Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: A new collaboration of Philoxenia Records founders Luigi Di Venere and Neu Verboten, Affekt Unit is informed by an aim to "spark new feelings on the dancefloor". The three track Discorgy EP celebrates their musical obsessions - Italo house, Frankfurt EBM-house and trance - with the result proving an electrifying crossover of these classic genres together with surprising new sounds. 'Oct-Opus' boasts a serious electro component, fused with progressive trance, UK bass, techno, transcendental rave and even a climactic outbreak of rave-era breaks. The title track 'Discorgy' draws from Euro dance and EBM, experimenting with a polyrhythmic bass line and bringing the kind of 'stadium house' that The KLF were always aiming for. Closing track 'Dreams Of Wrestlers' is cosmic house at its sweetest and beefiest, spruced here and there with Italo stabs and pianos, drum machine fills and some lovely subtle filtering. Not so much a case of something for everyone than everything from everyone, you might even say.

Review: The story of this one revolves around San Diego native Anthony "Antone" Williams. He was one day alone in a studio, messing about with the gear and before he knew he it lay down the haunting rhythm that underpins the tune now presented here by the good folks at Athens of the North. It's a sinister, restless one that got released as a hugely limited 7" on Unity Records with otherworldly soul production and a pained vocal up top. Post punk soul, some call it, and that's a fitting descriptor. A remix appears on the flip but the allure of the original is hard to beat.

Review: Elektronik Body Girl is the musical alter-ego of Shelbatra Jashari featuring production assistance from Brussels's soFa. The Belgo-Albanian postpunk pair cooked up sounds that accompany an imagined dystopian industrial wasteland with tons of improv and lots of raw, jagged rhythm. Dealing with the "empowering feminine" and its representation were key to the vision of Jashari as well as abrasive textures and stark atmospheres. Her vocals touch on her roots in Belgium and Kosovo from an outsider's position and label associate Toulouse Low Trax cooks up a brilliant beatdown mix to seal the deal.

Review: Modern Talking is the German pair consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen who were rather prolific back in the 80s and beyond. There has been a revived interest in their music of late and for that reason much of it is being reissued, including this new, limited edition and nice heavyweight 12" edition of 'Give Me Peace On Earth.' It's a three track disco odyssey that starts with the sentimental and syrupy sweet vocals of the title track, which is doused in loved up 80s chords. 'Stranded In The Middle Of Nowhere' is just as devastatingly heart broken with its slow, crashing drums and yearning vocals then bonus cut 'Sweet Little Sheila' picks up the pace for a lively dance floor disco workout.

Review: Independent radio institution NTS has a lot to answer for. Not least introducing its legions of loyal listeners across the world to the mighty (or, perhaps more appropriately, curious Staalfagel). The result of some serious crate digging, as per usual for the platform, the Swedish post punk and New Wave outfit - Erik Fritjofsson, Petter Brundell and Micke Kjell - reflect how broad the digital station's music policy can be, and how important it is for things to be rediscovered and saved from obscurity.
Forming in 1980, the three piece only released two full length records in their time, alongside a handful of singles and EPs. Utan Rymddrakt Pa Uranus is among the most enigmatic and delightful, here presented in two parts with an edit by Gary The Tall. As early adopters of synths and drum machines, the cosmic dance-pop sound here might be rudimentary today, but also has this real sense of adventure and breaking new ground about it.

Review: A world of brutal beats and hard edge techno rhythms beckons on this new min album, vocals often obstructed by brushing synths and comprised textural sounds, tortured leads and fizzing apocalyptic energies that make it perfect for gritty warehouse raves. Opener 'The Brain Plays With Me' sets a powerful tone from the off, while 'Claroscuro' slips into a slower but just as caustic world of sound. 'Don't Trust In The First Whispers' is a paranoid chamber of reflected vocals and crashing hits that has you looking over your shoulder and 'Melted Doubts' is doom laden drone from the end of the world.

Review: When Marie Davidson announced last year that she would be, "retiring from club music", many wondered what she'd do next. Renegade Breakdown, her first album recorded with a full band (L'Oeuil Nu), answers that question. It sees the Canadian artist and her new collaborators deliver suitably arresting, personal and ear-catching songs built on mixing and matching a surprisingly wide variety of musical inspirations, from Blondie, classic disco and mutilated heavy metal guitars, to Kraftwerk, Billie Holliday, Fleetwood Mac and Daft Punk. It's a big shift for the previously highly experimental artist, but thanks to her skill as both a a producer and performer, one that works magnificently well.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight tear and creasing to corner of outer sleeve, also the record has light surface marks/smudges, but otherwise in excellent working condition***

Review: A warm welcome back to perennial genre-benders Hot Chip, who return to stores after three long years with their eighth album, some 21 years after making their debut. Freakout/Release is no dramatic change in direction, but instead a further distillation of what has always made the band so appealing - a trademark fusion of synth-pop, loved-up house sounds, lilting and sometimes melancholic lead vocals, loose-limbed organic drums, nods to Prince and an ability to craft killer hooks. There are highlights aplenty, from the gravelly live hip-hop funk of 'The Evil That Men Do' (where rapper Cadence Weapon delivers a star turn) and the subtly post-punk influenced, saucer-eyed brilliance of 'Hard To Be Funky' (featuring Lou Hayter), to the classic Hot Chip sing-along flex of 'Time' and the krautrock-tinged 'Out of My Depth'.