Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Originally conceived to accompany an installation at the 2022 Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Selkie Reflections is very much a thing of beauty, and a work in two parts. On the A-side, you have Alliyah Enyo re-working the original tape loops used at the show into a strange, enchanting, and immersive series of hypnotic and occasionally haunting vocal calls. Flip to side B, and Florian T M Zeisig, under the alias Angel R, takes all that and turns it inside out, onto its head, and down into the depths of the selkie's world - a mythical creature capable of shapeshifting between seal and human form which features heavily in Scottish folklore. Beguiling and enchanting, prepare to be submerged in a place of beauty, bliss and mystery.

Review: Fan Club Orchestra originated in Brussels in the late 90s and evolved through collaborative performances across Belgium and neighbouring countries. Rooted in DIY principles, they thrived during a time when contemporary arts spaces embraced experimentalism without the constraints of funding or audience expectations. Their performances blended informality with spectacle and channelled the experimentalism of New York's 1960s downtown scene. Now regrouped, they offer up VL_Stay on 12th Isle featuring Baudoux, Ann Appermans and Ze?phyr Zijlstra.

Review: Holuzam reissues Toze Ferreira's groundbreaking 1988 sound art LP Musica de Baixa Fidelidade long after it has been heralded as a pivotal release in Portugal's experimental music scene. It was created during Ferreira's time at the Institute of Sonology and plays with musique concrete, noise and abstract sound across masterful compositions like 'More Adult Music' and 'This Is Music, As It Was Expected.' With elements of piano, bells, and processed voices, it creates a tactile, immersive experience that challenges conventional music structures. This first-ever vinyl reissue includes the original artwork and a new insert with remastering done by Taylor Deupree. Ferreira's blend of technical skill and emotional depth is mesmerising here.

Review: Ekin Fil's drone-pop consternations emerge through vaporous tones and forlorn, distant songs, as if plucked from a dream. These pieces exist on their own accord, moving with an internal logic of emotional heaviness that transcends mere shoegazing ambience. Her compositions evoke the fragmented etherealization of Elisabeth Fraser's voice from a forgotten David Lynch scene, acting as an ASMR trigger for Proustian recollection - profound, hidden, and desolately sad. The Helen Scarsdale Agency has had the pleasure of witnessing Ekin's continued growth as a composer, releasing seven of her magnificent, under-the-radar gems. Her slow-burning, dejected ballads draw from a deep well of sorrow, with varying frequencies and intensities of bitter light poking through - loves lost, a world broken. While not hopeless, her music acknowledges the considerable hardships we face. Sleepwalkers embraces familiar metaphors of narcolepsy and the unsettled state between sleep and wakefulness. Yet, it stretches into new territories with compositions paralleling Tim Hecker's gravitation soft-noise in 'Stone Cold' and slow-motion serialism in the ambient crawl of 'Gone Gone.' Recommended for fans of Grouper, Rafael Anton Irisarri, A.C. Marias, and Carla dal Forno.

Review: Renowned composer Simon Fisher Turner's new album Instability of the Signal comes on limited edition black vinyl with extensive sleeve notes. It was produced with Francine Perry and across 13 tracks it delves into sound exploration inspired by Breda Beban, Hrvoje Horvatic, and poet Harold Pinter, whose works appear on the record. The artist integrates four elements: slivers, sounds, strings, and Singing where 'slivers" are brief audio snippets from Salford Electronics reimagined into track foundations. The album also features string arrangements by the Elysian Collective and overall the record reflects Fisher Turner's rich career as it blends experience with introspective soundscapes and personal expression.

Review: Flutter Ridder is the collaboration between Norwegian artists Espen Friberg and Jenny Berger Myhre, and both are key figures in Oslo's contemporary art and music scene. Their creative bond formed during the production of Friberg's 2022 debut album, Sun Soon, and in November 2023 they recorded their debut self-titled album in a historic wooden church in Hvisten, Norway. The duo created a unique sound influenced by the flow of air and electricity by combining Friberg's Serge modular system and the church's pipe organ. The result is a whimsical, cinematic album that smudges liturgical, microtonal drones with unpredictable timbres that reflect their environment and vision.

Review: Produced at EMS Stockholm on Buchla 200 synthesisers before being mastered down the road in Malmo, Quasai is Francesco Fonassi's first LP based around the Quasi project, and goes well beyond what you might call Traditional Album Territory. Hence the live show this is based around being far more than a gig, inviting audiences into increasingly entangled arrangements that seem to grow and develop, set down roots and respawn like some evolutionary modular array. On record, the complexity of what's here isn't really lost, albeit we'd have a hard job arguing that home listening compares to in person performance. Nevertheless, you'll quickly find yourself immersed in this strange, cerebral place where the music itself seems to take inspiration from blinking control panels, glittering data, plucked strings, and drip-drop percussion.

Review: A deeply reflective solo piano album that bridges the ambient side of synthpop/electronic pioneer Foxx's career with classical music. Largely composed this in the quiet, early hours of the morning, following one of his rare live performances at Kings Place, London, he creates a serene and evocative experience. The stillness of dawn, when the piano faces a misty valley at sunrise, serves as the perfect backdrop for Foxx's contemplative compositions. The album reflects Foxx's thoughts on the enduring influence of time and the people we encounter. Each note seems to resonate with memories and fleeting moments, creating a sense of calm introspection. Drawing on his experience with electronic textures, Foxx seamlessly blends ambient sounds with classical motifs, resulting in a series of compositions that are both haunting and beautiful. Each piece offers a glimpse into Foxx's emotional landscape, where the echoes of past experiences intertwine with a peaceful acceptance of the present. A tranquil, elegant work.

Review: It's one of those elephant in the room questions many artists likely grapple with, without really discussing it openly. How will a musician's work be remembered after they have left this world? In many artistic cases, we only come to appreciate an individual's output for what it is after they've gone, and this in itself is likely a phenomenon that creatives dwell on whenever considering the wonder of life. Here, veteran electronic music composer Jill Fraser has used this idea as a central theme, using a vintage 1978 Serge Modular, a Prism Modular, and Ableton Push 3 to reinvent and reconfigure a number of American revival hymns. These archival tunes are made new, and now built for the future, raising questions about their own mortality, or lack thereof.

Review: Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, on which his sonic explorations into the unknown continue. Forming part of a nascent uptick of albums exploring ideas of freedom in movement and displacement, Fujita's record sonically documents and expresses a return to his native Japan with his wife and three children, fulfilling his lifelong dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature after remaining resident in Berlin for 13 years. After this move, Fujita set about converting an old kindergarten into a music studio, and, perhaps adjoining his own experience of raising children, found himself composing Migratory in part through the dialogue formed of the ideaistic relationship of early childhood, movement and settling. Selectively mixing bird ambience, electronics and, of course, his patented vibraphone, Fujita's record is a melancholic but no less arresting one.

Review: While legendary composer and jazz soloist Harry Manfredini has handled the scores to the vast majority of entries into the Friday the 13th horror franchise, it would be the ironically titled Part VII: The New Blood that would see producer Fred Mollin brought in to provide unique cues to counterweight Manfredini's compositions. With only Mollin returning to score the following eighth instalment, this score provides the only torch passing intersection between the two uniquely brilliant composers, while this pressing lands on "psychokinetik splatter", echoing the film's plot of a young telekinetic girl going to war with the hockeymasked Jason (for those not up on their Camp Crystal Lake lore).