Filewile are a bit like a Swiss version of the Dub Pistols without all the guests and two steps to the left; does Rob da Bank know about these guys? Formed by producers Andreas Ryser (aka Dustbowl) and Daniel Jakob (aka Dejot) they’ve enrolled Joy Frempong on vocals and bassist Mago Flück; and this is different.

‘Kick The Spacedrum’ is a prime example of some skanking boogie Filewile style. But they certainly have an ear for the experimental like the Japanese bleep folk of ‘Radiotower’ that even slips in a dubstep cliché!

Regular readers will know that we’re big fans of Robert Koch (who did a remix for the ‘Number One Kid’ for the EP release) and the original version is in a semi-Jahcoozi style of cosmic hip-hop dub with loads of synth (in other words, ideal for some Koch warping). As is the title track that’s close to space pop-reggae; no idea what ‘Blueskywell’ is though.

Inevitably you’re going to get some misses on such an album, ‘Bug’ and ‘Robibot’ are too Prince like (or perhaps not enough Prince like?) That said, if you can imagine stripped down Matthew Herbert [non Big Band] doing Jahcoozi with a bit of funk on a space trip, that’s near Filewile.

Certain DJ’s can’t wait to give this a spin out live as the instrumental ‘One Space Town’ can easily be slipped into a nu-disco section without being particularly disco/house at all.

And if you can imagine Ozzy Osborne doing 8-bit cover versions of Augustus Pablo (not as bad as it sounds), go for ‘King Of The World’. In fact, this could be the track of the album but there’s some stiff competition with Joy giving her best Grace Jones impression on ‘Iron Lady’ that gets a guest appearance by another FLY favourite, RQM) .

To be honest, I didn’t think this would be as half as good as it is; perhaps it was the cover (I know, never judge etc), perhaps it’s the odd song titles (really, ‘Balaton Soupdrink’ and ‘Swahee Swahoo’! both mentioned tracks are excellent by the way), perhaps it was the flirting with pop-reggae, but I should have known better, this is a grower and not to be overlooked.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘One Space Town’, ‘King Of The World’, ‘Iron Lady’, ‘Balaton Soupdrink’, ‘Sombrero Or Die’, ‘Blueskywell’, ‘Robibot’

Reviewed: Filewile - Blueskywell (Mouthwatering Records) Cat. No. MWCD004 Release date: 9th November 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Sombrero Or Die (3:48)
2 Number One Kid feat. Joy Frempong (3:39)
3 Kick The Spacedrum (3:26)
4 Radiotower feat. Joy Frempong (3:32)
5 Bug feat. Joy Frempong (3:32)
6 Blueskywell feat. Joy Frempong (4:20)
7 Robibot feat. Joy Frempong (3:14)
8 One Space Town (6:51)
9 The Cave feat. Joy Frempong (3:02)
10 King Of The World feat. Joy Frempong (3:49)
11 Iron Lady feat. RQM and Joy Frempong (5:03)
12 Balaton Soupdrink 4:53
13 Swahee Swahoo feat. Joy Frempong (4:29)
14 Codeine feat. RQM and Joy Frempong (5:47)

Links:
www.filewile.com
www.myspace.com/filewile
www.twitter.com/filewile
www.mouthwateringrecords.com