It may seem a peculiar comparison to draw, but the debut album from Milan’s Crookers calls to mind nothing so much as their home city’s celebrated fashion week. On Tons of Friends a procession of famous chums parade down the DJ and production duo’s musical catwalk, each clothed in a procession of glossy materials – shuddering dance beats, slamming dubstep, gnarly rap and, in the memorable instance of ‘Jump UP’, ‘salsa reggae’.
Simian Mobile Disco tried something similar with last year’s Temporary Pleasure and, like that record, Tons of Friends contains both an impressive roll call of talent – including Kelis, will.i.am, Kid Cudi, Spank Rock and Miike Snow – and a problem with consistency. Of the twenty cuts here, some are a distinctly better fit for their guest’s attributes. Still, when they’re good, they’re very good. They open boldly with the Soulwax & Mixhell boosted ‘We Love Animals’, all freakily treated vocals and a barrage of filthy electro, then it’s over to Kelis and the grimy hip-hop of ‘No Security’. From here on, though, the edges begin to fray and you suspect that certain get-togethers were no more than a quick grope in the dark.
Pitbull spills empty bravado into ‘Natural Born Hustler’ whilst Tim Burgess sounds quite pained on the country-inflected mutterings of ‘Lone White Wolf’. However, at least every alternate track is a winner. Of her two offerings, Róisín Murphy fares best when twinned with the insistent groove of ‘Royal T’, while Steed Lord threaten to steal the show with the sinister house stylings of ‘Transilvania’. Good as it often is, though, this is a record whose ambition just outreaches its execution.