Dan Drohan is a talented and versatile performer, probably best knows for providing beats and production expertise to various outfits within NYC’s dream-pop community. He has a penchant for Velvet inspired psyche-rock as well, which has made him an ideal drummer for the dream-decoder R’nB of Nick Hakim. After spending his career giving other people's projects form and momentum, Drohan is finally stepping out from behind his kit to produce an album of his own original material (which, of course, involves him stepping back behind the kit, because, drummer). You’re a Crusher / drocan! Is a double mini-LP, released in two parts, then slammed back together into a whole, like the two sides of a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. The first half, You’re a Crusher, was recorded with the help of his bandmates in the band élan as a series of demos that Drohan than tweaked and finessed on the road and while waiting for planes over the course of several years. A protracted, labor of love to say the least. In contrast, drocan!, was tracked over the course of month with the aid of multi-instrumentalist Mike Cantor. If you are listening to both halves of the album in a single sitting, you’re going feel the difference. You’re a Crusher has stronger hip-hop influence, that folds elements of jazz and funk together into cacophonous pudding back of congealed body-popping noise. Tracks like “Leave it Loading” feature a brain messaging, firm, fingery bass line, that weaves around resonate road-spikes on a black-ice of Dilla inspired beats, while the other stand out from the first LP, “We Like To See (Earth)” clatters and hums while pulled along by tight drum loops and a scrambled FM radio signal. The second LP feels more tightly composed and focused in comparison while accommodating various tangential mutations. “Tokyo” has more than a little Wayne Coyne DNA under its fingernails, painting a Dan Deacon-esque fusion-jazz portrait of some delightfully viby flora, while “Passwords” stumbles through an eastern-inspired melody, in a chopped and sorted tumble of airy, electronic melodies, tickling harp-sounds, and an inquisitive but purposive beat. While there are times when I find myself wishing that You’re a Crusher / drocan! was leaner and more focused, I don’t know how it could become more streamlined without losing the restless dream sequence qualities that I like about it. While a little uneven in places, and undercooked in other, Drohan’s debut solo effort still makes for a rather substantial snack.
Get a copy of You’re a Crusher / drocan! from Drohan's Bandcamp here.
