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Artist Pick of the Week: Krooked Drivers

April 6, 2015 By Sebastian Aguirre

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(Photo Courtesy of Lo Motion Photography)

Coming in hot off the release of their latest EP Still Life is Krooked Drivers. Donnie D’albora and Maddy O’neal are the brains behind the project they established in 2010, and have since released three EP’s and one LP in the style of electro-soul. They’re keeping that old school style alive with their sampling techniques, pulling heavily from old vinyl that creates a nostalgic aura around their productions.

One of our favorite aspects of Krooked Drivers is their ability to find that happy medium where electronic meets organic sound. We love fat womps and wild basslines (who doesnt) but to really convey the heart of electro-soul an artist has to be able to channel the history of the genres that came before. We feel that Krooked Drivers does this not only with their vinyl vocal samples, but also with the use of live instruments that keep their sound grounded in reality. If you want good examples check out the flute on “Drift Away Days” and the piano melody on “Ease My Troubled Mind” as well as that medium throughout their work.

Still Life is their fourth album, and their second in the last year (Finding The Way). Many artists struggle with innovation or inspiration when producing work within such a short time span but KD felt none of that. We asked about their creative process behind the album,

“We actually had an absolute blast making this EP we were playing a bunch of gigs and gaining so much inspiration from the road and the experiences we went through that the writing process came very naturally and very painless. Still Life is an EP of emotion and beauty really reflecting our sound in the electronic music scene.”

Electro-soul is enjoying a lot of success as a genre in 2015, with new artists coming in and older, more established artists pushing the sound to new heights. We asked the Denver natives, who are in the city at the heart of the electro-soul movement, about their intentions and vision for this album. Were they trying to further their established sound? Separate themselves from others within the genre? Or just create music they loved and wanted to share with others?

“Our vision was pushing our creativity and our production to meet the high energy shows we bring to the table. Still Life also represents the struggle of creating original pieces of art and getting people to understand what or how you felt while writing that particular scene. We want people to feel what’s inside the heart and soul of that track they’re listening to.”

Finally, they just released the album last week and are currently enjoying the feedback and love from the fans. 2015 promises to be a huge year for the duo and we asked what they were most looking forward to in the coming months,

“We’re getting really excited to hit the road in a couple days with our good friends and fellow producers Late Night Radio and The Geek x VRV for the start of the Amongst Friends Tour (hitting Wisconsin,Chicago and Denver the 8th,9th and 10th) Then filling out Spring with some more dates you can find on our website (krookeddrivers.com) then we’ll be heading into festival season where we’ll be playing Sonic Bloom, Wakarusa, Paradise Music Festival and many more to be announced in the coming months.”

Big ups and lots of love to Krooked Drivers for taking the time to talk with us! Check out Still Life below, and for free download on their website. Also check their tour dates to see if they’ll be in your area so you can get out and support some great music.