Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Emotional Response present something intriguing and oh so fresh from Cherrystones, who has most commonly been spotted recently lurking about labels like Bahnsteig 23, but in fact has a legacy reaching back to the late 90s. This new mini-album is reportedly the result of a pointed retreat to Scotland - a period of semi-isolation with minimal distractions from the serious business of analogue synths and reel-to-reel tape. There's a lot going on, from the slinky, boogie-licked groove of 'Amaziac' to the sludgy, wave tinted 'Rave Digger', but throughout the common theme is one of rough, upfront waveforms - maximal sounds with lashings of character, wielded with glee by an artist knee deep in their craft.

Review: Having spent much of the last few years working alongside Lou Savary in cold-wave revivalists Reymour, Luc Bersier has decided to go solo as Marcel Die Sie. His debut release, which also happens to be the inaugural EP of the Rababoo label, naturally inhibits a similar sonic space to his work with Savary, with each of the three original cuts on show offering a mixture of chugging, mid-tempo grooves, wayward electronics, early '80s new wave synth sounds and a subtly psychedelic mood. There are similarly impressive remixes on the flip too, with De Roo's moody, occasionally spacey IDM style take on 'Poetic Frame' being followed by a hypnotic, acid-fired and trance-inducing interpretation of the same track by Dark Entries artist Anatolian Weapons.

Review: It's not often someone other than Omar S releases on his FXHE label. And it is never that he has put hardcore post-punk. But we're not complaining. There's a real dance floor chug to this new EP that would have been masterfully deployed by dexterous DJs like the late Andrew Weatherall. The whole thing has been recorded, produced and mixed by Alex Smith himself, while the trio that is Decliner are the ones who wrote the filthy guitars and laid down the sleazy drum beats. The tunes are mired in fuzz and grime and have snarled lyrics that really cut through the darkened biker disco vibes. Excellent stuff.

Review: DJ F16 Falcon's music has always been tricky to pigeonhole, with the fast-rising French producer frequently fusing dub-wise rhythms and off-kilter beats with unusual samples, Tolouse Low Tracks style experimental electronics and melodic elements that doff a cap to tropical, new age and world music. Ici Commence La Nuit, his latest excursion, treads a similar sonic path, delivering unusual but wonderfully inventive and entertaining excursions. The most accessible and warming of the lot is colourful, melodious and bass-heavy opener 'Ici Commence La Nuit', though the sludgy, modular-rich pulse of 'Trip a La Mode de Quand' and thoroughly odd 'Clope Sucree' are equally as potent.

Review: Trauma Collective returns to shock your system on their fifth release, which comes courtesy of Spain's Rafael M. Espinosa aka Geistform. The Barcelona-based artist, also known for his exploits under the Univac alias, has crafted a singular style that exists at the interzone of IDM, digital noise and electro and having earned him releases on Pi Electronics, Femur and Hands Productions in recent years.

Espinosa executes four programs in sonic warfare on the Antena EP, all sounding akin to complex bitstream amplification. A multi-level barrage of frequencies play offense on opening cut "Proxima B", which sets the theme for more widescreen pulsations that gash the senses, as heard on the syntax error of "Note Repeat" and building up to a climax on the monochromatic soundstage of "Norc" - a jagged and angular exploration in bass artefacts and static redux.

Since unleashing the austere techno of Birmingham legend Mick Harris (as Monrella) and hometown hero Kwartz on unsuspecting ears, the Madrid-based collective has now ventured into more experimental spheres, as heard on the off-kilter mentalism of ASC's Loop Research and the brooding atmosphere of Makunaimadama's limited cassette release last year. Antena is the logical progression for the label's next chapter, where it continues to push the threshold of electronic music's outer limits.

Review: Since first emerging in 2011 via the globally renowned Bella Union stable, Swedish indie rock duo I Break Horses have certainly set out their stall. The pair, better known as Maria Linden and Fredrik Balck, have - among other things - hit the road to support both M83 and Sigur Ros in the years between then and now. Indicative of their incredibly textured and subtly all-consuming approach to soundscapes, while this release comprises two remixes it still feels every bit a Horses outing.

There's just so much timbre to get to grips with. 'Death Engine' belongs in a twisted math rock dream, as grungy and rough as it is epic and emotional, if you look beneath the immediate discordance and distortion. Mythologen's take on 'Turn' is a cleaner second act, taking the pace down a notch and removing chaos, leaving only calm and serene harmonies of real beauty behind.

Review: "Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth." So said the world's most visible climate activist Greta Thunberg in her pre-COP26 speech in Milan, blasting world leaders for inadequate (or near-non-existent) responses to the environmental crisis. Given we're 12 months down the line and the vast majority of promises made at said 2021 climate summit have not been actioned, with emissions continuing to climb, it's unsurprising direct action has turned much more direct and disruptive this year, and people are now sampling the young orator to amplify her message through music.

If that sounds like it may lack subtlety, fear not. Renude19 have managed to achieve something pretty difficult - a protest dancefloor track that doesn't ram things down your throat and works very well without you knowing that context. Essentially a dystopian-vibed broken beat synth workout with electro-pop vocals and occasional "Blah blah blah" hook, it's timely and well executed.

Review: Indica Dubs and Kai Dub link up here for their second collaboration, which is the first release of the year for the label. It features the full flavour and futuristic stepper that is 'Elevation Dub', complete with wooden hits and Digital pads, warrior chords and a nice sleek aesthetic. 'Higher Dub' then flip sit into a more heady affair with plenty of mad studio effects and endless reverb, floating toms and sizzled pads. These triumphant tunes are primed and ready for big plays on huge sound systems.

Review: Roy Of The Ravers takes a break from his mischievious outings on Acid Waxa et al to lay down some of his braindance tackle on Emotional Response. White Line Sunrise II.I (Le Roy Soleil) can rightly be considered a follow-up to White Line Sunrise II and indeed it represents a similar kind of spectrum of electronica. Roy's sound is edging further into the kind of 'artist' territory where slower, softer tracks, odd vocal diversions and some pop sensibilities merge with the acid, electro, breakbeat and other well-established tropes of his sound. It's the kind of record which could easily broach this quirky fringe operator of UK electronics to a broader fan base, and there's no doubt he's got the melodic, emotional heft on tracks like 'Versace 101624' to get everyone on board.

Review: After launching last year via an arguably overlooked EP from Obsidian, Parallel Connection has made us wait a little while for the London label's second release. It comes courtesy of Sela, a 25-year-old French producer who apparently honed his soon to be trademark sound while living in the UK. There's much to enjoy across the four track missive, from the alien electronics, loose-limbed broken electro beats and chiming lead lines of '2020 Connection' and sub-heavy, acid-flecked stomp of 'Animal Kingdom', to the pitched-down electronica eccentricity of 'Really Get Fucked' and the psychedelic late-night tech-house hedonism of 'Mr Rabbit', which boasts bleeping melodies reminiscent of both mod-90s ambient techno and Yorkshire bleep and bass.

Review: An EP packing plenty of quality, Amatori invite five talented faces in for four tracks all about pulling the ear and mind in deeper. Quite where you want to put it on the genre spectrum depends on how you listen, with most of what's here representing the sort of tracks for which volume makes all the differ-ence in terms of interpretation.

'Lagoon', for example, is a slow but solid tribal drum workout set against lush waves of synth, its heaviness only really apparent in a situation where the kicks can literally be felt. 'Rainforest' is ambi-ent set to something like160BPM percussive tops. 'Anasazi' brings a poised and patient, trance-tipped vibe that could just as easily put you into a meditative state as it could act as transition point in a late-night, floor-focused set. Incredibly useful stuff, all round.

Review: In remembrance of Pete Birch, AKA Woosh, AKA The Peaceful Ones and founder of Spirit Wrestlers. Four ambient pieces, three of which were released as part of Pete's 52 Card Trick series on the Spirit Wrestlers Bandcamp site, plus another piece which was a favourite of Pete's but was never finished in time.
Collected together on vinyl for the first time, all profits from the sale of this record will be donated to the Spirit Wrestlers Foundation. Set up after Pete's passing, the Foundation promotes the belief that ""Music is the Healing Force of the Universe"", that ""Love Is the Most Important Thing"" and helps causes that were close to his heart. Nx

Review: Josh Dahlberg is The Valley and the Mountain aka TVTM and is an artist who has made a big move recently from the deep westside of Detroit all the way across to the far reaches of the Pacific Northwest. He he arrives on Central Scientific for its inaugural release with Detroit-based producer and Akka & BeepBeep founder, Jo Rad Silver, taking care of the flip. Next to an array of hardware, there is plenty of improvisation with guitars in this EP - 'Experiment Obscura' is a widescreen and dramatic ambient cut with a meditative feel and 'Immersion Theatre III' is another empty but inviting piece with curlicues, wispy pads, distant guitar echoes and moodiness to spare.

Review: Originally released in the mid 80's on UK cassette label Bite Back!, this nearly lost gem finds new life 30 years later on Cocktail D'Amore Music. Steve has cobbled together a superbly melancholic electronic concept album. Wistful melodies often evoke sentiments of a lost childhood and hazy English mornings. Each song within remains untitled allowing full perceptive freedom as to what they all communicate, a language for the feelings that have no name. Untitled A1 - A6 leads one along intimate soundscapes of pattering drums and tinkering piano, a sense of closeness and trust develops with the introduction of each new idea much like the beginning of a bed time story. Untitled B1 - B3 then begin to breathe more openly awash in angelic colours before abruptly turning downward on B4, a wall of booming drums and atmospheres from the furthest reaches of the galaxy before the last trio of songs settles gently back on Earth.

Review: Carcass Identity are Matthieu Levet and Ernesto Gonzaalez, two heroes of the Brussels underground for over 10 years. Following up their 2018 debut for Bologna-based label Random Numbers, the duo present their next collaboration for Glasgow's Phase Group which once again infuses dub electronics with cosmic and psychedelic influences. Tracks such as 'Things To Forget' explore freefall tribal trance, while the contorted techno derivatives heard on tracks such as 'Freedom Principle' or the meditative polyrhythmic futurism of 'Desultory' were highlights. Highly recommended for fans of slo-mo ritual techno in the vein of Black Merlin or Vactrol Park - tip!

Review: Cherrystones returns with the second of the "Aged" EPs for Emotional Response. Time propels and so does sound, thus orbiting nuances and motion leads us here, to present whatever maybe or interpreted as. Since the acclaimed Aged Of Bronze EP a symbiotic progress of craft arrives in the aptly titled Aged Of Silver. Again each track is like a coded syntax, unlocking the puzzle to aid a listeners journey and experience, building blocks to a utopian scape in form without form notes and pictures living and residing in the dimensions.

Never pandering to trends, his art based on immediacy and the moment, no disposable sub genres that fade as fast as they emerge, transposing and emitting heard and unheard a way to communicate with himself and those that identify.

A capsule of touched emotions bearing gifts for those in the present and wishing to be present, a key with keys analogue for Silver Tongues and Brass monkeys living in the shadow of a Scorpian's Tail.

Review: On his first album for the admirable Lontano Series label, Spanish ambient producer David Cordedo offers up alluring, immersive soundscapes inspired by his love of wandering through woods and forests. It's easy to imagine the sun peeping through a canopy of leaves and branches on sunrise-ready opener 'The Great Sadness', while the sustained chords, drowsy sound design and reverb-laden organ notes of 'Orma' evoke mental images of becalmed woodland clearings at nightfall. While the concept may be loose, the music - and especially the sublime, slowly unfurling 'All Your Silences' and the bubbling, Pete Namlook-esque 'Los Alcornocales' - is magical enough to both follow the brief and work as an enveloping, life-affirming ambient masterpiece. In a word: picturesque!

Review: Burnski's Instinct alias has given rise to two full-length albums and a swathe of EPs in just the past two years alone, and now he's heralding spring with the launch of a new label, Abyla, and his most delicate, ambient record to date. Happening is a far cry from what you might know of Burnski or indeed the Instinct project overall, focusing as it does on orchestral ambience with a preference for plaintive piano lines at the front of the mix and ample drone matter backing it up. These short vignettes glide between moods, hovering in moments of tender minimalism or bursting with effervescence depending on the situation.

Review: Although arguably best known for her angular, industrial-influenced techno output, Siliva Jimenez Alvarez AKA Jasss has proved adept at delivering oddball electronica, modular-rich ambient and the kind of scuzzy industrial pop of which Trent Reznor would undoubtedly prove. A World of Service, her sophomore album and first for Ostgut Ton, builds on the latter side of her sound while expanding into new musical territory such as autotune-sporting future R&B ('Luis'), buzzing downtempo darkness (the immersive and intoxicating, percussion-rich 'Busto'), leftfield 21st century synth-pop (the curious but excellent 'A World Of Service') and even a dash of jangling, radio-friendly cheeriness ('In Your Mouth'). An impossible album to pigeonhole, but one that's consistently excellent and genuinely worthy of further inspection.

Review: When it comes to creating musical soundtracks to contemporary urban decay, Gary Mundy has more experience than most. He's been releasing music as Kleistwahr since 1983 (though he did give the project a break between 1987 and 2009) and is a genuine master of creating heady, post-industrial soundscapes. 'Common Values', his 14th Kleistwahr album, is another masterclass in texture, mood and slowly shifting melody. There are moments of bittersweet, melancholic brilliance (see the immersive, reverb-laden ambience of 'Heaven Maybe Never') and pulsing, creeping minimalism (the brilliant, bleak and mournful 'Towards New Land'), but also fuzzy, guitar-laden soundscapes ('In a Blood Covered Land', 'All of Death To Lie' and the squally 'Common Values') and enveloping audio worlds subtly influenced by shoegaze ('Time To Realise').

Review: As much as we all love vinyl, it's refreshing to see an artist who still wants to put out their music on CD, which is what we get here from Romare. His latest album Fantasy finds the widely admired artist take something of a new approach to his work. The man born Archie Fairhurst gets nice and abstract with his samples as he also layers in his own vocals and instrumentation. He has said the album was inspired by log walks and watching films doing lockdowns, and it shows. Hints of 70s fantasy cinema also features and his trademark off-kilter electronic rhythms and kinetic grooves also play a big part in making this one another winner.

Review: Ambient explorer Tapes & Topographies (real name Todd Gauthreaux) tends not to talk too much about his work. Instead, he's content to simply serve up new albums and let the music do the talking. 'Microtones', his latest full-length, is another softly spun, exceedingly immersive affair in which enveloping, dream-like electronic textures, sustained drones and slowly unfurling chords wrap around effects-laden instrumentation (we can identify pedal steel, piano and strings). There are subtle nods to neo-classical, jazz and cinematic soundtracks, but this is grown up, headily emotional, entirely beat-free ambient music of the sort you'll want to get lost in time and again.