Treva Whateva - Music’s Made of Memories (Ninja Tune)
The fact that he’s mates with Mr Scruff is very much in evidence on Treva Whateva’s debut album. It is a hotchpotch of styles, beats and breaks which all rolls along quite nicely and seems to grow into itself as you proceed through the different tracks. REVIEW BY SHIKIBU…
The first full track ‘Bouncing Bomb’ is a typical Mr Scruff style scratching instrumental which strolls merrily along, while ‘Singalong’ is a jaunty piano driven number which ends with a crescendo of horns and could have been lifted directly from Scruff’s own back-catalogue.
Latin influence comes into play on the appropriately named ‘Havana Ball’ with a nod to Cuban-jazz through a blend of bongos and horns, while ‘Dance Class’ begins, as the name suggests, like a Salsa lesson and ends like a Brazilian Drum Band at the Mardi Gras fiesta.
Treva’s more mellow side can be heard on the jazzy chill-out of ‘Carpe Diem’, the epic title track ‘Music’s Made of Memories’ with its shuffling beats and sampled vocal, and ‘Driving Reign’ which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Café Del Mar compilation. These tracks are more in the vein of Jazzanova, Thievery Corporation or Kruder & Dormeister.
‘Dangerous Disco (the director’s cut)’ is rather more sinister, sounding a little like the soundtrack from Psycho re-made for the 21st century. At the risk of making it sound like he’s just ripped off all his contemporaries there are parallels here with label-mates the Cinematic Orchestra.
As if trying to cover as many bases as possible, on ‘Dedicated VIP’ Treva has a crack at raga infused drum’n’bass, while closing track ‘We Have The Technology’ brings a bit of techno to the party.
Track of the album for me though is the rousing sound of disco-funk encapsulated by ‘Dustbowl’. I confidently predict this track’s appearance at Funkdub in the not too distant future: probably sandwiched between the Isley Brothers and the Unidsputed Truth!
Overall then, not a bad debut. Treva Whateva has made a gallant effort to mix things up and has certainly produced a few quality party tunes along the way (and the odd more relaxed moment). The album is almost entirely instrumental and I do feel that the use of a few more vocals, either sampled or live, wouldn’t necessarily go amiss, but I guess that is just the chosen form. Given the variation in styles, and the comparisons I’ve drawn above, not least with Mr Scruff, I’m not sure that Treva Whateva has necessarily established his own particular niche with this album. However, he has produced a collection of fine tunes and shown plenty of potential.