New releases this week: Leftfield

Review: UK producer Trevor Huddleston aka 36 and the Indiana-based Past Inside The Present label's head Zake return to their Stasis Sounds For Long Distance Space Travel project, a universe that suspends the listener in time across glacial soundscapes and a general sense of cosmic awe. Soft, slow-moving drones and textural washes drift like solar winds through the vacuum, suggesting the boundless calm of deep space. The production is rich, gentle with tonal shifts and barely-there harmonics that evoke both distance and intimacy, wonder and melancholy. It feels like music beamed in from the edges of the known universe. If you fancy a contemplative journey from the edge of Earth's thermosphere into the unknowable beyond, tune into Stasis Sounds on your best headphones.

Review: The first recorded meeting of Pierre Bastien (compositeur Parisien) and Casper Van De Velde's (Belgian drummer known for his outings on Qeerecords) documents two days of lowkey live-performed regalia at Werkplaats Walter in Brussels. Set up by Blickwinkel, the residency saw Bastien's "miniature mechanical orchestras" - trumpets, motors, Meccano arms, all of which make up the former artist's trademark live machinic draw - click into orbit with Van De Velde's loose-limbed, textural percussion. Both artists work in detail and gesture before volume, moving gently but unpredictably, index finger tracing part-clockwork, part-creature pattern cuts.

Review: Elizabeth Madox Roberts' The Time Of Man (1926) is an episodic modern novel, tracing the life of Ellen Chesser, the daughter of poor white tenant farmers in rural Kentucky. Roberts treats the main character's movement through different landscapes and seasons waveringly, grappling with poverty, loss, love, and the push-pull between solitude and connection by way of a lytic narrative that shifts and resolves atemporally. Biosphere's new record carries the transmission chain further, naming itself after the novel while interspersing its hiss-topped drum machine actions with vocal snippets from Joan Lorring's radio play version. Slowly transcendent, Biosphere presides with arid royalty over a slow but satiating new six-track release.

Review: Originally released in April 2017, this is a reissue that reaffirms the album's pivotal role in modern darkwave. Crafted by Sydney-based Marc Dwyer, Chroma pulses with a brooding energy that fuses stark minimalism with unexpected pop leanings. Across its runtime, jagged synths and relentless drum programming frame a series of emotionally charged compositions, each one dissecting states of isolation, longing, and inner turbulence. Far from being just a genre exercise, Chroma pushes the boundaries of synth wave and post-punk, threading glimmers of melody through layers of tension and shadow. Dwyer's delivery is cold and commanding, yet there's an underlying vulnerability in how he constructs each track, always rooted in personal reflection but never static. The production is raw but intentional, giving it an immediacy that still hits with force today. Since its release, Chroma has gained a cult following, inspiring peers in the darker corners of electronic music. With two additional albums and several international tours under his belt, Dwyer has grown into a spectral mainstay of the global goth underground. The long-awaited reissue brings Chroma back into circulation where it belongs. Restored, relevant and just as magnetic as it was eight years ago.

Review: Different Rooms finds its footing in the blurs between studio process and improvisation; lived space and constructed sound. Made across late 2024 and early 2025, it hears LA-London-Hamburgers Jeremiah Chu and Marta Sofia Honer fold field recordings, granular textures, and multi-layered viola sessions into a viscous yet meticulous shape. Core material stemmed from real-time editing and in-studio performances, interwoven with improvisations recorded back in 2023 alongside Jeff Parker and Josh Johnson. Compared to the outward gaze of their debut, Recordings From The Aland Islands, this second one turns inward, coming rooted in urban soundscapes: train stations, streets, domestic interiors.

Review: James Horner's Oscar-winning scores for the likes of Titanic, Avatar and Braveheart put in in a class of his own as a composer for film, but even among those greats, his Legends of The Fall soundtrack stands proud. It is one of his most evocative and emotionally powerful works and blends sweeping symphonic themes with rich folk and Americana textures Horner brings that same mournful depth here that defined the aforementioned OSTs and crafts music that feels timeless and deeply human. Critics praised its ability to evoke profound feelings while weaving orchestral elegance and cultural roots into a hauntingly beautiful soundscape. This soundtrack is a journey, both cinematic and soul-stirring.

Review: Recorded live in the Hypnose Room at La Nature 2023, Italian sound artist, live performer, DJ and independent researcher Katatonic Silentio's debut on Fleur Sauvage allows you to relive a riveting improvisational set across two 12"s. The sounds shift between cinematic ambient, abstract experimentation and textured noise in four parts, each of them rigid with tension that builds, breaks and reforms in unpredictable ways. Deep bass swells and granular distortions drift through fragile moments of calm to make for an unstable atmosphere that feels like you're lost in a vast factory after dark, and the hum of the day's industry still echoes through the building. Wonderful.

Review: The hugely prolific and endlessly touring Australian rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's latest is Rave Gizzard: Live in San Francisco 2024 via Reverberation Appreciation Society, a hefty triple-LP capturing their legendary first-ever full synth set. It was recorded live at The Regency Ballroom on November 6, 2024, and is a nine-track set with technicolour performances of tracks like 'Theia,' 'Gilgamesh' and 'Extinction' all reimagined with razor-sharp synth textures. It was an epic show lapped up by fans who revelled in the overwhelming bass and immersive, rave-like energy, all of which is conveyed when listening back. This limited-edition bootleg is a document of the band's adventurous leap into synth-driven psychedelia that is sure to swiftly sell out.

Review: Futurespective is a carefully remastered compilation showcasing the finest work of Les Animaux Sauvages, the legendary Bulgarian band known for their blazing blend of post-punk, new wave and dark wave. For the first time, these classic tracks are available on vinyl, which is literally music to the ears of fans of Eastern European underground sounds. The band is a trio of artistic kindred spirits who united in 2014 with Ivo Stoyadinov Charlie on guitar, synths and programming alongside Sibylla Seraphim, who brings her haunting vocals and synth work to the mix. Together, they craft a moody, atmospheric sound that is distantly lo-fi, with prowling and sleazy guitars that Andrew Weatherall would love, chugging dark disco groves and tripped-out machine soul and wiry electronics.

Review: Saint Abdullah and Eomac is a long-distance hook-up of NYC-based Iranian-Canadian brothers Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani and Irish producer Ian McDonnell. Their new record is an evocation of diasporic memory infused with archival Persian pop and raw experimental drums. Bridging cultures and eras as they go, they blur the line between homage and innovation and rework iconic melodies through fractured sampling, SP404 grit, and textured digital precision. Collaborations with Jason Nazary, Aria Rostami, mHz and Raheel Khan deepen its emotionally rich, politically charged appeal and result in a bold document of hybrid musical identities.

Review: Cam Sugar and Decca present Jeymes Samuel's Spaghetti Western Collection, a curated set of rare Italian Western soundtrack gems from 1963 to 1972. British artist and director Jeymes Samuel, confoundingly known as The Bullitts, handpicked the 20 tracks, made the cover art, and topped it all off with two self-produced new singles; though his career spans Jay-Z and Baz Luhrmann collabs through to songwriting for Doja Cat and Jay Electronica, this collection hints at a deeper intel, marking out a hidden job lot of Italian Western scores, with their standoffish, twangy surf-rock guitars, and abstract, picture-ready surf rock psalmoi. With an exclusive booklet with interviews and archival material, it's the first of its kind, and an essential for film buffs and soundtrack collectors.

Review: The band's companion piece to their debut album, with MDMA-slanted remixes (they were among the first E-dopters) and one new track, was always a strange, thrilling detour that delved deeper into the band's darker side. Reissued now and pressed on pink and blue vinyl, it leans into the playful and hedonistic spirit that fueled the duo's early years. 'Memorabilia' still slams with that proto-industrial funk, drenched in echo and attitude. Their version of 'What?' is gloriously off-kilter, part cabaret, part warehouse rave. Marc Almond's vocals are as dramatic and sly as ever, while Dave Ball keeps the synth lines rubbery and raw. There's a sense of controlled chaos here, where the line between irony and sincerity blurs beautifully. 'Sex Dwarf' is one of the band's most intense moments. A club hit that works today just as good as back in 1982. Even in its more minimal moments, there's a sweaty urgency to these tracks. The whole thing feels like a snapshot of a night that got way out of hand, in the best way possible. While the original album was darker and more introspective, this one lets loose, offering up a lean set of tracks built for movement and attitude. A record that was never afraid to get weird, which suits us down to the ground.

Review: London hi-fi bar Space Talk's in-house label, ST Records, kicks off with a 12-track vinyl-only compilation featuring exclusive music from artists who performed at the venue of the same name over the past year. Crafted specifically for the unique acoustics and energy of the venue, some tracks were even recorded live or during intimate Sunday sessions. There is everything from murky dub soundscapes like Kristina May's 'Slow Down, You're Missing Out' to classic era hip-hop from The Village Fools, blue-eyed soul from Sholto's 'There Once Was A Talk Space' and plenty in between. All profits from ST01 will be donated to a UK charity supporting young musicians from underrepresented backgrounds.

Review: Portland-based trio KILN deliver an opulent display of hue and swing across 12 tracks that showcase their finely hewn concoction of visual tones and vital pulse. Drawing from over thirty years of collaboration, they distill immersive sprawl into compact, punchy, and colorful sound. Combining live performance, beatmaking, and waveform sculpting, the trio creates evocative dioramas that continue to surprise and enchant. Riding waves of hi-meets-lo-fi, their work forms a panchromatic daymark designed to biochemically align and stimulate your personal syntax, weaving a tapestry of sonic reveries from the aquarium-on-fire radiance of 'DrnkGrlfrnd', through the garden groove of field-recorded percussion on 'Maplefunk Diptych', to the sizzling guit-noise whiteout of 'Deacon Rayhand'. Expanding on long-explored themes of mosaic texture, subtle melancholy, eroded consonance, and vivid cadence, this release reveals yet another aperture into their unique magnetic universe.