Back catalogue: Classical

Review: Billow Observatory returns to the fully ambient realms of their 2012 debut with a deeply introspective, percussion-free release that drifts through spectral soundscapes. Created by Jason Kolb and Jonas Munk, the duo's transatlantic collaboration has matured across four full-length albums marked by precision and emotional depth. Here, abandoning traditional structure, the album instead looks to harness the power of chance and randomness with shimmering guitar textures that crackle and dissolve like dust in water. It evokes a world slightly out of sync that is brooding, haunting and beautifully immersive while underlining their place as masters of refined, atmospheric ambient music.

Review: Animation fans really went wild for this movie, and specifically its soundtrack which has been heralded as one of the best of the year. Now, Waxwork Records, in collaboration with Back Lot Music, serves it up on deluxe double LP and it includes two songs by Maren Morris, Kiss The Sky and Even When I'm Not. The Wild Robot soundtrack is the work of Kris Bowers and it features meticulously designed sounds which a future world of joy, hope, pain and loss. There are dramatic crescendos on 'System Breach (feat Sandbox Percussion)' and more quiet moments of orchestral grandeur on 'Brightbill' and plenty in between. Also included is a 12-page booklet featuring exclusive liner notes from director Chris Sanders and Bowers, along with stunning artwork from the film.

Review: An experimental dark folk group from Wurzburg, Germany, Brannten Schnure's 2017 release gets a well-deserved reissue, retaining its distinctive experimental dark folk essence. The duo, Christian Schoppik and Katie Rich, crafts immersive soundscapes where traditional instruments, eerie vocals, and looped, crackling recordings converge. Tracks like 'Das Jungfrauliche Ohr' and 'Die Milchlinse' set the tone, blending atonal elements with haunting, dreamlike atmospheres. 'Die Geschandete Venus' takes a darker, more melancholic turn, with its slow, creeping build. On the B-side, tracks such as 'Der Kleinere Mit Gefleckten Linien Umgebene Papillonsflugel' offer intricate compositions that evoke a surreal, almost cinematic quality. With influences from Nico and Novy Svet, their music pours out and creates a world that's both unsettling and strangely beautiful.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record sleeve damaged, product in working order***


The Brian Cox-starring hereditary TV drama Succession was a sensation. Satirising the inevitable real-life chaos surrounding Rupert Murdoch's media imperial legacy, the series highlighted the internal contradictions of ultra-rich family life, and was noted for its depiction of such a life as necessarily unenviable. Now the iconic soundtrack by composer Nicholas Brittell surfaces for the first time on vinyl; lined with notes by series producer Jesse Armstrong, this LP encompasses everything from the series's main theme song through to each motif, revelling in the series' bombastic, pompous, yet also farcical, foundering subject matter.

Review: The Brian Cox-starring hereditary TV drama Succession was a sensation. Satirising the inevitable real-life chaos surrounding Rupert Murdoch's media imperial legacy, the series highlighted the internal contradictions of ultra-rich family life, and was noted for its depiction of such a life as necessarily unenviable. Now the iconic soundtrack by composer Nicholas Brittell surfaces for the first time on vinyl; lined with notes by series producer Jesse Armstrong, this LP encompasses everything from the series's main theme song through to each motif, revelling in the series' bombastic, pompous, yet also farcical, foundering subject matter.

Review: Newly ordained keyboardist Volodja Brodsky, from Estonia, has described his music as an exploration of the transformative power of minimalism, the art form and compositional approach in which he is trained. Brodsky's second LP lacks the contextual elucidations that accompanied the first record that 2024, but we sense that this may be because the career ball is already rolling, and no further explanations may be needed for now. Raindrops is a precipitous record, as Brodsky wrenches piano and vibraphone motifs from romantic scale meanderings we didn't know possible; widescreen voicings and compound intervals help earmark these standout moments. Elsewhere, the mood is downcast, as on 'Fogbound Streets Of Maardu' or 'Raindrops'; the left hand basso is almost always moody in feel, while the right hand always produces tearful and romantic sound.

Review: Concurrent with their new collaboration Candylion, Darla now also reissue the last Harold Budd and Clive Wright album, A Song For Lost Blossoms, described by the label as a suite of ambient melody and "transcendental mood portals". Cobbled together from from intimate home sessions, as well as performances at Redcat in LA, and Clive Wright's Desert Sky Studio in Joshua Tree, these works span 2004 to 2006, and represent the finest moments in their collaboration, with Anna LaCazio lending her voice to the title track, reciting her original poem of the same name as the album's title. Budd, often hailed "The Godfather of Ambient Music," has shaped and shaken the genre's foundations, while Wright, a founding member of US pop rock band Cock Robin, brings a deep textural sensibility honed through work with artists like Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel. The Southern California desert's vast stillness and surreal magnanimity resonate throughout, arresting the sound in an asperous expanse.