick Smith's beat-heavy, hook-oriented, synth pop songwriting. Colin’s energy combined with Smith’s fiery, unrestrained vocal epiphanies command audience attention and adulation. Crooked Looks song styles can vary from a frenetic dance punk gem to a funky electro piece with undeniable “singability”, paired with fierce bass, beats and synths. Crooked Looks is leaving an indelible mark as a band with a fresh take on rock and a keen inclination to write great songs without abandoning the desire to keep their audiences moving.

In a short time the band has already established a dedicated, word-of-mouth fan base across Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and D.C. They have a Myspace following of nearly 30,000 friends and recently finished up a stint on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. From performing at the Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia, The Baltimore Music Conference, The Northern Liberties Music Festival and Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, to sharing the stage with acts like The Presets, Howling Bells, Pink Spiders and many others, they've developed a sound that's been heralded as honest, intense and a revealing look into the souls of two vulnerable, yet powerful entertainers.

The band has just completed work on a 4 song teaser from their forthcoming EP with a full length expected in '09.