Old Codes, New Chaos

Were you expecting some sort of oddball Brazilian pop combo, what with a name like Fila Brazillia? Guess again! Steve Cobby, the man behind Fila and big cahona of U.K. down-tempo/trip-hop label Pork, pulls so many rabbits out of so many hats that every spin of the disc is another excursion into realms both magical and mysterious. OLD CODES is a collection of early-'90s singles, new recordings, and various ephemera from the Fila tape archives. The tracks are so brilliantly sequenced that one might never think that all the works here are from wholly unrelated recording sessions; Cobby's sense of order is the prime component in the multi-coloured Fila universe. Opening with the cooing maritime vocals and salty sea-air synths of "Mermaids", and rippling all the way through the glittering synth-funk of "The Light of Jesus" and the irresistible percolations of "Fila Funk", OLD CODES ranks as perhaps Cobby's best overall work. Forget any cliches being administered within the trip-hop cabal--Cobby's beats are the ones to beat. OLD CODES is catchy in the way that the best '60s spy-show themes are, and is sure to make both your frontal lobes and front toes quiver in elastic delight.|