Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: It's astounding to think that Mother 2 was released in 1994. A landmark moment for the SNES video game system, it arrived five years after its predecessor, and as such enjoyed the benefits of what was then a next generation platform. Felt in terms of graphical and gameplay capabilities, suffice to say the upgraded hardware was also capable of capturing much more engaging and imaginative music. Here we are, almost 30 years on from when this sequel first captivated people, and the score itself gets a re-release on vinyl. Again drafting Hirokazu Tanaka and Keiichi Suzuki as composers, the pair would later explain how much more freedom they had due to the technological progress made between this and its predecessor. Translated into a music review, think deep, atmospheric ambient constructed from many layers of sound. A futuristic sonic trip into the far reaches of the cosmos that still holds up within the genre today.

Review: RECOMMENDED
If 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic, did anything good for music it was forcing a long overdue reevaluation of the role technology plays. Video games had a bumper year, and it didn't take long for the historic relationship between computer entertainment and contemporary musical compositions to start finding favour with content-starved editorial teams.

They say there's no turning back, ever, and as such the smart money is on albums like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice not just becoming more commonplace, but taken more seriously going forward. Soundtrack to Activision's critically acclaimed video game of the same name, in which players take on the role of a shinobi in feudal Japan, as you'd expect it's a deeply atmospheric collection that invokes misty mountaintops, shadows dancing off bamboo and patient heroics. An OST equal to any major movie.

Review: A selection of fifteen pieces from the soundtrack of the cult anime Dragon Ball Z, on a limited 2xLP edition, fully licensed, including the main opening track 'CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA'. This soundtrack accompanies the anime's key moment in which Dragon Ball Z resumes five years after Son Goku's wedding. Radditz, a mysterious warrior, arrives on Earth to find Goku, who learns that he comes from a planet of warriors from a planet of warriors, of which only four remain. The plot is based on a succession of increasingly strong opponents to be fought, but there's often a quest or travel motif that adds interest beyond the duels. All this, and more, is bolstered by this electrifying soundtrack edition.

Review: Yoko Kanni's seminal "Tank! Gold: Cowboy Bebop' soundtrack is now a quarter of a century old and to mark that occasion it has been pressed up for this special 25th Anniversary Edition across a double album including a booklet courtesy of Victor Entertainment. The anime movie itself is one of the most famous of the genre and follows the adventures of the crew of Bebop, a bounty hunter ship that chases criminals and turns them into the Inter Solar System Police for reward, Kanno's zany fusion of rock, blues and jazz oozes cool. It's a musical mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms, New York horns and plenty more.