Re:Warm Vinyl & CDs

Review: After being forgotten for a few years, a whole new generation of listeners has started digging into the vast back catalogue of Hull duo Fila Brazillia - a prolific outfit whose output of the 90s and noughties encompassed dreamy deep house, breakbeat-driven loved-up workouts, stoner funk and dusty downtempo gems. This fresh career-encompassing 'best of' showcases a mixture of stone-cold classics (early house single 'The Sheriff', confirmed chill-out classics 'Harmonicas Are Shite' and 'A Zed and Two Ls'), fan favourites (the decidedly Balearic 'Airlock Holmes', the undeniably funky 'Madame Le Fevre' and 'Throwing Down a Shape') and slept-on treats ('Bublehaun' and 'Little Dipper'). There's even a couple of relatively recent recordings ('Hush Hush' and the fresh 'Toro De Fuego', both of which return to the sounds explored in some of their earliest releases). In other words, it's a must-have celebration of Fila Brazilllia's often-unheralded genius.

Review: A quarter of a century has passed since Jason Boardman and Moonboots threw their first 'anything goes' Balearic Sunday session. Aficionado, as the event became known, is now an institution in Manchester, making this celebratory compilation a special one. It boasts two previously unreleased cuts - J-Walk's sparkling 'Cool Bright Northern Morning' and a deep Begin remix of 'Alaska' by Canyons - with the rest of the 16-track set being made up of records that "mean a lot" to the two DJs and their audience. The selections are simply sublime, with our current picks of a very strong bunch including the neo-acoustic brilliance of Stanley Clarke's 'Desert Song', the turn-of-the-Millennium nu-Balearic excellence of Mudd's 'Summer in the Wood', and the baggy 'global beat' fun of 'Can't Step Twice (On The Same Piece of Water)(New Version)' by Teachers.

Review: From an ardent blogger to an in-demand compiler, Paul Hillery's obsessive approach to music discovery has taken him far. As well as working with the likes of BBE, he's been fostering a working relationship with Re:Warm which now yields a second volume of the fantastic Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours series. The title is instructive, and somewhere in the folds of private press joints and forgotten album cuts Hillery finds a thread which binds together seemingly disparate sounds. There's delicate singer-songwriter seances from the likes of Lucy Kitchen and psychedelic, roving magic from Stallions remixing Findlay Brown and much more besides.

Review: Following on from Running Back's much-needed reissue of their seminal, saucer-eyed early 90s deep house gem 'Mermaids', Ali Tillett's Re:Warm label has decided to serve up a fresh retrospective of the sprawling career of Hull twosome Fila Brazillia. Tillett has done an excellent job too - not an easy task given the sheer size of the pair's catalogue - opting to mix kaleidoscopic early favourites (the dreamy, sunrise-ready brilliance of 'The Sheriff') and bona-fide chill-out classics (the superb 'A Zed and Two L's' and 'Harmonicas Are Shite') with stoner funk numbers from later albums ('Throwing Down a Shape', 'Airlock Holmes') and lesser-celebrated treats (the dense, slow-motion excellence of 'Neanderthal'). There's even a previously unreleased gem recorded last year: the return-to-their-roots brilliance of 'Toro De Fuego'.

Review: Re:Warm struck gold when they invited Paul Hillery to compile the first volume of Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours, so they did the right thing and invited him back for another round. Hillary started out documenting his arcane finds in this ill-defined thread of music via a blog, and now these shockingly rare gems from forgotten corners of 60s and 70s are given a proper airing for everyone to savour. This is a prime example of digging culture at its best, as a sharp curatorial ear cuts through the forgettable dross to find unbelievable tracks like effervescent jazz groover 'Weepin' by Cascada, a tune worth the price of entry alone.

Review: The traditonal way to start a review of any Micko Westmoreland release - and with as is to point out that he's best known for playing Jack Fairey in the mock glam documentary Velvet Goldmine, but with a second strong album in his new, flanked -by-legends incarnation and some highly memorable video promos featuring a succession of alternativ ecomedy greats, that could well be changing. Expect spiky English podst-punk songwriting a la XTC or even Pulp, with recent singles 'Autosexual' and 'What's In A Name' (which includes guest vocals from Kevin Eldon numbering among the highligths.