Back catalogue: Modern Classical

Review: The music from Apocalypse Now is a compelling piece of the film's unique atmosphere, composed by Carmine Coppola and his son, Francis Ford Coppola. This remastered gatefold 2xLP presents a score that is anything but conventional. Featuring bold electronic experimentation, the music complements the film's depiction of chaos and inner turmoil. Tracks like 'The Delta' and 'The Dossier' create a meditative, eerie backdrop, while 'Orange Light' and 'Voyage' highlight the hallucinatory journey of its protagonist, with the latter infusing a touch of psychedelic guitar. While it's not a traditional, action-driven score, the pulsating synths of 'Nung River' and dissonance of 'Chef's Head' bring tension to the forefront. Its final moments with 'Finale' bring reflection to a movie that explores the boundaries of duty and sanity. Although challenging at times, the music's blend of synthetic and natural elements provides a fascinating listen, especially for those open to a bold 1970s electronic sound.

Review: Collected by his friends and colleagues - Erik K. Skodvin and Dave Kajganich - The Last Sunset of the Year is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful and breathtaking. A double album of posthumous work from experimental composer Marcus Fjellstrom, the music here was written and produced during the seminal artist's tenure as composer for the first season of ABC anthology series, The Terror. Many pieces have been made available for the first time on this collection, and as the sleeve notes explain, the idea was to present the tracks as a standalone album, rather than a companion piece as soundtracks usually are. It certainly works. While it's possible to determine these bits were written for a supernatural show, so many are capable of stopping you dead in your tracks on their own terms. Quietly powerful contemporary classical, ambient and drone.

Review: Baki is one of the best-selling Japanese anime and manga series of all time; the story centres on a quintessential shonen coming-of-age trope, funnelled into the character of Baki Hanma, who tirelessly trains and tests his fighting skills against a variety of different opponents in deadly hand-to-hand combat, with the ultimate hope of becoming a powerful warrior like his father. Kenji Fujisawa's original soundtrack for the anime series, now streaming on Netflix, is the perfect translation of this always-affecting theme; a whopping 60 tracks are spread across 3 vinyl discs in respective illustrated sleeves; Fujisawa's tense, eye-of-the-tiger timpani-bangers, which mesh well with NIN-style industrial rock, are perfect for the invocation of Baki's constant sense of confrontation and self-becoming. This record also comes with ane exclusive shikishi art print, as well as a four-page booklet.

Review: Fans of this album originally from 1960 need this new reissue in their lives: it is part of the RCA Living Stereo classical LP series which those in the know recognise as the best in the game when it comes to top-quality orchestral performance and sound. It has been remastered from original master tapes and comes on hefty 200g vinyl for the ultimate listening experience. It finds Respighi, the Chicago Symphony and Fritz Reiner really setting a standard for classical music with thundering bass drum, crashing cymbals and gongs next to bellowing brass all jumping right out of the speakers.