Fila Brazillia is an English electronica duo from

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

, Yorkshire, England, formed in 1990 by Steve Cobby and David McSherry.

History

Their early albums were released on Pork Recordings, also based in Hull: '' Old Codes New Chaos'', '' Maim That Tune'', ''Mess'', '' Black Market Gardening'', '' Luck Be a Weirdo Tonight'' and ''Power Clown''. After creating their own music label with Sim Lister, Twentythree Records, they released further albums ''A Touch of Cloth'', ''Jump Leads'', ''The Life And Times of Phoebus Brumal'', ''Dicks'' and ''Retrospective''. They have also released two

DJ mix albums A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobil ...

, '' Another Late Night: Fila Brazillia'', for

Azuli Records Azuli Records was a British independent record label, focusing mainly on house music and other forms of electronic dance music. The label was founded by DJ Dave Piccioni in London, England in 1991 but went into liquidation in April 2009. Some ...

' " Another Late Night" series, and ''Another Fine Mess: Fila Brazillia'', and two collections of remixes: ''Brazilification'' and ''B2''. Their collaborations include working with

Harold Budd Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American music composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimal music and avant-garde scene of Southern California ...

and

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...

to release ''Three White Roses & A Budd'' (Twentythree Records, 2002). They co-produced the first Twilight Singers LP '' Twilight as Played by The Twilight Singers'' with Greg Dulli in 2001. Cobby and McSherry have produced more than 70 remixes for artists including Black Uhuru,

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

, DJ Food, Lamb,

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

and

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential ...

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and ofte ...

, the controversial American stand-up comedian, satirist and social critic, "appears" on Fila Brazillia's album '' Maim That Tune'' (1996) and the album is dedicated to Hicks. Their music has made its mark both on small-screen blockbusters (such as '' CSI'' and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'') and cult cinema films such as '' Dogtown and Z-Boys'', '' Riding Giants'' and '' Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos'', a 2006 documentary about the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

soccer team. One of their better-known songs, ''A Zed and two L's'', appears on '' Jam'', a black comedy sketch show by British satirist Chris Morris. Their song "Here Comes Pissy Willy" from the ''Power Clown'' album featured as the theme to the ''

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fra ...

Show'' on

Talk Radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

in the late 1990s. After releasing their ''Retrospective'' album in 2006, Cobby and McSherry quietly ended their longtime partnership. Currently, McSherry is a lecturer in Sound and Music Production at the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

. Cobby went on in late 2006 to form Steel Tiger Records 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 by The Cutler (Cobby and ex-head of Pork Recordings David "Porky" Brennand). The first formal album by The Cutler on Steel Tiger Records was released on 7 July 2008, and the most recent "Everything Is Touching Everything Else" ( Steel Tiger Records ST016, 10 June 2013) – with vocals by Isobel Helen, Archie Heselwood, Andrew Taylor and Little Glitches – distributed by Kudos Records Ltd. In 2013 Steve Cobby provided the soundtrack for the Hull '

UK City of Culture UK City of Culture is a designation given to a local area (specifically a city before 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneratio ...

2017' bid film - 'This City Belongs to Everyone', produced by Nova Studios - on 20 November 2013

, East Riding of Yorkshire, was announced as the winning City, and so as UK City of Culture 2017. After a 16 year hiatus, on 6 March 2020, the band returned with the release of the MMXX EP. In 2023, they appear to have released the Subtle Body album/EP, with two original tracks and two unreleased versions.

Discography

Albums

* '' Old Codes New Chaos'' (1994) * '' Maim That Tune'' (1995) * ''

Mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

'' (1996) * '' Black Market Gardening'' (1996) * '' Luck Be a Weirdo Tonight'' (1997) * ''Power Clown'' (1998) * '' A Touch of Cloth'' (1999) * ''Jump Leads'' (2002) * ''The Life and Times of Phoebus Brumal'' (2004) * '' Dicks'' (2004) * ''Subtle Body'' (International Feel, 2023)

Singles

*''Mermaids'' ( Pork Recordings, 1991) *''Rankine'' ( Pork Recordings, 1992) *''Fila Funk/Rankine (Live At Bounce)'' ( Pork Recordings, 1993) *''Pots & Pans/The Sheriff'' ( Pork Recordings, 1993) *''Slacker'' ( Pork Recordings, 1994) *''A Zed & Two L’s/Harmonicas Are Shite'' ( Pork Recordings, 1995) *''Soft Music Under Stars/Blood'' ( Pork Recordings, 1996) *''Wigs, Bifocals And Nurishment'' ( Pork Recordings, 1997) *''The Speewah/Feathery Legs'' ( Pork Recordings, 1998) *''Bovine Funk/Here Comes Pissy Willy'' ( Pork Recordings, 1998) *''Throwing Down A Shape'' ( Pork Recordings, 1998) *''FB@V&A'' ( Pork Recordings, 2001) *''Fila Brazillia Versus A Certain Ratio'' ( Pork Recordings, 2003) *''Fila Brazillia Remix Beef Wellington & DJ Razor'' ( Pork Recordings, 2003) *''The Goggle Box'' ( Pork Recordings, 2004) *''Neanderthal'' (Twentythree Records, 2007) *''One Track Mind'' (Twentythree Records, 2007)

EPs

*''Sycot Motion'' (Mindfood, 1996) *''Ridden Pony'' ( Pork Recordings, 1999) *''Bitten Bugs'' ( Pork Recordings, 1999) *''Spill The Beans'' ( Pork Recordings, 2001) *''Three White Roses & A Budd'' (with

and

) (Twentythree Records, 2002 – recorded 2000) *''Saucy Joints'' (Twentythree Records, 2002) *''We Build Arks'' (Twentythree Records, 2002) *''One Track Mind'' (Twentythree Records, 2007) *''MMXX'' (Twentythree Records, 2020)

Compilations

*'' Music for Freelance'' (1999) *''Retrospective'' (Twentythree Records, 2006)

Remixes

*''Brazilification (Remixes 95–99)'' (Kudos, 1999) *''21 Brazilliant Remixes (B2)'' (Twentythree Records, 2003) *''Soul Sauce'' on ''Verve Remixed 2'' ( Verve Music Group, 2003)

DJ mix albums

*'' Another Late Night: Fila Brazillia'' (2001) *''Another Fine Mess: Fila Brazillia'' (2004)

References

"Fila Brazillia, album review – Jump Leads"
by Frank Tope, ''The Guardian'', 8 February 2002, retrieved 16 Feb 2008
"The ultimate summer mix – Europe's hottest dance festivals"
by Matt Munday, ''The Guardian'', 1 June 2002, retrieved 16 Feb 2008
"The BBC Collective – Editor's Review – 'The Sound of Brazil, by way of Hull' – interview with Fila Brazillia"
by Paul Clark, ''BBC'', 22 August 2002, retrieved 16 Feb 2008
"Fila Brazillia (Sonar 97) – DJmag.com's guide to the history of the Sonar Festival, Spain"
''DJmag.com'', 2007, retrieved 16 Feb 2008

by Pascal Wyse, ''The Guardian'', 19 September 2000, retrieved 16 Feb 2008
"Hull's City of Culture bid film revealed to the public"
BBC News article,12 November 2013

External links

*

* ttp://www.discogs.com/artist/Fila+Brazillia Fila Brazillia Discography* {{Authority control English electronic music duos Musical groups from Kingston upon Hull Downtempo musicians Trip hop groups