Only the Crookers could make this album. One of the key and most influential grandfathering groups of the current underground dance craze, Bot and Phra, the Italian Stallions of bass have taken the underground completely into the mainstream on their new Southern Fried Records release Tons of Friends released stateside on Monday, March 8th. At 22 tracks with 31 guests, this album is both bloated and audacious. However, in coming off more like a “Now! That What I Call Hipster” compilation more than anything else, the album succeeds, as for the more interested and adventurous typical music listener, the finest quality performers of electro, dub, club, bass, breaks and dance are all here, alongside some of the better vocalists with voices attuned to the unique qualities of the sounds presented.

The only lingering issue with this album lies for the more devoted fans of the musical genres presented. The album features the Crookers turning it back a few notches and presenting VERY pedestrian and mainstreamed takes on very underground musical styles, as, well, you’re not going to get the Debonair Samir “Samir’s Theme” sampling “Big Money Comin’,” nor the electro bombast of their key to their own mainstream success, Kid Cudi’s “Day N Night” remix. Instead you get tracks like Kelis’ hooks on the big bass shaker, ever so remotely dubstep “No Security,” which is as hard as the album gets, as the album shows the Crookers as not being so loud anymore, but instead investing more time in learning how to create grooves, melodies and pop songs. The pop quotient here is extremely high, Roisin Murphy’s two tracks “Hold Up Your Hand” and “Royal T” both exciting, as well as French electro pop wonder Yelle’s “Cooler Couleur” being fun as well.

This album truly exceeds at excess in being everything to everyone. For “OG” hipsters, there’s work here by ex-Bonde do Role femme fatale Marina, Spank Rock and Rye Rye (“Hip Hop Changed” is a lot of fun). If you’re just into the underground, favorites like Miike Snow, Major Lazer, The Very Best and Kid Cudi (“Embrace the Martian” is fantastic) are here, and, if a bottle service kid, Pitbull, Kardinal Offishall and the ubiquitous Will I. Am as well, all in tow. It’s really quite the awe-inspiring tableau.

In final, the electro craze has finally crossed over. The Crookers indeed have Tons of Friends. This album speaks far more to the levels of success that underground dance has achieved as a tightly knit community than to any forward movement of the disparate styles explored on the release. In the game of making money versus making music you personally enjoy, the ultimate battle every underground artist struggles with, the Crookers have shown themselves as victorious, creating a synergy that, while oddly massive, is more collection than album. By having these friends, the Crookers can claim to be at the top of the line, the head of the game. Mission, accomplished.

Download: “Royal T” “No Security” “Transilvania”