Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Pink Siifu's haunting, uncompromising masterpiece 'Negro Deluxe' gets a limited 3xLP press. An ultra cathartic, hard-hitting haze of hardcore punk, free jazz, and harsh noise-adjacent sound design with violent and corrupt cops firmly in its crosshairs, it emerged in 2020 a month prior to the murder of George Floyd. Originally titled ‘To Be Angry’, NEGRO draws influence from Afrocentric jazz, sci-fi literature and the music of Bad Brains, Death, the late Ras G, among others. One of the most arresting and immediate LPs hailing from the hip hop continuum of the last ten years, it's not to be missed!

Review: KUM explores the work of Giusto Pio from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, which was a period of intense sound experimentation. The album features four pieces-'Rappel,' 'Alla Corte di Nefertiti,' 'MeDeA' and 'A.D.A.M. Ubi Es' which are all linked by Pio's collaboration with Franco Battiato. Their creative exchange helped shape Pio's post-avant-garde vision and blend new musical fragments and "astral counterpoints in frequencies and colours in time." Nearly 50 years later, KUM offers a philological perspective on these intertwined artistic paths that highlights the innovative approach that defined Pio's unique exploration of sound and composition.

Review: John Powell could almost be seen as the Hans Zimmer of animated movies. His oeuvre to date includes Antz, The Road To Eldorado, Chicken Run, Shrek, Robots, Ice Age 2 and 4, Happy Feet, Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, the first two Kung Fu Panda films, and Mars Needs Moms, among many others. Including the entire How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Hugely successful, the action packed adventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III - a young Viking and heir to the throne of Berk - really needs equally exciting music to accompany it. That's exactly what we get here, with a classically-inspired swashbuckling score doing more than setting the scene: some tracks hark back to the golden days of kids movie soundtracks, when the songs themselves told large chunks of the narrative.

Notes: A 470-page hardcover book featuring highly detailed photos and comprehensive research on 222 portable vinyl record players.

Once considered little more than a children's plaything or a grade school accessory, the portable record player has gained newfound respect in recent years. Whatever they may lack in high-end audio fidelity, battery-powered turntables more than make up for it with their convenience and ease of use. Just ask any crate digger: a cult favourite portable like the Columbia GP-3 or the Audio-Technica Sound Burger (or even the Fisher-Price Big Bird model) can be an absolutely essential companion on an all-day vinyl hunt.

Portables features lavish, detailed photos of 222 portable turntables from around the world, including rare record players from Japan, the UK, Germany and the Soviet Union as well as the USA, and ranging in vintage from the 1920s to the early twenty-first century. They're all gorgeously captured here by photographer Eilon Paz, with accompanying commentary from music historian Dan Epstein.

Whether you're a hardcore turntable collector, an aficionado of cool vintage audio gear, a student of industrial design, or a vinyl lover curious about the wild world of portable record players, Portables will make your head spin-and will soon have you scouring thrift stores, antique malls, and even your grandma's attic for the portable record player of your dreams.