Flevans – Hold On / Hold No Water [TRUDD006]
March 21st, 2009 . by zephirnl
Flevans is one of those artists that does not get the rotation he deserves in my music consumption. Today I received a digital promo for Flevan’s upcoming release on Tru Thoughts: ‘Hold On / Hold No Water’ [TRUDD006] that will be released as a digital single only on April 13th.
Whenever I chance upon one of Flevans’ tracks in a Shapes compilation or when listening to last.fm radio, I can always recognize the strong rhythmic structure of his songs and his fine use of brass samples. His track ‘Go get the Big Horn‘ is one of my favourites. It stomps out such a raw vibe and boasts eternally deep brass sounds, that it really sounds like Flevans has literally gone and got a ridiculous set of XXL horns. However, my love for that track is not what this piece is all about, so let’s move on to the review stuff.
The first track, Hold On, features the fine vocals of Sarah Scott, a singer who previously worked with Flevans and Jon Kennedy (who for me has a very similar sound to Flevans). Sarah possesses a warm soulful sound that fits well with the instrumentation of the song. On the promotion sheet this release is heralded as the first ever Flevans track to be without samples, and I do note the lack of layered brass samples, however this does not detract from the sound of the song. Better yet, it is a strong soulful experience with just that little edge of rawness courtesy of the banging drums and the funky guitar riff played by mr Flevans himself.
Aside from the instrumental and a capella versions for ‘Hold On’, there’s also another full track, called ‘Hold no Water’. This one is obviously aimed more at the dance floor and will probably make it into my next DJ set. The feel of the song is overall more electronic and almost instrumental, with the exception of a vocal hook sung/spoken by Flevans himself. This track also fills my need for the brass, as it has a afro-carribian feel of drums, horns, nice phat bass and a sprinkle of keys to top it off.
All in all this is a nice preview of Flevans’ upcoming album ‘27 Devils‘ that is due to be released May 18th on Tru Thoughts. With tracks like these, it will sure get some attention from me, and I’m hoping to be able to pull a few tracks more for the dancefloor from that one. Until that time however, we will sure feast our ears upon these two fine tracks, available for purchase & download from etchshop.co.uk from April 13th. If you are not familiar with the works of Flevans, please check out his website and/or purchase his previous album from etchshop here.
Other interesting releases on Tru Thoughts that are fresh & off the hook: the Kinny album ‘Idle Forest of Chit Chat‘, which was fully reviewed by Gav over at his excellent JLM blog. Also be sure to check out the new album by Azaxx called ‘The Exotic Delight Bay‘, a collection of instrumental electronic tropical tracks in line with the album’s title, for vinyl fans there’s also a 12″ EP featuring the most dancefloor friendly tracks. Also very interesting is the ace quality ‘Black Gold 7″‘ that you can still pick up from Etchshop if you’re quick. This littel nugget of vinyl features covers by Quantic‘s new project Quantic & his Combo Barbáro and an excellent jazzed out version of ‘My Name Is’ by Nostalgia 77 featuring the Fiction Trio.
PS This is the first serious review of what will hopefully be a ever growing series for the MFF blog. I would love to get some feedback on the writing etc.
