FILA BRAZILLIA - MERMAIDS

Fila Brazillia are from Kingston Upon Hull in East Yorkshire in the UK. They were formed in 1990 by Steve Cobby and David McSherry. They released six albums on Pork Recordings and after creating their own music label, Twentythree Records in 1999, a further four albums followed. Other releases include a various artists compilation in the Another Late Night series, which featured a new track of theirs, Nature Boy (a Nat King Cole cover), and a more dancefloor-oriented compilation entitled Another Fine Mess, as well as two double albums of Fila remixes commissioned by other artists and labels entitled Brazilification and B2. They co-produced The Twilight singers debut l.p with Greg Dulli and collaborated with Harold Budd and Bill Nelson to produce Three White Roses & A Budd EP. It appears that after releasing their "Best of"-album Retrospective (2006), a single (Neanderthal) and a final four-track EP entitled One Track Mind - EP in 2007 (these last two only available as downloads), Fila Brazillia quietly disbanded in 2008. Steve Cobby had formed the label Steel Tiger Records in late 2006 with Sim Lister. Over the course of 2007, the label saw various digital releases by J*S*T*A*R*S (Cobby and Lister), Peacecorps (Cobby and guitarist Rich Arthurs) and The Cutler (Cobby and Pork). Other projects of his include Solid Doctor (or The Solid Doctor) and Heights of Abraham (with Lister and Jake Harries). Currently, David McSherry is an instructor of audio processes at the University of Lincoln. He has also recorded a solo LP as Mandrillus Sphynx. Steve Cobby mixcloud page @ http://www.mixcloud.com/porky/ (2) Hull-based duo Fila Brazillia is the most popular and acclaimed of the noted Pork Recordings stable. Formed in 1990 by producers Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry, Fila followed Cobby's association with Ashley & Jackson, a moderately successful pop/dance group signed to Big Life! that went belly up as the label began demanding more and more pop and less dance. Returning to his native Hull from Manchester, Cobby met DJ/dabbler Dave Pork, and the two forged a creative alliance. Hooking up with McSherry to form Fila, the group's first 12", "The Mermaid," was released that same year on Pork's fledgling imprint (formed, actually, specifically for the occasion), gaining instant acclaim among DJs and headphonauts alike for its innovative fusion of funk, dub, house, hip-hop, and acid jazz. The group followed their debut single with a string of full-length releases (Old Codes, New Chaos, Maim That Tune, and Black Market Gardening among them), which were instrumental in building Pork's reputation as one of the most consistent and respected of England's vast ocean of underground breakbeat/trip-hop labels. Later releases integrated elements of pop and drum'n'bass on a number of tracks. Fila's rep also translated into a number of acclaimed remixes, including Lamb's "Cotton Wool," the Orb's "Toxygene," and DJ Food's "Freedom" (over a dozen of which were featured on the 2000 collection Brazilification). During the new millennium, the duo released the mix album Another Late Night in 2001 and the studio effort Jump Leads early the following year. After two years of recording inactivity, in 2004 the duo released a pair of production albums (The Life and Times of Phoebus Brumal and Dicks), plus another mix album (Another Fine Mess). In addition to Fila, Cobby is also an active member of other Pork stable acts such as Solid Doctor (his solo guise) and Heights of Abraham, both of which have released a number of full-length recordings. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.