Treva Whateva 'Music's Made Of Memories' album

Herrrrrrrrrrre’s Treva…… Yes, the man who put the top rankin’ into Rank Bingo Halls, the hippo into hip hop (it’s there), the d. i. s. c. o. into biscuits and the fun into funky is back. And if it’s grime down south right now, it’s nothing if not dusty up north.

Mr Whateva has been releasing his unique brand of rhythm-driven quirk-funk for the last five years or so, as well as helping the likes of Grand Central compile their legendary Mystic Brew compilations and DJing all over the planet. Unbelievably, though, this is his first album. Unsurprisingly, it’s bloody great, like the first cuppa of the day, all last night’s clag suddenly stripped from the inside of your mouth.

From the garage band bass of “Bouncing Bomb,” through the proto-disco of “Driving Reign”, the Muppets-on-crack of “Singalong”, through the wear-fruit-in-ya-kangol aesthetic of “Havana Ball”, the old school ragga-jungle of “Dedicated VIP” (which reminds you why you liked drum & bass in the first place) it’s a record that’ll have your head nodding, your foot tapping, your mouth grinning and your body trying to do improbable breakdance moves that you think you remember seeing on telly some time in the eighties. Probably.

Nor is there any let up in the second half of the record either, Trev going all northern soul ‘n’ chimes on “Carpe Diem”, drivingly latino-mournful on the title track, Jackson 5-go-to-a-block-party-and-get-a-kicking on “Dustbowl” before finishing up with hooligan bass on “We Have The Technology” and probably the finest bad-coke moment of four-to-the-floor horrorcore ever submitted to wax on “Dangerous Disco”.

You could get deep and say that the title “Music’s Made of Memories” means that in effect all music is made of sample,s with our mind as the sampler and that, in that case, Trev is a sequencer of our memories and hence the director of the aesthetics of our recollection of our everyday life.

Alternatively, you could dance around with your pants on your head with a big brown cup of tea in one hand and a fat old spliff in the other. Both approaches will work, but one of them will be more enjoyable… Probably.

Biography

Wonkiness is next to Godliness and Treva Whateva resides next to Wonkiness. So when you give it the time to percolate, Treva is Divine, and who would expect otherwise?

1979: Treva is born in a stable in Stockport (Bethlehem to Manchester’s Jerusalem). Once the wise men have buggered off he has a relatively normal childhood except for the undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder, angelic visions and violent obsession with vinyl.

1993:Treva gets himself a job at the legendary Boom! Tunes, the first retail venture of a young Dave the Ruf, better known these days as the Jeep Beat Collective. His place in the pantheon of Northern hip hop is assured but the shop goes tits up. The Ruf takes his revenge by releasing “Westwood Is A Twat”. Mr Whateva takes his by getting a proper job. Neither of them ever uprock again.

1997 sees Trev now employed at Fat City records (mis)managing the shop, deejaying Europe-wide, and helping to compile the first couple of Mystic Brew compilations. This year also sees Trev's vinyl-debut, with the exercise-hop classic "Tum and Waist" appearing on the fourth of DJ Morpheus' superb Freezone series. Masturbating over his Jane Fonda workout video while listening to it, Eric “Satan” Prydz hatches a plan for world dominance that will take seven years to reach fruition.

1998: Feet firmly behind the counter but ass on the dancefloor, Trev releases "Dangerous Disco" on London club Off-Centre's comp of the same name before handing over the shop reins mid-1999 as he signs up with big Brighton playas, Skint. The new manager of Fat City gets the reins tangled in the till and ends up disembowelling himself.

2000-2001: The fruits of Skint are are the well-received "Overdrawn & Overdue" and "Long Time Female Friend" EPs (on the Under 5’s off-shoot) but, just as world domination seems inevitable, Treva gives an exclusive interview to the Brighton Evening Argus in which he reveals that Norman Cook is really Quentin Crisp and that the Skint crew are a bunch of softies who have lemon in their brew, fer fook’s sake.

2002: Brighton gangsters and notorious illegal citrus fruit importers Tru Thoughts are given Treva’s contract in exchange for not breaking the Skint crockery and immediately release the seminal "Singalong"/"Dedicated" 12. Ninja Tune, a CIA-funded palm tree exporting business, hear how well the record is doing and make Treva sign for them (it’s not like they haven’t done it before).

2004: Ninja allows Trev to release a record, the beauteous “Dance Class EP”. Amnesty International begin campaigning for his immediate release.

2005: Treva wins the general election and releases his first album, the quirk-spiritual, hip flap masterpiece, “Music’s Made of Memories” – listeners report seeing a bright white light at the end of a tunnel and feeling peaceful and beatific.

2006: Trev acscends to Heaven, hangs out with the Almighty and makes everyone in the world rich, rich, rich beyond their wildest imaginings.

Other stuff you should know if you’re not to sound like you don’t really know what you’re talking about:

-Mr Whateva has remixed Electrelane, Monkey Magic, Revolvo and Fingathing ('01,'02,'03,'03), plus golden-oldie "Last In Space" which features on Jacques Laverne records "Jack to Phono" compilation (2001)

-Treva has written sleevenotes for Fat City's Mystic Brew and 45 Kings series in additon to penning articles for publications including City Life, Mixmag Up-Date (Seven) and Fatlace.

-No stranger to radio appearances around the world, he also co-hosts the Hot Pot radio show. The public of the North West have been entertained by Trev and Mr. Scruff delivering the best in black music, top guests and cookery sound-bites for three years. You can even get it on the trains now.

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Treva Whateva - Music's Made Of Memories