Crooked Man

Mixing raw, back-to-basics house with pop-friendly vocals and hooks, Crooked Man is one of the many aliases of maverick Sheffield, England-based DJ/producer Richard Barratt. During his time with projects including Funky Worm, <a href="spotify:artist:1n5Q0UoYwXeQza7ucLqFne">Sweet Exorcist</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0A0yu52zNGKe2rtr9wHfkD">All Seeing I</a> in the '80s and '90s, and his production career in the 2000s and 2010s, Barratt never lost his passion for the classic house singles he introduced to Sheffield as a DJ. On albums such as 2018's Crooked House, Crooked Man keeps the spirit of that music alive and thriving.

Having fallen in love with local acts such as <a href="spotify:artist:2kS4yz85MaZlxp2VaS3BEe">Cabaret Voltaire</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">Human League</a> as a boy, Barratt first found fame in the mid-'80s as DJ Parrot at the influential Jive Turkey club night. With partner Winston Hazel, Barratt was among the first to play house music in Sheffield. A few years later, he scored a Top Ten hit with 1988's "Hustle (To the Music)" as one-half of Funky Worm with future <a href="spotify:artist:4aaBjq7VqqQvpSF69GglvO">Moloko</a> member Mark Brydon. In the early '90s, Barratt collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:2kS4yz85MaZlxp2VaS3BEe">Cabaret Voltaire</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:5rxz5YppRuE4L1XH5o6uHr">Richard H. Kirk</a> as <a href="spotify:artist:1n5Q0UoYwXeQza7ucLqFne">Sweet Exorcist</a>, issuing pioneering bleep techno singles and albums for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warp+Records%22">Warp Records</a> that included 1990's Testone and the following year's full-length C.C.C.D. Later that decade, Barratt earned several more charting hits as part of the Sheffield collective <a href="spotify:artist:0A0yu52zNGKe2rtr9wHfkD">All Seeing I</a>, which included <a href="spotify:artist:13W7XLRXdWeLmIu9vacE1w">Jarvis Cocker</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6ne5YmZH7oCXcZUBsY66sn">Philip Oakey</a> among its collaborators. Their cover of "The Beat Goes On" reached number 11 on the U.K. Singles Chart in March 1998, with "Walk Like a Panther" hitting number ten the following January. Barratt shifted to production in the 2000s and 2010s, working with <a href="spotify:artist:3pcItz4w7h7fpTDgnTYIUn">Add N to (X)</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1ZsnHGOLYFg8CAHQQBc1ut">Richard Hawley</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3qwabfaWewpfli7hMNM3O8">Róisín Murphy</a>, among others, as he raised a family. His work on tracks like <a href="spotify:artist:3qwabfaWewpfli7hMNM3O8">Murphy</a>'s sprawling single "Simulation" reignited his desire to make his own music, and Barratt began recording song-based house music as Crooked Man with engineer Dave Lewin (also of Bleep & Booster) and songwriter/former Clock DVA member Mick Ward, starting with 2012's single Preset/Scum. After releasing a handful of tracks on his own Crooked Man imprint, as well as <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Optimo+Trax%22">Optimo Trax</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DFA%22">DFA</a>, Crooked Man's self-titled debut arrived in September 2016. The following year, Crooked Man issued a number of short-form releases that included a collection of remixes in March; the Happiness EP in June; and the single "Echo Loves Narcissus, Pt. 1," which was released anonymously on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bitter+End%22">Bitter End</a> label in August prior to its official bow in March 2018. The single also appeared on Barratt and company's second full-length Crooked House, a more streamlined set that arrived in October 2018. Two years later, Crooked Man's production appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:3qwabfaWewpfli7hMNM3O8">Róisín Murphy</a>'s fifth album, Róisín Machine, which included the pair's 2012 single "Simluation" as well as freshly recorded tracks of hypnotic disco-house. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi