The Lost Record is a blog that shines a light on records that never made the move to digital (notably Spotify or Apple).  At best these records have a Youtube fan upload.

Freak Power – New Direction (Fila Brazillia Dub)

Published: Polygram // Original produced by Ashley Slater and Norman Cook / Recording Engineer: Simon Thornton / Mixed by Carmen Rizzo

Ahh Fila Brazillia!   Circa 94 after the golden age of hip hop there came a sound embracing the breaks but with fun, ambience and fresh sounds.  Fila Brazillia consisting of Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry were at the forefront of this sound.  They sat alongside huge global acts and organisations such as The Thievery Corporation, Ninja Tune and Mo Wax but without the media juggernaut those super brands of trip hop enjoyed (and paid for no doubt).   I mean, they were Hull, “How can Hull be cool?”

The track itself is great builder for house, funk, dub and beats selectors alike.  Sparse vocal samples from the original, loose breakbeats and the ambient trot Fila Brazillia built there name on.  A little piece of trivia is the remix is labelled as “B1: Fila Brazillia Duo”, (rather than dub), Steve Cobby has since kindly confirmed it was a typo on both the back cover and inner record label.  Also I don’t normally give attention to other tracks on the selected Lost Records EPS/singles but its worth pointing out how dreadful the Way Out West dub mix is, it has not dated well at all.

Further reading.

Fila Brazillias back catalogue is pretty extensive, Dave also launched Twentythree Records and musical project Mandrillus Sphynx, Steve is currently DJin across the globe and still making music.  Steve was also co-founder of Pork Recordings a firm favourite of 90s heads.  So Pork, Twentythree Records, Mandrillus Sphynx, Soundcloud:Steve Cobby   are all worth your time.

Is this record lost: YES!  The original version is on Spotify, a Norman Cook production but the Fila Brazillia Dub is the standout version.

The Lost Record is the endless search for vinyl tracks not available (at time of publish) on iTunes/Apple Music or Spotify