Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Those interested in Japanese cartoons should know Space Adventure Cobra. First broadcast in 1982, it is now considered one of the country's finest animated TV series. This triple-vinyl box set celebrates Kentano Haneda and Yuji Ono's music from the series, combining compositions featured on the show with unheard extended versions and tracks that never made the cut first time round. Musically, it's a mix of Japanese disco, sax-sporting lounge jazz, jazz-funk, neo-classical movements and eccentric interludes, all doused in layers of cosmic dust and stargazing colour. The release also comes packaged with a 12-page booklet telling the story of the series and the making of the appealing, endlessly entertaining soundtrack.

Review: Akira Yamaoka, Marcin Przybylowicz and PT Adamczyk's original soundtrack for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners hears original OST numbers written for the award-winning anime series set within the futuristic dystopian world of Cyberpunk 2077, which originally spawned as the offshoot of the video game of the same name. Fitting for the music's breathy progressive house and electro oeuvre, which is interspersed with more traditional expressionist orchestral climaxes and builds, the Edgerunners series centres on a crack team of cyberpunk renegades, as they traverse the beastly underbelly of Night City, located in a futuristic vision of LA, navigating a world replete with corruption, gang violence, and cybernetic addiction. A note for fans: this vinyl edition includes unused, never-before-heard tracks composed by Yamaoka for Edgerunners, but which does not appear in the series.

Review: Re-rendered in a stunning full-length form, the groundbreaking soundtrack to the 1988 anime film Akira is here remixed in full by individual members of Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the elusive Japanese music collective behind the original Akira OST. Founded in 1974 by musician and agricultural scientist Tsutomu Ohashi, Geinoh Yamashirogumi still to this day adhere to a loose ecology, comprising hundreds of people with different occupations. Recreating folk music along modern dance musical and electronic lines - terraformed folktronica, if you will - the original Akira soundtrack was innovative, drawing on such Japanese folk musics as gamelan and noh while merging them into. Spawning many later remixes across electronica and dance music, this fresh remix record is fully overseen by director Katsuhiro Otomo and tracks larger-than-life remixes from Makoto Kubota, Kuniaki Haishima and Yasuharu Konishi, ragtag but chosen members of Geinoh Yamashirogumi.

Review: With roots that date back to 1967, when Weekly Manga Action magazine decided to take a punt on a new character, master thief Lupin III, grandson of gentleman robber Arsene Lupin, and his criminal gang, Takeo Yamashita and Otomo Yoshihide's collaborative soundtrack has cult status written all over it. While not made to accompany the core Lupin III series, the music here featured on the critically acclaimed Lupin Zero, a saga that takes us back to the early years of the protagonist - a young boy opening the door on a life of crime in mid-1960s Japan. On record, that sounds like a flamboyant and intoxicatingly heady brew of jazz, psychedelic rock, electronic experimentation and pure groove. As vivid as both the original printed cartoons and the subsequent screen adaptations that continued the legacy.

Review: The music from Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize and 12-Oscar-winning film encompasses the original score by Gabriel Yared with the haunting vocals of Marta Sebestyen and Fred Astaire. It is a story which has successfully made its mark on every medium that counts a - a classic to beat all classics. It's a cathartic journey that explores identity, fidelity, and fate amid the chaos of World War II. Shot against the majestic backdrop of the Northern Sahara and Italy, Yared's score blends Hungarian folk tunes, baroque themes, and romantic orchestration and mirrors the emotion of the film's characters without relying on visuals. Period tracks by Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman complement the emotional depth of the story.

Review: The film score to Kelly Reichardt's understated modern buddy movie classic, Old Joy, was composed by Yo La Tengo; one of the band's many soundtrack works, in addition to Shortbus, Junebug and Game 6, the Old Joy soundtrack was born of a years-long friendship held between the director and members of the band. Apt, since the film itself concerns the innate strength of amicable male bonds, maintained for years, even decades. This is also the most pensive and ruminative of all of Yo La Tengo's soundtracks, coming marked by montaging, repetitious guitar licks and pedal tones; excursive feels all round, matching the film's sombre and contrite climax. Now reissued for the first time on vinyl.

Review: Yo La Tengo release their understated, lonesome score to Kelly Reichardt's modern film classic 'Old Joy' (2006), a film dealing in lifestyle differences, drifting and reconciled friendship and the passage of time among other themes, Yo La Tengo's reflective soundtrack spans just six tracks and echoes Van Morrison in its full and embellished use of repetition, pockmarked by a slid-guitar, major-third-happy melancholia. Recorded in a single afternoon at Yo La Tengo's studio in Hoboken, this is a drifting, improvisatory journey, born out of years-long friendship between the band and the film's director.

Review: Japanese pop duo Yaosabi share the vinyl edition of their critically acclaimed song 'Idol'. 'Idol' is a combination of Japanese idol-styled pop, hip-hop, rock, and video game music, and depicts the two-faced nature of a fictional star in the Japanese idol industry; the record also serves as the lead theme music for the anime series Oshi No Ko, in turn based on Aka Akasaka's short story 45510, both of which also tracks Japan's cultural interest in the figure of the idol. This is a knowing slice of Japanese bubblegum, nonetheless aware of its murkier underbelly; it also packs a crazed confluence of idiomatic borrowings, from Atlanta hip-hop to orchestral music, and ties them all together with a single bow.

Review: Given his innate ability to craft intensely atmospheric and often fundamentally unsettling music, it seems apt that Thom Yorke has finally got around to producing a film soundtrack. It's fitting, too, that said soundtrack is for Luca Guadagnino's weirdo remake of 1977 Italian horror flick "Suspiria". Yorke nails the brief, delivering a string of chilling, otherworldly instrumentals that not only draw on his well-established love of dark ambient and gruesome electronica, but also foreboding neo-classical movements and sparse, wide-eyed arrangements. There are a smattering of superb vocal moments, too, with recent single "Suspirio" - described by one broadsheet reviewer as "the saddest waltz you'll ever here" - standing out.

Review: Given his innate ability to craft intensely atmospheric and often fundamentally unsettling music, it seems apt that Thom Yorke has finally got around to producing a film soundtrack. It's fitting, too, that said soundtrack is for Luca Guadagnino's weirdo remake of 1977 Italian horror flick "Suspiria". Yorke nails the brief, delivering a string of chilling, otherworldly instrumentals that not only draw on his well-established love of dark ambient and gruesome electronica, but also foreboding neo-classical movements and sparse, wide-eyed arrangements. There are a smattering of superb vocal moments, too, with recent single "Suspirio" - described by one broadsheet reviewer as "the saddest waltz you'll ever here" - standing out.

Review: In January, it was revealed that Thom Yorke composed the original score for Daniele Luchetti's film, Confidenza, which is based on Domenico Starnone's novel. XL Recordings now has that soundtrack on vinyl and it follows Yorke's acclaimed score for Luca Guadagnino's 2018 Suspiria remake, Suspirium, which earned a GRAMMY nomination. Yorke collaborates with producer Sam Petts-Davies again here , as well as the London Contemporary Orchestra and a jazz ensemble, including Robert Stillman and Tom Skinner. It is a grand and emotional work from the cult Radiohead legend.

Review: Thom Yorke's original score for Confidenza is a haunting masterpiece, blending synths, strings and jazz elements to create an atmospheric journey through love, loss, and life. From the ominous strangeness of 'The Big City' to the unsettling strings of 'Nosebleed Nuptials', Yorke's compositions evoke a sense of unease and beauty. Collaborating with trusted partners like the London Contemporary Orchestra and Robert Stillman, Yorke crafts a sonic landscape that is both immersive and emotionally resonant. 'Confidenza' displays Yorke's creative honesty and unrestrained talent. It's a triumph of subtle yet complex artistry, offering listeners an unforgettable experience that transcends the boundaries of traditional film scoring.

Review: This release sees Adrian Younge diving deep into the funky, soulful sounds of the 70s, crafting a soundtrack that perfectly captures the Blaxploitation era. The music is a vibrant blend of wah-wah guitars, heavy drums, and soaring strings, creating a cinematic soundscape that's both gritty and exhilarating. 'Black Dynamite Theme' sets the tone with its driving rhythm and powerful horns, while 'Man With The Heat (Superbad)' and 'Shine' showcase Younge's mastery of funk grooves. The soundtrack also features soulful moments like 'Gloria (Zodiac Lovers)' and 'Tears I Cry', adding depth and emotion to the overall experience. With its impeccable production and authentic vintage sound, this is a must-have for fans of classic funk and soul, as well as anyone who appreciates a well-crafted soundtrack.

Review: And they say nobody makes amazing kids TV anymore. Or maybe that's just people who remember iconic series like The Trap Door, Button Moon, Pingu, Danger Mouse and Fraggle Rock? Either way, anyone who actually has children now will attest to the fact there are some great programmes doing the rounds. We fell pretty quickly for Octonauts, which focuses on a pack of underwater animal rescuers. Meanwhile Yukee, which presents the potentially terrifying prospect of a ukulele-wielding six year old, also won our hearts. Thankfully for us all, Yukee can play her instrument very well. So well in fact that this collection of songs from her first series is actually very enjoyable no matter your generation. OK, so maybe once you get onto the 25th play-through in a single afternoon there might be cause to switch things up, but overall these catchy folk-pop tunes are going to bring smiles to faces of all ages.