If your summer playlist has been begging for something that sounds like LCD Soundsystem and TV on the Radio locked in a Moog-fueled staring contest, The Crooked Stuff have arrived to answer the call. The SF Bay Area discopunk trio just unleashed two new singles — “Shallow Shores” and “Sci-Fi Radio” — as the opening salvo from their forthcoming LP Synthetic Signals, out July 31 via The Unknown International.

Rooted in the DC hardcore scene but filtered through a heavy dose of ’80s new wave, electrofunk, and blinking-console synth worship, The Crooked Stuff have carved out a sound that’s equal parts sweaty basement show and neon-lit dance floor. As ReGen put it, expect “bitter yet melodic vocal delivery atop danceable rhythms.” Or, as KEXP’s Kelley Stoltz more bluntly noted: “Sounds like synthy Pere Ubu!” We’ll take it.

“Shallow Shores” is the band at their most outward-facing, wading into the churn of today’s endless news ticker and doom-scrolling media pool. “Sci-Fi Radio,” by contrast, turns the antenna inward, tuning into a honed creative frequency meant to fuel actual change instead of just cataloging the chaos.

“Everyone’s feeling and seeing this relentless feed of increasingly questionable world shit these days,” says vocalist Tom Gorton. “The solutions are grounded at the human core but right now it’s hard for anyone to even sit mentally still long enough to breathe.”

Both tracks were built in the band’s Bay Area studio, sketched fast on a Moog Little Phatty and layered up with live drum takes, drum-machine grids, and a hi-fi/lo-fi gear mashup that gives the songs their signature grit-meets-gloss finish.

The Crooked Stuff is Tom Gorton (vocals, DC hardcore roots), John Varn (keys and synths, previously on the road with Neal Schon and Greg Rolie of Santana and Journey), and Nick DeRyss (drums, of Day Wave on Harvest-Capitol Records) — a résumé stack that helps explain how the band pulls off the trick of sounding simultaneously punk, polished, and ready for the dance floor.

They’re not exactly new to the radio conversation either. Their September 2025 Darkphased EP hit #10 NACC Top Adds, #4 NACC Electronic Most Added, #3 Sub-Modern Albums, and #159 NACC Top 200, pulling 1,800+ Apple-tracked spins across 47 stations and 21 markets, plus heavy rotation at WPRK Orlando and specialty love from Live 105, KEXP, and 91X. Those three EP tracks — Decimator, Black Holes, and Die This Way — will also land on Synthetic Signals.

On the live front, 2026 has already included three Sundance Film Festival shows in Park City, an Aaron Axelsen Popscene + Live 105 Soundcheck showcase in San Francisco, and a summer-opening slot at Live At Lagunitas. Upcoming dates include the Eureka Theater (Eureka, CA — July 17), The Fern (Nevada City, CA — July 18), and Smiley’s (Bolinas, CA — September 5), with more summer and fall dates to be announced.

Stream “Shallow Shores” and “Sci-Fi Radio” now, and mark your calendar for Synthetic Signals on July 31.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Crooked%20Stuff