New releases last eight weeks: Leftfield

Review: Musician and writer Karl Bartos has long been admirer of Weimar-era culture. During his time in Kraftwerk, he helped create the stunning track 'Metropolis', directly inspired by a band viewing of the classic 1927 Fritz Lang film of the same name. The original orchestral music composed for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Giuseppe Becce had long been lost and in 2005, after watching the film, Bartos imagined what it would be like to create an entirely new one in the 21st Century in his home studios in Hamburg. Now with crystal clear images, digitally restored by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation, the film is visually the best quality it has ever been and now, with Bartos' soundtrack, there is impressive sound to go with the haunting vision. Narrative film music and sound design collide in Robert Wiene's classic 1920 psychological thriller, this latest auditory complement of which is now issued on a large 37-track CD and 48-page booklet.

Review: While Fritz Lang's Metropolis has enjoyed reams of revisionist soundtracks in the near-century since it was released, Robert Weine's The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari has remained a more cult concern of Weimar-era cinema. Karl Bartos, one of the early members of Kraftwerk, has indulged his passion for the art of this unique period between world wars, when technology and art was changing as rapidly as the world around them. Employing his considerable experience and well-appointed studio to the task of re-soundtracking, Bartos has created this vibrant new score for Weine's film, pressed up here on double vinyl with an accompanying 16-page booklet.