Jump Leads [Import]

Amazon.com
At first play, the eighth album by Fila Brazillia's Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry seems to have lost the invigorating flow of past records like Black Market Gardening and Power Clown. Arriving after the aromatic hip-hop, jazz, and dub of Fila's recent mix record, Another Late Night, the first half of Jump Leads, by contrast, sounds like one synth with only five presets working overtime. The tracks use similar jerking funk beats and cheesy '80s keyboard effects, creating a faux electro club sound. "Bumblehaun" and "Motown Coppers" bounce clumsily to the disco but are trumped by "Spill the Beans," which sounds like a drunken man fronting The Commodores. The mood remains static until "It's a Knockout," which thankfully rescues Leads with an airy Brazilian groove, John Barry-ish harpsichord, trumpet flourishes, and an eerie African vocal sample. After the brooding "Monk's Utterance," the fun continues with soaring Afro-boogaloo vibrations on "Percival Quintaine" and a glowing African folk choir on the wondrous "Mother Nature's Spies." Not as overwhelmingly satisfying as earlier efforts, Jump Leads extends FB's muse with mixed results. --Ken Micallef --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
Considered a pre-cursor to the downbeat and trip hop movement, Fila Brazillia have explored the relationship between organic instrumentation and electronic sensibility throughout the 90's arriving logically at 'Jump Leads'. As pioneers of a post-punk northern England musicality, their journey has been defined simply by their musical insight rather than genre specification. Dub rhythms, house beats, drum n' bass syncopation, ambient chords, and funk arrangements have all found their way into Fila's sound without falling into the cliched territory of 'eclecticism'. 23 Records/Studio K7. 2002. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Bublehaun
Motown Coppers
Spill The Beans
DNA
We Build Arks
It's A Knockout
Monk's Utterance
Percival Quintaine
Nightfall
Mother Nature's Spies
The Green Green Grass of Homegrown

Amazon.com

At first play, the eighth album by Fila Brazillia's Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry seems to have lost the invigorating flow of past records like Black Market Gardening and Power Clown. Arriving after the aromatic hip-hop, jazz, and dub of Fila's recent mix record, Another Late Night, the first half of Jump Leads, by contrast, sounds like one synth with only five presets working overtime. The tracks use similar jerking funk beats and cheesy '80s keyboard effects, creating a faux electro club sound. "Bumblehaun" and "Motown Coppers" bounce clumsily to the disco but are trumped by "Spill the Beans," which sounds like a drunken man fronting The Commodores. The mood remains static until "It's a Knockout," which thankfully rescues Leads with an airy Brazilian groove, John Barry-ish harpsichord, trumpet flourishes, and an eerie African vocal sample. After the brooding "Monk's Utterance," the fun continues with soaring Afro-boogaloo vibrations on "Percival Quintaine" and a glowing African folk choir on the wondrous "Mother Nature's Spies." Not as overwhelmingly satisfying as earlier efforts, Jump Leads extends FB's muse with mixed results. --Ken Micallef

Album Description

Considered a pre-cursor to the downbeat and trip hop movement, Fila Brazillia have explored the relationship between organic instrumentation and electronic sensibility throughout the 90's arriving logically at 'Jump Leads'. As pioneers of a post-punk northern England musicality, their journey has been defined simply by their musical insight rather than genre specification. Dub rhythms, house beats, drum n' bass syncopation, ambient chords, and funk arrangements have all found their way into Fila's sound without falling into the cliched territory of 'eclecticism'. 23 Records/Studio K7. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

Mere delight for intellectual snobs!!!.......2003-07-18

Fila's Jump Leads is absolutely excellent. However to comprehend it, you'll definitely need a large musical background. You have to have a grain of that old notorious British sense of humour as well to really enjoy this album.

It's amazing - a mere delight to your mind and senses. Truly complicated and at the same time easy to listen to. It's an enjoyable labyrinth of sounds and tunes you feel you know from somewhere else. Fila Brazillia are truly great jugglers. There are many melody and rhythm 'winks' to a good number of fellow musicians. I could not but smile when recognized FB's picking at Lenny Cravitz, Air, Plaid.

The texts may give a pretty good time too. The drumbeats, basslines, synths and strings are really exquisite.

Though there is practically everything in this album, Fila manage to hold it their style - smart, slightly hushed, mild and moody.

One of the rarest treasures for the mind music searchers.

Trippy synth stuff.......2003-07-10

If you like jazzy electronica as I do then you will probably enjoy this CD. It is not exactly ground breaking work, or earth shaterring music that will leave you stunned but it is good enough. It is one of those change of pace discs in the rotation where the skip button might be used; in other words not every track is a winner. Let's be honest, what one person likes is not necessarily what another may like. If the vocals don't appeal to you there are enough dreamy bits of music to set your mind floating into the neither neither land of audio bliss. Some of the music sounds dated but most of it is revitalized to create a modern ambience that is a laid back groove. This is the type of music that flows through you and then suddenly grabs you with some imaginative musical passages. "DNA" is one such track where the unassuming sythns suddendly are highlighted by world beat tribal like vocals that grab your attention and make you listen closer. "We build arks" is a bit of soulful singing that has an acid jazz feel and works remarkably well for my tastes. The said song has a retro feel, sort of a Earth Wind and Fire revisted. Another song with vocals is "Nightfall" and it has a trip hop jazzy feel that compliments the soulful vocals that are quite pleasing. The instrumental songs are dominant throughout (7 of 11 tracks) and sound even better with headphones to catch all the little details of the studio. The last song on the disc, entitled "The Green Green Grass of Homegrown" sounds a little country, almost folkish, complete with harmonica and accordian and is a rather odd song to include on the disc but somehow works as a fitting ending to a disc of mixed variety. All in all it is a pretty decent CD, not a complete musical statement but rather a fragmented album with hits and misses. Not exactly the place to start with Fila Brazillia but it does showcase the diversity of these two musians and programmers.

NOT BAD...NOT BAD AT ALL!!.......2003-05-24

It usually takes me some time to write an online review...I have to actually give myself time to "feel" the CD before I can give an accurate and objective review. Not this CD though. "Jump Leads" had me hooked and loving it at the very beginning! I have always been a fan of Fila Brazilia's music since I first heard "A Zed and Two L's" and this is my first CD from them, actually my second CD --I did buy "Another Late Night with Fila Brazilia" but somebody stole it-- "Jump Leads" is an eclectic set of songs that range from R & B to funk to jazz to country to disco to pop to world and rock...I'm big on multi-genre music on CDs and "Jump Leads" has it. Songs that bare repeated listening are "Bumblehaum","Nightfall", "Motown Coppers","Spill the Beans", "We Build Arks" and "Mother Nature's Spies." Whether or not you care for these particular favorites of mine, you'll definitely find your song on this CD. Very impressive!!

An Extremely Fun and Diffrent Taste of Fila.......2003-02-13

Fila have done so well to ellude thier listeners as to what kind of sound they'll make next, that the down- and mid tempo electronic listener could saturate them self in Fila's back catologue for years in constant maintenence of thier impressions. Few groups ever afford a listener the pleasure of being taken in new directions with that same very distinct energy they always had. This album does lack the dynamics of previous albums like "PowerClown" and "Maim That Tune" but I feel the extreme change is warented from a group that has always seemed to progress its sound.

This particular slice of Fila operates in groove laden psychedellia that gives us even for a first time vocals and lyrics that give us an acid bent album of an almost disco-hip hop sound. As always, there is the funk-hop slabs of beats Fila never fails to provide. The profound manouvers Fila have always given us opperate in such delightful fun that you can never help but admire thier unique musicianship.

This new sound will most likely develop into another awesome work surely as Fila have always progressed through an out with the old in with the new integrity. 4 1/2 stars!!!

What happened to these guys...........2002-09-06

i am a huge pork fan[though i believe they are still on tritone now]. and fila used to be one of their best on the label! old codes new chaos is still a HUGE album, it holds up against all kinds of electronic music today. luck be a weirdo...they used to be fantastic.

and now i feel they've taken it to a new low...power clown was what seemed to be experimental...then touch of cloth seemed to bring it back. but jump leads is aweful!

the album opens with a style they just don't do well. it almost seems as though they are jumping on the boards of canada band wagon with the sounds they chose....and in track 9 nightfall, the blatant use of korg ms2000 presets "icefield" is just plain bad. it doesn't even fit the track.

granted there are some really good moments on the album. but they are just that...moments. ex: the 6:29 - 6:50 mark of nightfall. awesome. but what is with the line "from my belly....my rotund belly"? so i could not give it a better rating than what i did.

fila are amazing...they should just stick to what they do best.