Nava Luvu – Transport
6.5.15 by Mike Haley

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First you gotta unfasten some twine. Then open up a hand-stamped box. Inside a Norelco case, along with a quaint little art booklet (I’ll get to all of that soon), is the golden ticket. Nava Luvu’s “Transport” on Apothecary Compositions. Much like Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, and the rest of the old gang, you’re gonna get taken on a surreal trip. Not through Wonka’s slave-run deathtrap of a chocolate factory, but a journey through swampy textures and concentrated beats by the duo of Ashley Daw and Sami Blanco.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “rascally” before, in reviews or everyday conversation, but it seems like a perfect catch-all descriptor for the material on this C100. Personalities vary from track to track on “Transport”, skimming from IDM influenced electronic jams to low-key, soggy experimentation, but the one consistent trait is Daw and Blanco’s readiness to meddle with each track’s structure. Murky dronescapes get interrupted by intermittent drum fills. Fiery rhythms warble and become warped. Zaps, claps, slices, and dices speckle the scenery, turning ambient techno jaunts on their head, leaving you scratching yours. It’s a playful listening experience for sure, and fresh as biting into a handful of schnozberries. Nava Luvu doesn’t let ya know when there will be a sudden shift in tempo, or if bits of noise will materialize for no good reason. That is what makes these songs great. What makes em “RASCALLY”.

Let’s get back to the packaging and visual accompaniment I mentioned earlier. Everything comes packaged in a brown kraft box, the kind often used for jewelry and such. Those familiar with the Cabin Floor Esoterica label will know exactly what I am talking about. A simple black stamp of text on the front and the back of the box is the only design work going on. Twine is wrapped around to keep it closed. Inside is a 4″x4″ booklet with 8 pages of swirling color artwork by Daw and Blanco and the tape, complete with Jcard and case, that could pretty much stand alone. It’s an attractive lil’ bugger.

“Transport” is limited to 50 copies and available from Apothecary Compositions for $10.