Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: For the first time, Piero Umiliani's entire Liuto label production is collected together in a remarkable 19-CD box set. This set includes 18 albums (with the final album being a double CD), each housed in a replica of its original sleeve. Accompanied by a 72-page booklet featuring rare photos, essays by Maurizio Corbella and Niccolo Galliano, and a detailed discography, this release is fully endorsed by the Umiliani family. Umiliani's contributions were pivotal in shaping the Italian sound in jazz, film, and library music. His ability to merge creativity with production and publishing made him a true modern musician who was integral to Italy's rich musical heritage, as this collection proves beyond doubt.

Review: The Complete Sound Work Shop Heritage box set is an extraordinary tribute to Piero Umiliani's prolific career, gathering his entire output on the Sound Work Shop label into an unparalleled 17-CD collection. Housed in faithful reproductions of the original album covers, this set is complemented by a 72-page booklet featuring rare photographs, insightful essays by Maurizio Corbella and Niccolo Galliano, and a comprehensive discography and tracklist. For the first time, Umiliani's extensive contributions to Italian jazz, film scores, and library music are showcased in one collection. His work at the Sound Work Shop studio, which he opened in 1968, played a crucial role in shaping the sound of Italian popular music. The studio was a hub of creativity where Umiliani explored a vast array of genres, from funk and psychedelic rock to avant-garde and electronic music. This collection reveals Umiliani's genius not just as a composer, but as a producer and visionary who controlled every aspect of his music's creation and distribution. The box set is a comprehensive portrait of a modern musician whose influence on Italian music during the 1970s remains indelible, making this collection essential for historical reasons.

Review: To celebrate Midge Ure's 70th birthday and his remarkable seven decades in music, he delivered a spectacular sold-out concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, showcasing a rich tapestry of his career. This 3CD set captures the full concert, divided into four sets: an acoustic set, an electric set, the complete performance of the Ultravox classic album Vienna and an encore filled with greatest hits. With the support of his long-time band Electronica and special guests Caroline Dale and Ty Unwin, Ure's performance was both nostalgic and electrifying. Newly mixed by Richard Whittaker, the setlist features a host of unforgettable tracks, including Ultravox staples like 'Reap the Wild Wind', 'Hymn' and the iconic 'Vienna'. The inclusion of his #1 hit 'If I Was' and Visage's timeless 'Fade to Grey' adds to the nu-romantic essence that Ure helped define. This collection is a testament to Ure's enduring legacy, celebrating his evolution as an artist while thrilling fans with a blend of emotional ballads and energetic anthems. It's a fitting tribute to a career that has profoundly influenced the music landscape.

Review: User.Exp's first release on Greyscale Recordings provides a thoughtful sonic exploration, made up of field recordings, contact and hydrophone mic sessions and shortwave transmissions (either generated from scratch or really recorded). Artist and label are met with serendipity and ease here; though many releases have hit the Greyscale stocks - all working well within their trademark sonic and visual monochrome - User.Exp's latest is an especially congruent record, bringing crackly burrs and earthen movements to an album that feels large in scope and difficult to pigeonhole, yet intuitively felt. As if to describe a set of 12 different microbiomes - all besieged by a black-and-white, ecosystemic blight - the likes of 'Pollution', 'Erosion' and 'Wind' provide indications enough as to the set of ideas going in here. A deeply calming release, full of textural intricacies and yet not without a creeping sense of unbalance too.