Back catalogue: Modern Classical

Review: Yuji Nomi's Whisper of the Heart: Image Album brings the magic of Studio Ghibli's beloved film to vinyl for the first time. Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's storyboards and sketches, this whimsical collection of orchestral music was masterfully composed by Nomi, perfectly capturing the film's emotional depth. The album includes four vocal tracks, with the iconic 'Country Road' leading the way. Directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and released in 1995, holds a special place in Studio Ghibli's legacy as the first feature not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata. Kondo's vision, supported by a screenplay by Miyazaki, shines through the film, blending heartfelt storytelling with stunning animation. The film introduced surrealist painter Naohisa Inoue to Ghibli's artistic roster, further enriching its visual style. Nomi's score is a whimsical, delightful experience, with each track meticulously tailored to match the film's scenes. Unlike other Ghibli soundtracks, this one doesn't rely on recurring themes, offering instead a fresh surprise at every turn. Now available on limited edition black vinyl.

Review: Richard Norris is still best known for his 1980s output - whether that's as one half of The Grid with former-Soft Cell man David Ball, or as producer and engineer for the likes of Joe Strummer, Bryan Ferry and the Pet Shop Boys, to name but a quick handful of the who's who in his portfolio. However, in psychedelic, ambient and more experimental circles, his name invokes a huge body of contemporary work that includes studio productions and regular DJ sets at events like Glastonbury and Green Man Festival. Among the most treasured of his contributions to this more adventurous and - dare it be said - niche end of his oeuvre, the Music For Healing records are a trove of excellent sounds and tones, movements and arrangements. Here for the first time on vinyl, the Colours collection, which form just one part of the wider series, is both a perfect entry point into this universe and a wonderful standalone for fans of ambient, drone and mood tunes.

Review: Sonic Cathedral share the debut album of Not Me But Us, Two, facilitating the Neapolitan duo's astonishing talent for production and pitch-bent melancholy. Made up of Bruno Bavota and Fabrizio Somma (aka. K-Conjog), this new effort blends each of their influences with echoes of ambient, techno, 2000s club culture, postclassical music and hints of post-rock, making for a fascinating electronica cocktail. Lending well to Bavota's usual piano-based pieces, the new collaborative approach, which fed a new interest in analog gear, also resulted in an effective vehicle to process grief and gaze into new horizons for the artists.

Review: Singer, songwriter and author Ali Sethi had been entranced by Nicolas Jaar's music long before they began collaborating. He'd absorbed the sounds over a number of years, listening casually and taking in their subtleties in bars and rooftop parties across Lahore and London. "It felt familiar to me, that sense of adventure you have when you hear his music, like a tale that teases you and plays with your expectations as it unfolds," says Sethi. "In that sense it resembled the leisurely improvised ghazals and qawwalis I grew up hearing in Pakistan." When the two were finally introduced by Indian visual artist Somnath Bhatt, a regular Jaar collaborator who also handled the album's artwork, Sethi was well prepared. He began to sketch out voice notes using loops snipped from Jaar's acclaimed 2020 album 'Telas', improvising vocalizations and seductive Urdu poems over Jaar's weightless, time-bending productions.

Review: Joseph Shabason, Matthew Sage, and Nicholas Krgovich form a harmonious triangle, both musically and geographically. Hailing from Toronto, Colorado, and Vancouver respectively, they converged at Sage's barn studio nestled at the foot of the Rockies to explore their shared talent for finding beauty in life's mundane moments. Shabason, known for blending late 80s adult-contemporary and smooth jazz aesthetics into ethereal soundscapes, joins forces with Sage, who combines instrumental prowess with synthesis and field recordings to evoke the natural world's whimsy and profundity. Completing the trio is Krgovich, whose observational poetics add a relatable touch to their calm expressionism. Their collaborative album, warmly Shabason, Krgovich, Sage extends the wry and melancholic micro-miracles established in their previous works.

Review: John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma have been creative and personal friends and collaborators for many decades now. Their fruitful partnership is revived here for a new recording for Sony Classical alongside the rightly venerated New York Philharmonic. The record features two concert works that the composer penned for the cellist with some extra inclusions taken from his famous film scores for movies such as Schindler's List, Lincoln, and Munich. There are also some guest appearances including Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas and harpist Jessica Zhou. A superb sounding and magnificently executed album for fans of classical music.