FILT020 The Amalgamation Of Soundz (1997 Filter)

This eponymous debut album by the aptly named duo Mark Hartbottle & Jean-Claude Thompson AKA The Amalgamation Of Soundz is another ear-pleaser. Take the best breakbeats of all tempos, add some funky keys, a scent of trancy synths, bake until ready and serve chilled... Too bad these guys released so little after their second Filter album Part II (coming soon), but their compilations, DJ sets and remixes are also cool. I'm thinking more and more about putting their post-Filter material together as another Future Vintage Exclusive.

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FILT012 Kid Loops vs Cool Breeze - Special Projects (1996 Filter)

This brotherly cooperation between Jamie and Charlie Lexton is the first full album on Filter, the first that got to my hands, and IMHO the best Filter release. This juicy mixture of broken beats, dubby basslines and cool samples still pleases my ears just like it did 15 years ago. Don't sleep on it!


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FILT010 VA Filter Killing Music (1996 Filter)

Here comes the first Filter compilation, more of a label showcase than a conceptual set like the 1998 Elvis Never Meant Shit To Me. The sealed yellow digipack (yes, you've had to destroy it to get inside) contains a collection of early Filter singles. My favs are Ashley Beedle's remix of Sunship's The 13Th Key, the Pressure Drop remix of The Fire This Time (not on that damned album, see previous post) and one of a handful of original tracks produced by my favourite drum'n'bass couple The Underwolves. What's also remarkable is the original version of Offshore by Chicane, before it's updated version became a balearic classic. Chicane never released anything on Filter and this track was licensed probably just to raise sales, as well as Faze Action remix of D*Note, previously released on Dorado.

01 Box Saga-Blackfly
02 Sunship-Initiation
03 Kid Loops-Alien Resident
04 DJ Q-We Are One
05 Violet-Porknow Fish
06 The Fire This Time-At Least American Indian People Know Exactly How They've Been Fucked Around (Pressure Drop Version 1)
07 Sunship-The 13Th Key (The Black Science Alchemy Rebirth)
08 D Note-Waiting Hopefully (Faze Action Dub)
09 Local Zero-Bury The Hatchet
10 DJ Q-Urban Hustle (Part 1 And 2)
11 Underwolves-Nine Lives (Version Wildlife)
12 Chicane-Offshore


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Yes, I have requests, too..

First, let me explain why it took me so long to get started posting my Filter Records collection. The thing is, I was pretty damn sure I've got ALL Filter albums somewhere in my boxes. But, after some hours of rummaging through piles of dusty CDs, I must've admitted that there's something missing. Actually both Sunship albums and, what's more painful, Still Dancing On John Wayne's Head, the perfect collection of remixes of otherwise rather forgettable Dancing On John Wayne's Head by The Fire This Time.

I could easily live on and never hear those Sunship garage house creations again (the weakest stuff on Filter, IMHO) but The Fire This Time really hurts. So I tried to g**gle it up and found this funny little forum, globalnoises.org, and there it was! I was sooo happy! I've registered and my jaw dropped to the floor... To get a 320kbps copy of the album, I'm supposed to post 200 (yes, two hundred, it's not a typo) albums first. For comparison, the second Sunship album, which is also to be found there, is worth 30 posts. So instead of entertaining you my dear readers with the cool Filter stuff, I'm working at the coalmine, blimey, globalnoises. But s**t ain't that easy! The guys who run the forum probably see themselves as some kind of pirated music illuminati and one has to be promoted after 10 posts, then after 30 and then.. So I expect to have it finished sometimes around year 2525 or so...


What's the point of all this whining? There seem to be people on the net who do not hesitate to flog others like slaves just for running a server with a piece of out-of-the-box software and even have the guts to ask for donations! What their users get in return is what you get here and on others blogs with minimal hassle. Don't you kids just love me and other bloggers? Well you definitely should have. It's a jungle out there.


On the other hand I must say I love you, especially when you write and offer to share your collections with me. There's not much Future Vintage music that I don't already have so most of the time I have to kindly say thanks but no. To spare you valuable time, I've put together quite comprehensive list of requests which can be found in the comments section of this post. If you spend a minute reading through it and have some of those hard-to-finds and are willing to donate them, I'll love you even more;-)


I promise to post first three Filter platters tomorrow instead of pointless yaking. But the first Sunship album is still missing anyway, so if you happen to have it, share with me and help to complete the Dorado / Filter saga.


Stay tuned!

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?

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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.

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