Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: There's no doubt that the brilliant, synthesizer-heavy soundtrack played a key part in the success of Netflix's deliciously odd thriller, Stranger Things. Written and performed by Survive members Kyle Dixon and Michael Steen, it got the right balance between John Carpenter style creepiness, Vangelis-like melodiousness, and the cinematic feel of classic movie soundtrack material. Happily, the streaming behemoth has decided to release two volumes of musical highlights from the series, beginning with this first volume. It's testament to the quality of the Texas-based duo's work that those who've not seen the series should still enjoy it. This is atmospheric, clandestine electronic music of the highest order.

Review: Soundtrack heavyweight Clint Mansell was the perfect choice to score 2009 film Moon, in which Sam Rockwell goes through a brilliantly off-beat adventure while working a solo stint on a base on the dark side of our nearest celestial object. It's an artful, subtly eerie film with a score to match, and Mansell perfectly conveys the isolation of Rockwell's character while evoking the sense of wonder a sci-fi film demands. For the first time since its original release, the Moon OST is available once more on vinyl, appropriately enough pressed up in lunar white.

Review: In one of those instances where the soundtrack eclipses the film, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly stands tall as a career highlight from one of soul's all-time greatest. The blaxploitation film itself was solid, but the songs Mayfield wrote for it are pure perfection - an acerbic portrayal of street life in urban America that views its players with heart and understanding, a truly wise rumination on cause and effect set to some of the most transcendent funk playing imaginable. As well as the original album, this special double-disc edition features single mixes, instrumentals and alternate takes from the sessions, deepening the legend of this seminal work.

Review: Whilst Mogwai's scores for Zidane and Les Revenants were diverting enough pieces of work, it's some testimony to the frontier-striding attitude and emotional heft of 'Atomic' - which marks a soundtrack to the movie made by Mark Cousins and shown on BBC4 last year, dealing with the atomic age - that is stands amongst their very best work, Expanding the band's palette to include Kraftwerk-esque electronica and emotive orchestration alongside their trademark six-string melancholy. these powerful and resonant pieces pack a mighty punch, summoning awe and fear in equal, elegiac and singularly appropriate measure.

Review: Over the course of his long and successful career, Ennio Morricone composed many dance songs in step with the fashions of the late 60s and early 70s. These were themes not necessarily directly connected with his films' synopses, but which were nonetheless played in disco clubs, on jukeboxes, turntables and on the radio. This collection contains a selection of pieces such as the brilliant main theme from Grand Slam (1967); the shake rock (opening credits) from Dario Argento's classic Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971) the danceable from the noir film Violent City (1970); the beat version of the opening credits of 'Pioggia Sul Tuo Viso' by the Sorrows, from How I Learned to Love Women (1966); 'Per Vittorio (Bossa)', an elegant bossa nova with flute and percussions from The Success (1963); the tribal shake from I Cantori Moderni, which winks at the dies irae from Garden of Delights (1967); 'Scuola di Ballo al sole', a wild surf piece from the Hawks and the Sparrows (1966); the supreme bossa nova from One Night at Dinner (1969) with the super iconic voice of Edda Dell'orso; the shake music of "'Ostinazione al Limone from What Have you Done to Solange? (1972); and 'Donnabossa' from Full Hearts and Empty Pockets (1964), a delicate bossa nova piece with a prominent harpsichord.

Review: RECOMMENDED
It has been just over 12 months since Ennio Morricone passed away, aged 91, and if it were up to use there would have been a non-stop stream of reissues from the Italian maestro's back catalogue to help people either remember or discover what made his work so important. It's hard to comprehend, but during his career he wrote more than 400 scores for TV and cinema, alongside around 100 classical works. That's some contribution.

Giu' La Testa is one of many he worked on to accompany a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western - with the pair collaborating on all but the latter's directorial debut. From whichever angle you're listening, this is the epitome of that relationship, with tracks veering from deeply atmospheric to playful, Romantic and wistful to cautiously adventurous. Exceptional stuff from a genuinely irreplaceable practitioner.