It is about time that Flava D began to achieve more recognition for her innovative blend of slinky garage and aggressive grime, and her self-released mixtape More Love made those that have ignored her abilities for years finally sit up and take notice. A "personal" release according to the statement she included with its upload to Bandcamp, it is effectively a compilation of diverse sounds and ideas from her career to date. What it reveals is an immensely talented club producer with the ability to turn her hand to whichever style takes her fancy. Opener Good For You is marked by a minute of glorious ambience and cut-up vocal samples before that ubiquitous skittering garage beat kicks in, followed by a deep, growling bass. Flava D's sound is unique - it retains the smoky beauty of someone like Burial, the melody and sexiness of garage, and the deep gnarliness of the best grime. War Dub, a nod to the Twitter/SoundCloud-based grime event of 2013, is far more innovative than many of the tracks put out in that period by far more visible producers. Its glowing synths and relentless snare beats sound like a 3am rave in a neon UFO. The delicate keys that open 2 On are just wonderful, while the pitched-up vocals that join them as the track progresses are the best thing this side of T2's Heartbroken or MSSINGNO's XE2. While there is arguably nothing here that is quite as gripping or cohesive as the astonishing one-two punch of Flava D's Butterz releases Hold On and Home, that's not really the point. This is a selection of outtakes and one-offs; it is a mixtape, as Flava D notes, not an album. As a demonstration of her talents, it's immaculate - just listen to its best track Tell Me for proof of that. As an indicator of the ways in which grime's punishing sounds and garage's melodies are being melded wonderfully in the contemporary British underground, it's unrivalled.
