Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: David Michael Tibet's exploration of the arcane mysteries through Current 93 are an intriguing subculture all of their own, sat somewhere to the side of Coil and the other mystics of the post-industrial scene. In Menstrual Night was released in 1986 as two long form pieces that layer up voices into a mesmerising swirl. The cast of collaborators on the project include such luminaries as Steven Stapleton, Keiko Yoshida, Rose McDowall, Boyd Rice and the late John Balance. Now House Of Mythology have created a faithfully recreated picture disc vinyl edition, sure to be quickly gathered up by the faithful followers of this fascinating corner of electronic music.

Review: Drag City has reissued Dorothy Carter's 1976 debut album, Troubadour, a significant work in her folk music career. Known for her expertise on hammered dulcimer and psaltery, Carter's musiciinterweaving Appalachian, Celtic, Jewish, and her own compositionsiexudes a timeless, magical quality. This reissue not only revives her debut but also includes an insert with additional photos and notes by producer Eric Demby, recalling his childhood encounters with Carter's music. Troubadour captures Carter's eclecticism and her dedication to melding global musical traditions. The album opens with the medieval French instrumental 'Troubadour Song' and ventures through a variety of folk traditions, including an enigmatic rendition of the Scottish ballad 'The Twa Sisters' and a vibrant Psalm 100 in 'Make a Joyful Sound.' Carter's approach blends Eastern and Western influences most strikingly on 'Tree of Life,' hinting at the spiritual fusion she would explore further in her later work. With tracks like the Israeli folk song 'The King of Glory,' Michael Praetorius' 'The Morning Star,' and Appalachian standards 'The Cuckoo' and 'Shirt of Lace,' the album is a profound exploration of folk traditions. This reissue, presented in its original format with enriched visuals and historical context, offers a deep dive into Carter's visionary artistry, capturing the essence of her early, transformative work. Essential listening for fans of Michael O'Shea, Laraaji, and Jerusalem in My Heart.

Review: The first ever reissue of Dorothy Carter's 1978 folk/psych/drone masterpiece. A truly unique album in Dorothy's catalog, Waillee Waillee's essence sits in Dorothy's mastery of the dulcimer; its shimmering notes fully enmeshed with the cavernous drones of Bob Rutman's bowed steel cello. The core of this album, Dorothy's only with a full band, lies in the contradiction of traditional psych-folk idioms and the minimal avant-garde, referencing Laraaji and Henry Flynt as much as Karen Dalton.

Review: Palto Flats and Putojefe Records present the first ever reissue of a truly mysterious record from the experimental extreme of folk, drone and experimental dulcimer. Dorothy Carter only released a small handful of records, but Waillee Waillee has since attained a mythical status amongst those in the know. It's not hard to understand why from just one listen, as the lilting bed of zither and dulcimer forms a dense blanket of harmonious drone upon which Carter's voice soars with a choral serenity. It's stirring and spiritual, calling to mind the powerful effect of Laraaji's music but tipping more towards a folk tonality which makes the music entirely unique.

Review: The third full length from Hawaii-born, LA producer singer/producer Jess Labrador, operates in a sweet pot between the dreamy and the nightmarish, atmospheres shifting without warning and genres fused and abused, particularly focussing on joining the dots between between electronics and classic songwriting. Labrador's sonic skills - her day job is as a professional mastering engineer - is very much evidence on what is her first almost completely DIY production, with every note and frequency in its place for maximum devastation and emotional resonance.

Review: Clinic Stars' debut album Only Hinting is a melancholic swirl of downer-pop and shoegaze, crafted by Detroit duo Giovanna Lenski and Christian Molik. Having spent 2022 and 2023 recording at their home studio, they layered each track with dense FX and deep reverbs, creating an emotional undertow that envelops every song. Tracks like 'I Am The Dancer' spiral with strummed guitar swells, while 'Remain' pulses with gated reverb, and the greyscale melancholy of 'Isn't It' drips with dreamy, aching nostalgia. The album is as much about escape as it is about longing. Though the duo cite their industrial surroundings as a key influence, the songs themselves feel as if they're trying to transcend these confines, soaking in the romance of distance and detachment. Previous EPs 10,000 Dreams and April's Past offered a similar slowcore haze, but Only Hinting takes this aesthetic further, blending melody and ambience until they become indistinguishable. There's a delicate balance between lightness and weight, a constant tug-of-war between floating and sinking. The guitars drift, vocals melt into the background, and the production feels both expansive and intimate, stretching across shadowy cityscapes. With this debut, Clinic Stars have created a deeply immersive sonic landscape that lingers long after it fades out. Available to pre-order now, Only Hinting will be released on LP format later this year.

Review: Only Hinting, the full-length debut record by Detroit duo Clinic Stars, both refines and redefines their pitch-perfect fusion of downer-pop balladry and featherweight shoegaze. Recorded and produced at the band's home studio, the album was created across 2022 and 2023, patiently layering FX and spatial depths to give each song a swirling, subconscious undertow. Between its burring washes of electric guitar crunch, its subtle electronic backbones, and its more quiescent moments of acoustic stripped-backness, we wouldn't have guessed that this one was a debut at all.

Review: Cluster's Zuckerzeit stands as a landmark in electronic music, showing the duo's innovative approach to ambient electronic soundscapes. Unlike their self-aware avant-garde contemporaries, Cluster's music emerges as a pure expression of their passion for electronic gadgetry and songwriting. The album's subtle shift in sound from their previous work heralds a more intriguing style characterized by bubbling ideas and electronic manipulation. Tracks like 'Hollywood' and 'Caramel' paint vivid pictures with gloriously chunky synthesizers and jerky drumbeats, evoking reflective and playful tones respectively. 'Rote Riki' ventures into experimental territory with alien-like synths and throbbing bass, while 'Rosa,' "Fotschi Tong,' and 'Marzipan' conjure images of ambient space exploration with colorful synthesizers and relaxed drumbeats. 'Caramba' and 'James' delve deeper into experimentation, showcasing Cluster's versatility. Closing with 'Rotor' and 'HeiBe Lippen,' the album maintains its pace, with motorik beats and droning sounds adding to the overall spacey atmosphere. Clocking in at under 40 minutes, Zuckerzeit is a dynamic journey through Cluster's boundless creativity, setting a new standard for electronic music.

Review: The Moon and the Melodies, a collaboration between Cocteau Twins and ambient pioneer Harold Budd, stands as a unique gem in both artists' discographies. Originally released in 1986, this ethereal album is now being reissued on vinyl, remastered from the original tapes by Robin Guthrie. Unlike anything else the Cocteau Twins ever produced, this record blends their dreamlike soundscapes with Budd's serene, improvisational piano work. The result is an atmospheric journey, at once intimate and expansive. Tracks like 'Sea, Swallow Me' shine with Elizabeth Fraser's otherworldly vocals, intertwined with Guthrie's shimmering guitar and Raymonde's grounding bass, creating a sound that feels both familiar and entirely unique. Instrumentals like 'Memory Gongs' and 'The Ghost Has No Home' highlight Budd's delicate piano, enhanced by the band's signature ambient textures. The album is a study in contrasts, vocal tracks sit alongside instrumentals, each contributing to a cohesive yet diverse listening experience. For fans, this reissue is a chance to revisit a pivotal moment in the evolution of dream pop and ambient music. The album's enduring appeal is evident in its continued influence in social media. The Moon and the Melodies remains a shining light that can happen when artists from different realms come together to create something truly timeless.

Review: Recorded in Stockport and Stockholm between 2016 and 2017, Jon Collin's The Nature is still just as beautiful more than half a decade on. Captured inside and outside, "with and without electricity", on the face of it this is a collection of captivating slide guitar improvisations that feel altogether timeless. Tunes that were born in a specific moment, but could have been conceived in countless others. That's all very impressive, but in many ways what really makes The Nature so enthralling are the minutiae, the imperfect details, ambient noises that were captured during the process of these tunes being laid down. Those elements add a three dimension quality to the listing experience, rendering the work and artist in vivid detail, transporting us to the times and places this project came from.

Review: Loren Connors and Alan Licht's performance on The Blue Hour is a rare and stunning exploration of sound and emotion. Celebrating thirty years of collaboration, the duo's first-ever set with Connors on piano is captured in this live recordings from May 5-6, 2023. The album surprises with its spacious warmth, showcasing the duo's dedicated expressionism and vast spectrum of emotion. The opening notes shimmer, leading into a stunning exchange of melodies and chords. As Connors transitions to guitar, the music deepens, creating sharp, glassy edges and a dramatic, organ-like feedback. The duo's chemistry is palpable as they lock into refrains, creating a melodic and harmonious sound reminiscent of their early days. Licht's ability to delicately place fractures of a Jackson C Frank song among Connors' blues is remarkable.

Review: Loren Connors and Alan Licht's collaborative journey spanning 30 years culminates in their eighth album, At The Top Of The Stairs, is a great example to their enduring partnership and musical evolution. Recorded live in 2018, the album features two side-long pieces that showcase the duo's ability to create ethereal, abstract soundscapes with intricate arrangements. Throughout their collaboration, Connors' ghostly blue tones and Licht's meticulously crafted feedback and harmonic patterns have formed the core of their unique sound. At The Top Of The Stairs captures the duo's ascent through layers of atmospheric tension, punctuated by Connors' thunderous waves of effects. Connors and Licht have left an indelible mark on the experimental music landscape.

Review: Yet another reissue to come out via David Tibet's current reissues occupation Cashen's Gap is the incredible eleventh Current 93 record Swastikas For Noddy. Playing up recurrent motifs of ruination and spoiling - always present in Tibet's music since early - every facet of this record seems to find an impertinent glee in juxtaposing the beautiful with the ominous, the dainty with the dearth. Perhaps it's a cursed record, as its intent spelt doom from the get-go: it first ran into copyright trouble after its title provoked the ire of writer Enid Blyton, who certainly did not appreciate the apparent Nazification of her beloved character. But over that hump came the real backstory: Tibet said, "I took a load of acid on the top of the house where Rose McDowall was living and I had a vision of Noddy crucified in the sky and it really impressed me...", which led to a crazed but short-lived Noddy consumer fanaticism on the artist's part. This record was of course born of that period of Noddy thrall; it nonetheless mystifies the gaudy children's character and toy's allure, couching it in bewitching pagan folk monodies and dastardly end-of-times industrial-hell crescendos. Perhaps when we forget Noddy, we forget the nation. Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12" vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-colour die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside.

Review: After a period of roughly three decades, German soundtrack artist and onetime Karlheinz Stockhausen apprentice Holger Czukay shares a surprise trove of lost tapes, which are said to have been once recorded by the artist for "free disposal" and which were presumably forgotten about at the time. Now available, all of said material is said to date back to at least the 1990s, and marks the forward thinking and "ahead of its time" (as remarked by fellow producer Schneider TM) approach to cold Kraut and experimental wave that informed Czukay as he experimented freewheelingly with beatmaking while in the company of further fellows Dr. Walker and Air Liquide. Also evolving in temporal conjunction with an experimental live show involving body tracking tech, fashioned by mixed media artist Arthur Schmidt, there are implicit themes of virtual reality and haptic sound control here. Way ahead of its time indeed.

Review: Immersion is the epitome of collaboration. Comprising Colin Newman, of legendary UK post punk outfit Wire, and his life partner Malka Spigel, the two first came together in 1985, former producing the latter's band, and have since fallen in love and combined creative forces countless times. Growing out of their Immersion project, a series of pop up gigs took place at the Rosehill, Brighton, with a cast of influential and cutting edge musicians getting involved. Songs were written and rehearsed before each show, and an album, Nanocluster Vol.1, soon materialised. Now we have the follow up. Disc one is centred on Thor Harris, percussion doyen of Swans, while the second half refocuses our attention on Cubzoa, AKA Jack Wolter of Penelope Isles, with Matt Schulz (Holy Fuck) also involved. The result is a psyche-tinged ride through swaggering indie, dream pop, chill, and surreal rock, nodding to names from Beta Band to King of Woolworths and beyond.

Review: Homaging mutuality in a robust creative dialogue, More Eaze and Claire Rousay add another flash of brilliance to a mesmerising string of allegorical LPs. Both born in San Antonio, Texas, Rousay and Eaze (Mari Maurice) riff (literally) on strummed country and noise rock echoes, reflecting an uptick in electronica artists sound-repainting the lonesome grasslands and desert great plains of the mid Southern United States. Yet on No Floor, there is an ardent sci-fi leitmotif too, producing a techno-realist vision reminiscent of a Texan Death Stranding and/or Simon Stalenhag painting. From 'kinda tropical' to 'limelight, actually' we hear shortgrass droughts, short-wave police radio chatter, and the bootup zaps of a beaten up pocket survivo-droid, as it scans the semidesert we alone must brave.

Review: This collaborative LP is a beautiful and intimate work that draws on elements of Americana, experimental sound design and post-rock. The duo have a deep connection going back to their hometown of San Antonio, Texas and here create a unique sound with lush textures and emotional depth that, unlike their previous work, involved more found sounds. No Floor showcases their mastery of traditional composition and sound manipulation with tracks like 'Kinda Tropical' and 'The Applebees Outside Kalamazoo, Michigan' evoking nostalgia and the complexities of youth. All throughout this record, you can feel the duo's bond in its delicate, evolving soundscapes.