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SF Bay Area discopunk trio The Crooked Stuff are pleased to announce that an AL-P (of MSTRKRFT) remix of single “Die This Way” from their new LP Synthetic Signals (out now) will be released on November 20. They have also been featured in the Disco.ac Fresh Spins blog, and released a new video for album standout “Mindshares”.
A heady blend of “discopunk and electrofunk” with roots in the DC hardcore scene (and the influence of ’80s new wave), Synthetic Signals (The Unknown International) carries “bitter yet melodic vocal delivery atop danceable rhythms.” (ReGen)
LISTEN TO “Die This Way (AL-P of MSTRKRFT REMIX)”
READ THE DISCO.AC FEATURE
WATCH THE “MINDSHARES” VIDEO
LISTEN TO SYNTHETIC SIGNALS
AL-P is a Toronto producer and one half of MSTRKRFT, the electro duo he co-founded in 2005 that helped set the sound of the mid-2000s indie sleaze dance floor. Before MSTRKRFT, he produced Death From Above’s debut album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, after working at New York’s Sound on Sound and Chung King studios, where he did recording work for Jay-Z and Wyclef Jean. With MSTRKRFT he released The Looks (Last Gang), Fist of God (Dim Mak), Operator and Black Gloves, mixed BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix, played Bonnaroo, and remixed Justice, Bloc Party, Metric, The Kills, Wolfmother and Kylie Minogue.
"I met AL-P at a MSTRKRFT show years ago in San Francisco,” says The Crooked Stuff frontman Tom Gorton. “Our mutual friend, Tim Craven, was doing front of house for them on that tour. The idea of a remix of “Die This Way” came to mind as it started taking off a bit on radio over the past few months. A quick flip through my mental rolodex of producers and djs I know turned up the AL-P + Tim connection card. AL's hybrid dance punk work was an obvious match, so I rolled the dice and asked Tim if he could make the reconnection. Within three days the remix was being crafted and here we are!"
AL-P adds “I reconnected with Tom recently, and he sent me a copy of the album. After a few playbacks, we hopped on a call to catch up, talk about the album, music, design, “The Cars”, DC Hardcore, and the creative process in general. At some point, the idea of a remix happening came up. There was one song that had been ringing in my mind. Besides being a great lyric and a rad hook, there was something intriguing about the theme of “Die This Way”. Something I wanted to dig into. I had some very strong ideas built in my mind about how to communicate that feeling with instrumentation and arrangement, and wanted to use that lyric [“Are we gonna die this way?…”] more repetitively. Like an open ended question, that never needed to be fully answered. The remix came together in a day and a half, and I didn’t hold back on leaning into sonics and stylizations from where I come from. Even going back. Way back. Back into time. Drawing on inspiration from Tom and I’s roots in the hardcore punk scene. Danger, urgency, irresponsibility. Flying on instinctual autopilot with no one to answer to. Someone once told me “the most punk rock thing you can do is outlive the man”. Are we gonna die this way? Or are we gonna kick down doors, grab the world by the balls, and live the way we decide.”
ABOUT THE CROOKED STUFF:
The Crooked Stuff is Tom Gorton (vocals, DC hardcore roots), John Varn (keys/synths, toured with Neal Schon and Greg Rolie of Santana and Journey), and Nick DeRyss (drums, from Day Wave on Harvest-Capitol Records).
The Crooked Stuff’s new album Synthetic Signals (out July 31, 2026) came out charting nationally: #12 Most Added at NACC in its first week, a #139 debut on the NACC Top 200, and #16 on the SubModern Albums chart. Its lead singles, Shallow Shores and Sci-Fi Radio, charted earlier in the summer, reaching #7 on SubModern Albums and #21 on SubModern Singles. Across the campaign the record earned support from 50-plus stations, including a #1 peak in the New York market at AltRok (WBJB) and specialty support from Live 105 (San Francisco), KEXP (San Francisco), WXPN (Philadelphia) and 91X (San Diego). Synthetic Signals marks the band’s third straight campaign of radio traction, following the September 2025 Darkphased EP (#10 NACC Top Adds, #4 NACC Electronic Most Added, #3 SubModern Albums, #159 NACC Top 200), whose singles Decimator, Black Holes, and Die This Way all carry over onto the album.
2026 live show highlights include three performances at the Sundance Film Festival, Aaron Axelsen's Popscene + Live 105 Soundcheck showcase in San Francisco with GLU (Michael Shuman of Queens of the Stoneage), and a Live At Lagunitas summer season opening slot at the Lagunitas Brewery amphitheater. Upcoming dates include: Speakeasy (Petaluma, CA December 5), Crazyhorse (Nevada City, CA December 19), and Papermill (Forest Knolls, CA December 31).
CONNECT WITH THE CROOKED STUFF
WEBSITE l YOUTUBE l INSTAGRAM l SPOTIFY
Press contact:
Ever Kipp
ever@bighassle.com
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