Treva Whateva

Treva has been making the rounds within the Ninja Tune camp for some time now, releasing the odd musical nugget here and there on other labels while running things at Hot Pot Radio with Scruff, but the talented producer has never released a proper record until now. With enough material floating around to string together a full-length, Music’s Made of Memories appears to be a career retrospective of sorts that dips into some fantastic territory and jumps from bouncy hip-hop to electronic fuzz and even throws in a pinch of drum & bass. This debut works best when Treva serves up the body-moving funk, such as the incredible vocal harmonies that surround "Singalong” and the vintage Cuban dance floor vibes of "Havana Ball.” The album is still pretty decent when he slips into more club-oriented numbers like "Dedicated VIP” and "We Have the Technology,” but they don’t compare to the more subtle joints like the breathtaking "Carpe Diem,” a spoonful of slow that sounds like some classic DJ Food with xylophone tinkering over various other instrumentation and samples that click together perfectly. Though there are a couple of skip-worthy offerings on Treva’s debut, there’s enough solid material on Music’s Made of Memories to have you coming back for more.

(Ninja Tune, www.ninjatune.net)