Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: The Avidya label arrives with a bold new concept that sees it push itself to "step out of comfort zones to release a series of EPs of broad, challenging and deep music." The first affair is a fine one from four artists, the first of which is Lyon based procure A Strange Wedding from the Worst label. His slow trance locks you in and then Gothenburg trio Datasal come through with a prog rock and post funk and dance fusion. 84PC's contribution is peak time gold and Barcelona's Iro Aka arrive with another debut to round out this fine offering.

Review: Third part of the compilation celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Milanese record shop. This collection is entirely composed of previously unreleased music, exclusively produced for the occasion by many artists of great relevance in the worldwide music scene, who supported the store over the last ten years. The artists who produced the music for this compilation are Egyptian Lover, Ellen Allien, Thomas Brinkmann, Neil Landstrumm, JD Twitch, Matias Aguayo, San Proper, Tolouse Low Trax, Jay Glass Dubs, Dj Marcelle, Jorge Velez, Tamburi Neri, Fabrizio Mammarella, Heith, Itinerant Dubs, Timeslip89, Kreggo and Intersezioni Ensemble. The entire work is composed of 4 x 12", plus a bonus EP.

Review: Whilst remix EPs are by no means the most original of concepts, French label Desire should be applauded for their set of Ike Yard Remix EPs due to the calibre of those involved. Previous editions have seen contributions from Regis, Monoton, Tropic of Cancer and former Ike Yard synth player Fred Szymanski and this third and final EP sees the label turn to a younger generation with equally compelling results. Diagonal boss Powell might be new to remixes (this is only his second after reconstructing Silent Servant for Jealous God) but he's evidently willing and capable to dissect the source and reassemble in his own style. Put simply, little of "Half A God" remains here but Powell's remix will resonate immediately with anyone that consumed his original work last year. Elsewhere The KVB essentially throw down a cover version of "Cherish 8" whilst Vessel's accompanying mix of the same track should sound deafening on a big system and much the same can be said about Bandshell's refix of "NCR".

Review: In the early 1980s, Britain had a vibrant cassette culture that now gets spotlighted through a limited edition 12" featuring multi-instrumentalist Kez Stone's project, Imago. He was a notable name in Cornwall and the West Country's music scenes with previous projects, Artistic Control and Aaah! which have come back via reissues many times in the last ten years. Imago was a new one-ff project that first emerged with one track on the Perfect Motion compilation curated by NTS Radio's Bruno and Flo Dill and now the full LP, originally released in 1985 on the local label A Real Kavoom, has been remastered and added to with three additional gems. Stone's teenage punk influences sit next to Imago's eclectic approach to sound that blends new wave and psychedelic elements into something irresistible.

Review: Here's some fresh techno from Intercepts, a new project dropping three slabs of hi-def, immersive club material from three different un-named artists for adventurous souls. 'Track 1' moves at a slower tempo and deals in fractured rhythms, all the better to carry the huge swathes of atmospheric sound design. 'Track 2' rolls with a deceptive discoid funk which contrasts neatly with the looped up Berlin techno-friendly elements. 'Track 3' takes things even further out into experimental - but still rhythmical - territory, marking Intercepts out as a label with a strong sense of adventure and their own distinctive way of merging influences into something which may well tickle your ear drums.

Review: When it comes to heavy chug, Multi Culti has always known exactly where to strike to make the most memorable or - more accurately - inescapable impact. Thomas Jackson's 'Slow Train' is just the latest case in point, then, drawing dancers and listeners alike in with its warm-hued, hypnotic synth lines, stabs and warbles in all the right places to ensure that while not that much happens, you'll be stomping about like everything was going on at once. Far from a one-track-wonder, Calypso Cult II is the label setting out all its stalls with aplomb. 'Jungle Tungle' is a strange, somewhat shrill, constantly building and percussively dominated workout that's tough and yet not actually that tough. 'Big Plastic Room' is peak time acid meets Kraut oddness, while 'Hipocampos' brings things to a beautiful close with beguiling, downtempo sludge.

Review: Spanish producer Nueen and Manchester vocalist and rapper Iceboy Violet, who you might well recognised from appearing on Hyperdub releases by the likes of aya and Loraine James, come together for a collaborative work that follows the story of a four-year-long relationship. As you can imagine, therefore, it takes in peaks and troughs, emotional highs, depressive lows, and plenty in between that will all feel all too familiar to anyone who has ever fallen in and out of love. Drill-laced beats are laced with intimate melodies, and excitable chords spiral out of control while a menacing ambience percolates up from below. It's a powerful listen with a relatable narrative.

Review: .Rhetorical Islands was originally pieced together from Giuseppe Ielasi's work for l'Audible Festival in Paris. An event dedicated to pushing forward thinking, mind-expanding, experimental and just plain strange sounds, his efforts certainly fit in with all of those terms. Presented here as ten standalone tracks, all without name and many without the usual elements we expect from a 'track', this first vinyl pressing of the work is really an extension of the original idea, rather than a time capsule of it. "Isolated sound worlds" is the phrase Ielasi used to describe what's happening here, and it's certainly true that the individual parts stand alone and can each be heard as autonomous. But together they also make a strange kind of sense, complementing, almost feeding into each other, even at the most stark juxtaposition. Ultimately, then, it's about interpretation, making what we choose from the ingredients.

Review: Dorset laptop head Iglooghost, AKA Seamus Malliagh, certainly knows how to paint a vivid picture - aurally and visually. 2017's startlingly original debut, Neo Wax Bloom, was like stepping through a vortex into another world entirely. A rich and deep universe that felt as though it had been there for aeons, waiting for us to stumble on a branch in the forest and fall headfirst through the wardrobe.

Lei Line Eon extends that realm significantly, building on past musical frameworks to deliver something that is at once bolder and bigger, but calmer and more serene. As though we have done with the immediately overwhelming experience of being taken somewhere Definitely Not Of This Plane, and found ourselves on a mountain side taking in this new place from a much broader perspective. Comparisons to Boards of Canada still apply, but with this latest Iglooghost reaffirms he's really all about the originality.

Review: Planet Mu usher in the return of Ital Tek and a new sonic approach for the long-term label associate, as Hollowed finds Alan Myson switching up his approach. The chance to immerse himself in a new studio set up was the impetus for Myson to engage in laying down countless hours' worth of loops, drones and textures. It is apparently a method he used as a teenager, but armed with years of recording experience he was now able to make the record he had then envisaged. Fans of the crisp style of dubstep Ital Tek made his name on might be a bit taken aback by this new direction, but there is plenty of fine music to explore here for those that like their sounds abstract and impressionistic.

Review: A record unlike any other, 'Is That What You Want' is a fascinating slice of what some might call 'outsider soul', but even that label can't do full justice to the music here. Part of a wholly unrecognised community of DIY musicians living in East Philadelphia in the 1980s, Lee Tracy and Isaac Manning were a vocal, instrumental and production duo whose efforts flew sorely under the radar at the time that they laid these slick slices of experimental joy to tape. Bleeding a shocking transfusion of gospel, electro, lo-fi, funk and soul, this is a worthy slice of Afrofuturism existing outside the jazz connotation. "We never went to no studio," retorts Manning, showing off the pair's homespun ingenuity. Bolstered by a slew of DIY videos shot in Lee's front garden, this has everything from black Southern IDM to machine-glitched proto-raps. It deserves all the recognition it can get.