New releases last two weeks: Leftfield

Review: Alien D is the NYC-based producer Daniel Creahan, and he's back with a debut on Theory Therapy that taps into widescreen worlds of techno immersion. Departing from the ambient abstraction of his previous work, this album as a subtle kinetic pulse with tracks like 'Soil Dub' and 'Sleepy's Gambit' propel listeners forward with dubwise rhythms crafted for deep dancefloors. The album builds on an infectious, steady groove with repeating phrases and subtle shifts that keep the music in constant motion. Conceived in the first days after the COVID lockdown, these sounds exude a hopeful quality and capture the transcendent moments of early-morning parties when the moment is full of unbridled hope for what might come.

Review: Oraculo Records, M.U.S.A Records and Ombra Festival have all come together to unveil Dr. Oso, the latest talent to emerge from the Megabreakz collective. This Argentinian producer follows in the footsteps of Candido (who was behind Megabreakz 7) to deliver his own raw and unapologetic take on the hard new beat style. His release is pure fire, with 'Hooligan Beat Edit' swinging sonic punches in every direction at once. 'Trench Flight' is jacked up and ken with a rugged low end, gun shots and fragment synths all making for a visceral groove. It is much the same on the rest of the EP with 'Lager Dance' really popping thanks to its chopped up sirens and caustic textures.

Review: E-bony's Digital Dawn album is about "defining his identity as an artist" and it comes through INDUSTRIAS MEKANIKAS. This 12-tracker welds together electro and techno with plenty of personal sound perspective and dark textures that keep it decidedly underground. Collaborating with Noamm on four tracks, their creative synergy adds depth and elevates the record's complexity with the likes of 'Matrix Kod' getting gritty and eerie, 'Aurora Noir' bringing snappy kicks and coruscated acid lines and 'Data Delight' fizzing with pixelated synth sugariness.

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: Legendary video game soundtrack-er Motorhiro Kawashima is best known for his efforts on the iconic Streets of Rage 2 and 3 titles. The latter is remembered as one of the hardest to define scores of all time, certainly in terms of a playable titles, and even 30 years on still amazes and baffles anyone who encounters it. Less well known are the artist's solo and standalone efforts, which came much later. Acrobatizm and Prepared Wave were the first two of those records, and emerged in the pre-pandemic late-noughties. Both draw heavily on the glitch and leftfield experimental techno worlds, which were in rude health at the time, doubling down on staccato rhythms and mind-blowing arpeggiation, with the punchiness and jerky vibes more than nod to the glory days of 8-bit gaming.

Review: A striking collection of digitally manipulated piano pieces, each one of them on this album are named after iconic films and TV shows. They are all crafted late at night as a response to passive media consumption and aim to blur the line between classical impressionism and contemporary digital manipulation. Drawing inspiration from Viktor Shklovsky's concept of "ostranenie" (which means estrangement), the work challenges habitual perceptions and makes the familiar feel strange. The music oscillates between mechanical MIDI chaos and intimate, fragile moments that question the emotional stakes of sound in a world where technology can often flatten deeper meaning. It's a profound exploration of art's role in resisting the numbing effects of mindless routine and endless immersion culture.

Review: Electronic soul innovator Liv.e followed up her acclaimed Girl In The Half Pearl with PAST FUTUR.e last year, and it's now dropping on vinyl. The surprise seven-track project was made in just 24 hours and announced via a post on X. It's a lo-fi synthwave collection that betrays her genre-defying instincts and trades neo-soul smoothness for raw, hallucinatory energy. She bellows like a dancehall toaster and delivers fragmented narration over fuzzy, pulsing synths that echo Gang Gang Dance's experimental spirit. Is it an EP, album, or mixtape? It doesn't matter-PAST FUTUR.e is an unfiltered transmission from one of r&b's most inventive voices, and it's wildly unpredictable.

Review: As well as being a dance music figurehead. Paul Oakenfold is a devoted film buff who brought cinematic flair to his soundtrack for Dominic Sena's action-thriller Swordfish. Crafting a moody, high-tech sonic landscape and blending the tense energy of Dope Smugglaz's 'The Word (PMT Remix)' with the chill sunrise vibes of Lemon Jelly's 'Kneel Before Your God' and his own electro rework of 'Planet Rock' with Afrika Bambaataa, Oakenfold paints a vivid picture of early 2000s Los Angeles nightlife. Tracks like 'Stanley's Tune' and 'Password' evoke neon-lit scenes of decadence and danger. Subtle yet imaginative, this record rewards headphone listening for max impact.

Review: Adapted from the Premio Strega-winning novel of the same name, penned by Antonio Scurati, M - Son of the Century is an ambitious performance piece about the political rise of Benito Mussolini, directed by BAFTA-grabber Joe Wright. As for the soundtrack, one half of The Chemical Brothers, Tom Rowlands, delivers a spellbinding, raw and truly emotional electronic epic which translates a tense and uneasy tale into sounds. "A lot of this original soundtrack was built around playing old acoustic instruments using modern electronics; working in that way helped me reference the past yet still create something fresh and dynamic," Rowlands has said of his efforts. A thoroughly unique and masterful series of compositions which could only have been created by a master of the craft.

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: Silver Tears is the new project from Berlin-based artists Luca Venezia of Curses fame, and Damian Shilman of Skelesys. After debuting in 2023 with a standout track on Next Wave Acid Punx Deux, the duo returns with their self-titled full-length album and it features eight tracks of refined, beat-driven coldwave that are all layered to perfection. Deep bass, shimmering guitars, mechanical drums, and haunting baritone vocals. Blending dancefloor energy with introspective moods, it draws influence from 90s shoegaze and grunge. Their sound pays homage to the goth subculture while proving its continued relevance through a compelling mix of elegance, darkness and emotional intensity.

Review: Words and terms such as benchmark, revolutionary and paradigm shift are thrown around far too casually and liberally when writing about music. But if there's one electronic album that really does live up to those tags it's Ultravisitor. Still sounding like it's from another planet to this day, from the moment eponymous opener headbutts us with an ice breakbeat shatter to those very last guitar plucks on 'Everyday I Love', this is concentrated Squarepusher in every possible geometrical permutation. So many breakcore and IDM parameters were set on this exceptional body of work. From the metal militancy of 'Steinbolt' to the fantastical drive (and wild slap bass) of 'Tetra-Sync', this remains a wholly unique LP that's both wonderful challenging and definitely not of this earth.

Review: What planet were you born on? To be honest, it never really matters with Light Sounds Dark. Sent off in search of intelligent sounds from across the universe, the label has been amassing but never pillaging a vast array of tones from various corners of the known and unknown cosmos for time now, although the exact hour and date is really dependent on your relationship with the continuum. LSD 046 makes this point clear as ever. Numbered tracks are all your getting in terms of being able to catalogue and make sense of what's here, adding to the idea that your lost in a realm that's neither there nor there. Tunes fizzle and gargle, slow strings refrain, lo fi Kraut shouts beneath the crackle of analogue, intergalactic organs ring out into silence. And then we run out of words to possibly describe what's on the record long before the last episode.

Review: The most aptly-named record label in the world, Light Sounds Dark present another collection of wildly experimental bits and pieces cultivated in the lab of things that you simply don't hear in other places. Suitably christened 'Track 1', 'Track 2', and so on until 'Track 29', this is a huge point of entry for newcomers to the LSD realm and an excellent deep dive for veterans alike. Winds howl and thunder crashes before beautiful harmonies change the vibe from cold to warm, Gregorian chants echo in and out above dubby, stubby beats, and post punk guitars lunge forward beneath jerky, naive melodies. And that's just the first few parts here. A journey to the outer reaches of the musical universe, then back again, turning left at the industrial jazz and continuing through shoegaze, soundtrack, field and weirdo pop. Mind you don't get lost, now.