UK producer Trevor Loveys’s talent seems to lie as much in his own
production acumen as it does in his ability to surround himself with
equally skilled collaborators. Sure, his early solo productions are
well-regarded, but it’s his work as a member of the collective House
of 909 for which he is most famous. He’s one of the pioneers of the
newish subgenre fidget house, but that’s mostly credited to his
tenure as the other half of Switch (now solely Dave Taylor). And
one of his newest projects consists of a slew of heavyweights, grouping
the producers for maximum impact.
Inspired by American house legends like Masters at Work and
Ron Trent, Loveys started out as a solo producer in the early
’90s. After joining the production collective/label House of 909,
Loveys was part of one of the few British acts of the ’90s to make
inroads into the deep house scene stateside, along with acts like
Basement Jaxx (elite company).
After leaving House of 909 for more solo productions, Loveys next
teamed up with Dave Taylor to form the (then) duo Switch. The pair’s
early releases and subsequent solo releases set the stage for fidget,
the choppy, agitated house variant so popular with the skinny
jeans and Ray-Bans set. The rave-informed, electro-tinged style has
only recently gotten a proper title (it’s more bloggable that way),
despite the fact that Switch’s first record was released in 2003. The
sound marks a huge departure from Loveys earlier, traditional,
Chicago-style deep house, pulling in a variety of influences to go with
abrupt samples and wobbly bass.
Loveys’s latest project, Machines Don’t Care, is a supergroup
of sorts, with himself, Detboi, Drop the Lime, Fake Blood,
Hervé, Sinden, Toddla T, and Affie Yusuf (another House of
909 alum) all producing under the moniker in varying configurations.
Their debut LP drops this week, and for the party-rocking club set it’s
going to go down like manna from heaven. A 12-minute album sampler puts
the record squarely in the middle of an odd Venn diagram where
house, techno, ragga, garage, and rave intersect. It’s a little bit
of everything, making for an original take on the “post-genre” future
of club music. Another collaboration well done, it’s fitting that one
of Loveys’s tracks on the release is titled, “On a Roll Man.”