The Number of the Beats Vol. 1

by CrookOne

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$6 USD or more
T-Shirt/Shirt
Gildan 100% cotton "Soft Style" black tee.
Design By: Frank Maddocks

ships out within 4 days

$30 USD or more
Limited Edition Cassette
Cassette + Digital Album
CURRENTLY SOLD OUT - New batch coming soon.

Includes "1 .loV staeB eht fo rebmuN ehT" on Side B (Cassette Only)
100 Copies Available
There will be cassette releases for all 3 Volumes - COLLECT ALL 3!

Includes unlimited streaming of The Number of the Beats Vol. 1 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	The Number of the Beats 04:26	buy track
2.	M.O.T.H. 03:13	buy track
3.	Pride & Joy 04:33	buy track
4.	Electronic Patriots 04:55	buy track
5.	Home 04:55	buy track
6.	Red Ants 05:01	buy track

about

"Part Boom Bap. Part Satanic panic. Part moody bitch. He will give you, give you... 666." - CrookOne

"The Number of the Beats conjures the Satanic Panic era of the 1980s—the fear mongering of evangelicals with an army of scared suburban moms on the frontlines—and the emerging energy of a new art form called hip-hop. With volumes 2 and 3 to follow, The Number of the Beats is a triptych of beat tapes, each possessing a six-song cycle, designed to poison the minds of the youth.

The intention to brainwash is far from subliminal on the opening title track of the first beat tape in the series. As the counting samples cut and glitch at six, the listener is given no choice: Six-million ways to die, choose—Crook—one. Heavy reverb punctuates title track “The Number of the Beats” as familiar DJ breaks and bongos are warped into otherworldly forms. The bassline is so menacing and muddled it sounds like it was summoned by Valerie Scroggins of ESG’s demonic twin. “Pride & Joy” enters with ethereal calls and then devolves into crunchy drums built from tape-hiss, while echoing voices shout threats. Even as “Electronic Patriots” feels conventional in its evocation of Egyptian Lover’s LA-style electro, CrookOne subverts the formula for a shadow world version of apocalyptic terror funk. The beat tape ritualistically leans into the societal desecration and doomsday score that made early El-P productions like the Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixx series feel like comfort blankets in the dystopian surveillance state of post-9/11 America. Crook taps into that same dystopian feeling across the beat tape, finding the dire cautions of today through the nostalgic.

Closer “Red Ants” is the climatic contribution to the canon of western demise music. It quite literally sounds like the collapse of an empire in real time. As much as CrookOne is drawing from his youth on The Number of the Beats, there’s the harrowing presence of deja vu across the tape that serves as a reminder that the devil takes many forms. The organizations fear mongering about satanism in the ’80s, have new names in the 2020s for their ongoing conspiracy theories about cabals of blood-thirsty liberals who sacrifice babies. Their end game is all the same. They will attack." - Blake Gillespie

credits

released October 31, 2023

Produced by CrookOne
1, 2, 3, 5, 6 mixed by Josh Grenko @ Velvet Tone Studios, Sacramento, CA
4 mixed by CrookOne
Mastered by Andrew Byrom
Guitar on Red Ants: Shaun Lopez
Additional drums on Red Ants: Eric J. Breitenbach
Design: Frank Maddocks

license

about

CrookOne Sacramento, California

contact / help

Contact CrookOne

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account

If you like CrookOne, you may also like:

4X4 SCORPION [HNR94]
by ZACKEY FORCE FUNK

supported by 6 fans who also own “The Number of the Beats Vol. 1”

Tight, chunky and naughty west coast funk from the man/myth/legend. Lord Dubious
go to album
Blasting Off
by BusCrates

supported by 6 fans who also own “The Number of the Beats Vol. 1”

Mighty fine album, such warm boogie grooves, the guests all bring the heat and all in it makes for a fantastic album! Will be plugging this! phunkyflavas
go to album
A Good Time (BusCrates Remix)
by B & The Family

supported by 6 fans who also own “The Number of the Beats Vol. 1”

This is a bad mama jama ,SHHIIAAOOW. Straight cruising jam sammyorozco77
go to album
Sixfingerz - Endromidae
by Sixfingerz

featured on Bandcamp Radio Oct 13, 2015
go to album
I need space (mini-album)
by Mounika.

Tender folktronica from France’s Mounika. that occasionally ventures into the same subdued electronic explorations as The Books. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 4, 2020
go to album
Forbidden Acts Of Vaudeville
by Moderator, Oddly Humes

featured on Bandcamp Radio Nov 17, 2023
go to album
Selections
by K-Maxx

supported by 6 fans who also own “The Number of the Beats Vol. 1”

Instant classic. The feet move themselves. Ex's Ex
go to album