Mouse on Mars co-founder Jan St. Werner invited Oneida drummer Kid Millions to perform at one of several events related to his sprawling 2016 album Felder. That performance in Oneida's Brooklyn practice space (to an audience of one, namely Helado Negro) was followed by additional gigs in New York, Berlin, and Boston. The duo's first release was constructed from various shows and studio sessions between 2016 and 2020, but mainly focusing on recordings made at Andrew Barker's Brooklyn studio in 2017. The nine tracks that make up Imperium Droop are vivid soundclashes between Millions' ecstatic, crashing drum convulsions and Werner's buzzing, howling electronics, with a few guests contributing additional tones to the audio canvas. Werner's sharply rolling synths on the appropriately titled opener "Color Bagpipes" are bulldozed by Mats Gustafsson's rusty saxophone skronk and Millions' percussive splatter, later clearing out for a more meditative stretch at the end. "Apotropaic" and "Laffen' Death" both seem to approach the idea of a groove without surrendering to it completely. "Hexaco Inversion" is the album's shortest track at three minutes, but it's the most forceful one, with Millions breathlessly hammering his kit over Werner's full-on droning. The more spacious "Dark Tetrad" has long stretches of near-stillness interrupted by laser zaps, multi-dimensional drum fills, and Richard Hoffman's untethered bass notes. Other tracks like "Nuclei Melodies" (also featuring Gustafsson) and "Sorrows and Compensations" seem suspended yet in a state of panic, full of kinetic energy without really moving in any particular direction. Essentially a distillation of countless hours' worth of spontaneous moments of inspiration, Imperium Droop is a brash, often striking exploration of the outer limits of improvisation. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi

1		Color Bagpipes
2		Apotropaic
3		Laffen' Death
4		Hexaco Inversion
5		Dark Tetrad
6		Astral Stare
7		Nuclei Melodies
8		Sorrows and Contraptions
9		At Pepe's