I was spending some time on Michal Menert‘s SoundCloud page the other day, realizing it had been a while since I got lost in his productions. What’s great about Menert’s page is he reposts a lot of other great music, which is how I was led to the soulful and glitchy stylings of Krooked Drivers. Krooked Drivers is the Denver-based (surprised?) Electro-Soul music project consisting of Maddy O’neal and Donnie Dalbora. The Krooked Drivers website describes: “Sampling from old vinyl, Krooked Drivers strive to keep the sounds of the past alive while creating something entirely new and different fusing hip hop, electro, funk, soul, bass and everything in between. KD has shared the stage with Michal Menert, TPA, Wick-It, Blockhead, The Floozies and many more.”
There’s something about the Denver Electronic scene that gets me every time. The biggest name to come from the Mile High city is without a doubt Pretty Lights, but that Electro-Soul sound is ever-present among many different artists. The Krooked Drivers’ album Finding The Way came out two months ago but in listening to it nonstop over the past week it seems to me they’ve almost out-Pretty Lights-ed Pretty Lights, if that makes any sense. What I mean is Finding The Way reminds me of something Derek Vincent Smith would have produced back in his Taking Up Your Precious Time or Filling Up The City Skies album days – perhaps two of the pieces of work that really skyrocketed him to stardom. Now I’m not here exclusively to draw parallels between artists, I’m here to highlight the awesome sound of Krooked Drivers, helping you understand that some of my favorite elements of a Pretty Lights production, or a Michal Menert production, or any of the other Electro-Soul productions out there are also found in Krooked Drivers’ productions.
The complete Finding The Way album contains 14 tracks of stellar work. A lot of the tracks are dynamic in style – you can chill out to them, you can turn up to them, you could take them on the beach or to your late-night after parties. Hip Hop, Soul, Glitch, and even elements of Dubstep make their way into this album. If you like what you hear you can go over to Bandcamp and download the album, naming your own price. Show the guy and gal some love if you like what you hear!