Back catalogue: All genres

Review: It's been a long time since Halo: Combat Evolved revolutionised the word of first-person shooter video games. Graphically superior to anything that had come before it, the franchise also benefits from a spectacularly gripping storyline in which humans are outgunned and out-teched by a ruthless and uncompromising alliance of superiorly equipped alien races united as The Covenant. The titular Halo adds a kind of Prometheus air of uncertainty, as nobody really knows what it does until attempts to activate the galaxy-destroying weapon reveal something worse than death - a parasitic breed called the Flood. If all that was enough to blow everyone away in 2001, 2004 brought us to a whole new level of immersion in this future scape. Just like its predecessor, a big part of the impact was the visionary score by gaming soundtrack masters Martin O'Donnell and Michael Savatori. Now here it is in all its Gregorian chanting glory.

Review: In the right circles,, Martin O'Donnell and Michael Savatori are living legends. Working with the iconic US video game company Bungie Inc, the pair put their names on the map - or maybe maps? - by creating soundtracks to a number of high profile titles, either as a duo or individually. O'Donnell is arguably the better known, or at least has the bigger online persona, but both composers deserve plenty of credit. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first title in what is now a huge and genre-defining first person shooter franchise, and the score reflects the emergence of video game music as an integral part of the on-screen action. O'Donnell and Savatori's efforts to ensure instrumentation dramatically changed with events in the game, which is by nature relatively non-linear, was a revelation. While their efforts to separate these into individual suites foresaw the rise of playable stories as films in their own right.

Review: Taeko Onuki's latest release is a live album pressed up to vinyl and capturing her full performance from Tokyo in November 2023. The show featured a seven-piece band with Hirokazu Ogura on guitar, Masato Suzuki on bass, Takashi Numazawa and Tatsuo Hayashi on drums, Febien Reza Panet on piano, and Toshiyuki Mori and Shohei Amamori on keyboards. This album showcases Onuki's dynamic performance with a talented ensemble and a rich array of sounds from the original multi-tracks. It's a great snapshot of the event as well as being a superb contemporary pop exploration across four sides of vinyl.

Review: Five years after 'Jam Ka 2.5 The Tokyo Session,' Japan's renowned jazz guitarist Yosuke Onuma is releasing his first solo guitar album. Known for his genre-blending style that bridges jazz, world music and global sounds, Onuma returns with a new album after a five-year hiatus. His career began with the debut album 'Nu Jazz' in 2001 which showed his versatility across various musical influences. Recently, his 'Jam Ka Project' has gained recognition for blending French Caribbean grooves with modern jazz. This album features carefully selected pieces composed by Onuma between 'Jam Ka' in 2010 and the pre-pandemic period.