Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Rafet's You Are In The Embrace Of The History is a thought-provoking debut released on Research Records, where Daniel Rafet Grima delves into ambient and drone music with a sense of reverence for ancestral memory. Side-1 begins with the title track, a piece that carries an air of longing and introspection. The atmosphere is rich with layers of ambient sound and chamber music depths. The next song featuring DGrima, adds another dimension with its haunting, immersive quality. On Side-2, Iti's remix introduces a delicate piano melody and a subtle beat, infusing the original with a fresh, creative energy. In contrast, Kuniyuki Takahashi's remix takes a more abstract approach, deconstructing the track into an intriguing exploration of sound and texture. You Are In The Embrace Of The History is a meditative and deeply reflective work that resonates with both beauty and depth.

Review: 'Warlock' is the latest release to be pushed via Bob Stanley's Measured Mile imprint, and pulls two floor-friendly but still retrospective gems from the storied De Wolfe music library, based in the UK and widely known as the progenitor and originator of what has now become known widely as library music. To demonstrate the gestation times common to this corner of the music industry, these two tracks have never been heard before, and yet were recorded in 1983! First comes Reg Tilsley with 'Warlock', a full yet light-winged flight through linns of flute, funk bass and notes inegales. Meanwhile, 'Flashpoint' by Roger Jackson is a space-age tittup of booming, long-tailed proportions; it's tempered by the nagging nip of a clavichord and the formidable frown of the lowest piano note.

Review: In a first-time collaboration, psychedelic trance godhead Simon Posford (best known as Hallucinogen and a founding member of Shpongle) teams up with fellow hippie and flutist Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield) on a welling improvisatory record, Improvisations For Piano And Flute. Though both are highly esteemed artists in their respective micro-corners of the electronic music scene, Posford and Rothfield both depart significantly from their usually danceable ends for a living-room recorded set of ambiences. With a synth placed atop an antique Bluthner piano, Raj and Simon would join in after the other first begun playing, delivering a 44-minute effluence for the spontaneous soul.

Review: Farfalla Records' reissue of Wonderland of Sound to celebrate its 50th anniversary is a nostalgic nod to the classic 70s library sound. Originally released in 1974 and produced by Brillant-Musik's Werner Tautz, the album was recorded in Zurich and features the talents of the Big Band Rainbow-Orchestra, comprised of Europe's finest session players. Wonderland of Sound epitomises the era's jazzy bliss, with splendidly funky compositions and arrangements that feature a ultra-stylish horn section. The album exudes a timeless charm, transporting listeners back to the heyday of European library music. Throughout the record, the craftsmanship of the musicians shines through, creating an exciting album that is both evocative and infectious.

Review: Samuel Reinhard's latest release, Movement, feels like a deep dive into the possibilities of space, texture, and repetition. Known for his intricate chamber compositions, Reinhard steps into electroacoustic territory, crafting a piece that's as much about what isn't there as what is. The title track 'No. 1', at a staggering 20 minutes, unfolds at a near-glacial pace. Piano notes decay as they meet fragments of cello, bass flute, double bass, baritone sax, and harp - all contributing to a sonic landscape where time feels stretched. The minimalist arrangement isn't about creating immersive soundscapes but rather letting each note breathe, decay, and be accompanied by the physical actions that produced them. It's a stark reminder that silence, or near-silence, can be just as powerful as sound. In keeping with his usual method, Reinhard uses a predetermined system to arrange these instrumental recordings. It's not the grand layering of instruments into a single cohesive whole, but rather the augmentation of subtle textures, crafting a free-floating counterpoint. There's no rush to move from one point to the next, leaving listeners to focus on the resonance of each note, the breath that fills an instrument, or the bow held in mid-air. As with previous releases on Hallow Ground and Prasens Editionen, including names like Lawrence English and Kali Malone, Movement is an exploration of perception, duration, and attention. Reinhard has produced a suite that manages to evoke both stillness and motion - a paradox that's central to his compositional style.

Review: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, known for their remarkable work with Nine Inch Nails and film scores like The Social Network, deliver a techno-charged soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino's tennis-themed love triangle drama Challengers. The score is a pulsating mix of electroclash, synth-pop, and driving techno, expertly weaving traditional instruments with electronic beats. Reznor and Ross take Guadagnino's vision to heart, crafting a soundtrack that not only drives the narrative but also challenges expectations with its bold, rhythmic energy. Tracks like 'Compress/Repress', co-written with Guadagnino and featuring Reznor's vocals, showcase their ability to blend artistic expression with the film's themes of control and power. Overall, this is a excellent soundtrack that works well to support the visual or just listening to it without having seen the movie.

Review: Finish dub techno powerhouse Joachim Spieth welcomes UK artist Rhubiqs to his well-regarded Affin label for a debut appearance that sinks you into a widescreen world of ambient lushness. His Aegis of Silence album takes cues from divergent sounds like post-rock and soft ambient as well as drone and even modern classical. It's an ever-shifting soundscape with smeared pads and nostalgia dreams, half-remembered thoughts and a sense of mood that ranges from escapist and blissed out to more ominous and paranoid.

Review: Rivet's newest album for Editions Mego blends optimism and negation, emerging sanguinely from a period of personal tragedy and disillusionment undergone by the artist. Mika Hallback, a key figure in the Swedish underground, first gained attention with industrial techno as Grovskopa before shifting to experimental work, including On Feather and Wire (2020). After the loss of fellow musician Peter Rehberg and his dog Lilo, Hallback created the somber L+P-2 (2023), and now Peck Glamour marks his return, coming reinfused with hope and exploration. Drawing on punk, industrial, techno, and trauma, the album combines synthetic and organic elements, with 'Orbiting Empty Cocoon', with its tugging, metal ballistic sound-rooms sounding like an Au-technic, cybernetic ritual, a dance anthem 'Patitur Butcher' and 'We Left Before We Came' concluding on comparatively layered zoonotic notes; posthuman synthesis backed by birdsong.

Review: It's hard to believe that Steve Roach's landmark space ambient exploration is now four decades young. Emphasis on the young, considering we're getting new releases through that sound pretty similar. No disrespect to those that do - the point is Structures From Silence was so massively ahead of its time it still feels like the rest of us are catching up. Floating on a dust ring somewhere close to Saturn, maybe, this is lush, dreamy, cosmic synth stuff to lose yourself in. Just be sure there's a yurt close by, because this one's all about lying down and staring into your own thoughts. An exercise in escapism, without needing to move a muscle. In 2025, there's plenty of off-world talk as Earth buckles under the weight of capitalism. Little do they know some of us left that place behind decades ago.

Review: Robert Rental is back on the mighty Dark Entries as the cult label reissues his Mental Detentions album as an expanded double pack. Rental is a Scottish pioneer of DIY electronic music who played a key role in shaping the UK's countercultural sound alongside collaborators like Thomas Leer and Daniel Miller. Though he released little solo music, his 1979 cassette Mental Detentions was a standout of the era that featured raw demos made with budget equipment like a Roland drum machine and Stylophone keyboard. Tracks like 'Stuck' offer a distorted take on the classic motorik sound, while 'Vox' delivers an 18-minute ambient journey in which it is easy to get lost. Rental's work captures the spirit of experimentation and innovation in the face of limited resources.

Review: A quadruple box set spanning recordings made between 1968 and 1980 on two-track Revox tape, these previously unreleased works showcase the hypnotic cycles and textural explorations that define kosmische musik. Using his signature Farfisa organ and Echolette tape delay, the pieces evoke the spirit of Roedelius' Selbstportrait series and collaborations with Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother. Rather than a strict retrospective, 90 feels like a timeless sound journey, blending cascading minimalist loops with the organic warmth that has inspired generations. Tracks are unnamed and unmoored from chronology, allowing the listener to experience them as fluid expressions of Roedelius's artistry. The music recalls the meditative brilliance of contemporaries like Terry Riley, while firmly rooted in the experimental ethos of early German electronic music. Released to celebrate Roedelius's 90th birthday, this collection is both a celebration and a rediscovery, offering a vivid portrait of a visionary artist. 90 is a masterclass in innovation and introspection, essential for fans of kosmische and beyond.

Review: Samuel Rohrer's stylish new solo album is a fine advert for his expertise as a multi-instrumentalist as it blends percussion, modular synths and keys into lovely downtempo grooves. The title may suggest romantic simplicity, but the music delivers nuanced emotional and tonal complexity and is dedicated to "brave lovers" seeking truth. Tracks like 'The Parish Bell' reveal Rohrer's focused, unhurried style with ephemeral sounds emerging and fading gracefully and guest contributions like Nils Petter Molvaer's muted horn on 'The Gift' add layers of warmth at a record which rewards attentive listening.

Review: Claire Rousay's The Bloody Lady is a reimagined score for Viktor Kubal's 1980 Slovak animated film, based on the story of Elisabeth Bathory, a noblewoman accused of heinous murders. Known for pushing boundaries in experimental and ambient music, Rousay crafted the album after moving to LA, blending granular synths, piano, and field recordings into 11 evocative tracks. This new composition, commissioned after a coincidental visit to Bathory's castle, was first performed live at Videodroom/Film Fest Gent 2023. The score mirrors the film's darkly whimsical tone, shifting between delicate melodies and menacing undercurrents. Inspired by the heart's rhythmic pulse, central to the plot, Rousay's use of subtle, everyday sounds complements the film's folk tale narrative. The multilayered nature of Kubal's animation, with its mix of fairytale simplicity and deeper moral ambiguity, resonated with Rousay, who explored these themes through her sonic landscapes. This album stands as both a tribute to Kubal's legacy and a distinctive artistic statement. By leaving space in the soundtrack, Rousay invites deeper engagement with the story, reinforcing its timeless themes of love, destruction and humanity.