African Head Charge - Akwaaba (1995 Acid Jazz)

Akwaaba could as well come with a subtitle African Head Charge for beginners. No, really, if you didn't know Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and his crew by now, this is a good starter before you dig deeper into their On-U Sound classics. Recorded in Ghana, mixed in London, released on Acid Jazz, all that furious nyabinghi drumming, fat bass lines and broken english chants are there, only slightly lighter and more funky than the usual gloomy claustrophobic Adrian Sherwood production. And if this isn't "acid jazz not acid jazz", then what is?

mp3 I 320kbps I 53 minutes I 122mb I link in comments

Galliano - The Plot Thickens (1994 Talkin' Loud)

I guess there's no need to introduce Galliano, one of the acid jazz main icons. After two classic and truly style-setting albums, the Rob Gallagher crew had to adapt to market's ever changing moods and tranform their party jazz into something.. different. Mixing jazz with late 60's folk chants and activist lyrics didn't prove to raise the sales, but, however underrated by the real jazzheads, The Plot Thickens is still brilliant collection of great songs. So brilliant I actually bought a retail copy in a pawn shop last autumn, and trust me, I don't buy CDs for no reason.

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Sandals - Rite To Silence (1994 Open Toe)

Before I start the promised Filter Records series, let me fulfill one more lovely request I received from Poland - to post some more "acid jazz not acid jazz" albums, probably in the vein of Disco Not Disco compilations. Well I've had a couple of such albums in my head anyway so here they are...

Sandals were short-lived combo based on rhythm section of Ian Simmonds on bass (aka Juryman, I'm going to post some of his albums sometimes soon) and valued session drummer Will Blanchard. They started in 1992 with a single on Acid Jazz, just in time to be signed to a dance branch of major label, ffrr. However, to produce Rite To Silence took more time than the label desired, and when it finally appeared in 1994, the acid jazz movement was a history. More interesting is a list of collaborators (like the electronic duo Leftfield, that produced 3 tracks) and appearences by original members of Jamiroquai or The Brand New Heavies. I only wish there was instrumental version available because all that activist ranting oh so correct in 1994 is just too much in 2011.

mp3 I 320kbps I 60 minutes I 138mb I link in comments

FV EXCLUSIVE: Manics vs @440 - The Stealth Sonic Orchestra Sessions 1994-1998

 The readers of Future Vintage already know I'm sucker for great remix collections. But what if there are some cool remixes that for whatever reason will never be released on an album? Well, then it's time for me to dig deep in the piles of singles and compilations and to release such collection on my own, in custom-made cover of course. Enjoy the first of the Future Vintage remix collections and stay tuned for more to follow.

Some of you may remember The Stealth Sonic Orchestra as an alter ego of big beat supergroup Apollo 440, which served the only purpose - to ease the pressure of the massive breakbeats and sampled guitars on @440 albums, significantly on their 2003 swan song Dude Descending A Staircase, where the SSO tracks filled almost half of the playing time. Less known is the fact that in the 90s, The Stealth Sonic Orchestra produced about ten remixes, 9 of which accompanied the hit singles of another supergroup - Manic Street Preachers. Although the Manics' refrain-oriented songs are pompous enough themselves, the SSO treatments, based on heavily sampled strings and orchestral percussions, added even more cinematic width, and the results are wonderfull. I've never been much of a Manics fan but I truly enjoyed every one of the tracks. I wish you the same experience.

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Les Gammas - Exercices De Styles (2000 Compost)

Exercices De Styles, the sole album by german duo Les Gammas, is my most favourite gem from The Golden Age Of Compost (closely followed by Human Patterns by Beanfield and Elysian Fields by Minus 8) and although I must've heard it thousand times, it was fun to play it again. Complex breakbeats, catchy Rhodes-driven tunes, cool vocals.. anything you might want from a perfect jazz album. It's 11 years old now and still some of the tracks keep poping up on lounge and nujazz compilations every now and then. A typical piece of rare groove for a generation of today's toddlers.

mp3 I 320kbps I 74 minutes I 171mb I link in comments

Poke - Sassy (1996 Substance / Stereo Deluxe)

I like to fulfill difficult request and this one drove me really nuts. I was sure that the album has to be somewhere but for whatever reason I was also sure it was released on INFRAcom! Blimey! In the end I had to consult the almighty Discogs to find out it actually has to be in the Stereo Deluxe box, dedicated to another great german label, home of such artists as Jaffa, Mo'Horizons or Moodorama. Another difficulty I've had searching it by the cover. Stereo Deluxe used to give away promo stuff in those handy paper sleeves with the actual cover art but although they repacked the album to match the label's corporate identity, they released the promo with the original Substance Records minimalistic artwork (as seen above) with white backside and only tiny artist and album title printed on the disc. I only hope the whole effort was worth it and you'll enjoy this scandinavian trip hop gem as much as I had when I finally found it.

mp3 I 320kbps I 48 minutes I 110mb I link in comments

Karma - Thrillseekers (1999 Groove Attack)

Everytime I've found another request for Thrillseekers I was wondering what's so great about it. I even played it more than once but it doesn't get any better - just a collection of mediocre percussive uptempo tracks, too Compost-ish in one way and not enough Compost-ish in another. Sure there are some bouncy latino singles but that makes a good party, not a good album. I said it in January and I say it again - they've never been better than on Pad Sounds.

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Alive and moving

What? Two months gap? Never happenned in the 26 months history of Future Vintage...

The reason is quite simple - my lease on a flat I really liked, finally but unexpectedly expired and I've had to find me a new place called home. To find an ideal flat takes time which I didn't have so I had to settle for one not perfect but okay. You know the rest of the story which means to pack the last 20 years of my life into cardboard boxes (not mentioning my gigantic indoor plants and a bunch of animals), then find them more or less damaged by the moving crew, then find out that half of my furniture won't fit anywhere and - that's the point of the story -decide that the new flat has so many hidden flaws that I have to move on sooner than much later...

I'm in the process of looking for new place right now so there's some time for a couple of posts before the hell breaks loose again. This time I'm not asking if there are any readers left because your comments and request kept coming all the time and I'm very grateful for them. So grateful that although the whole moving operation left me almost penniless, I managed (with help of all three my brave donators) to extend my RS account to keep the files in place. So why don't I post some of the most requested albums today?

Stay tuned!