Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: The White Arcades ranks amongst one of Harold Budd's best loved solo works. The ambient pioneer and celebrated pianist is of course well known for his work with the likes of Brian Eno, but this 1988 album demonstrates how clear-sighted his approach became when he was recording on his own. There's a pristine quality to this kind of ambience which allows it to sink into any number of settings, but it's far from banal. The subtlety of Budd's composition and performance as the piano and synth lines enmesh is a marvel to behold, suggesting half-hidden mysteries waiting to be solved, but only when the time is right. If there was ever music to soothe a troubled mind, this would be it.

Review: The Moon and the Melodies, a remarkable collaboration between Cocteau Twins and ambient pioneer Harold Budd, remains a standout achievement in both artists' repertoires. First released in 1986, this enchanting album is now receiving a well-deserved vinyl reissue, meticulously remastered by Robin Guthrie from the original tapes. This album is a stunning fusion of the Cocteau Twins' signature dreamlike atmospheres with Budd's elegant, improvisational piano, resulting in a listening experience that is both expansive and deeply personal. The blending of Elizabeth Fraser's ethereal vocals, seamlessly intertwined with Guthrie's luminous guitar work and Raymonde's resonant bass, creates a sound that is both distinct and evocative. The album effortlessly balances vocal tracks with instrumentals, each adding to its rich and diverse sonic palette. This reissue offers a chance to rediscover a defining moment in the evolution of dream pop and ambient music. The Moon and the Melodies continues to stun audiences. This CD edition is the perfect vehicle to an ethereal beauty of the highest order.

Review: The Moon and the Melodies, a collaboration between Cocteau Twins and ambient pioneer Harold Budd, stands as a unique gem in both artists' discographies. Originally released in 1986, this ethereal album is now being reissued on vinyl, remastered from the original tapes by Robin Guthrie. Unlike anything else the Cocteau Twins ever produced, this record blends their dreamlike soundscapes with Budd's serene, improvisational piano work. The result is an atmospheric journey, at once intimate and expansive. Tracks like 'Sea, Swallow Me' shine with Elizabeth Fraser's otherworldly vocals, intertwined with Guthrie's shimmering guitar and Raymonde's grounding bass, creating a sound that feels both familiar and entirely unique. Instrumentals like 'Memory Gongs' and 'The Ghost Has No Home' highlight Budd's delicate piano, enhanced by the band's signature ambient textures. The album is a study in contrasts, vocal tracks sit alongside instrumentals, each contributing to a cohesive yet diverse listening experience. For fans, this reissue is a chance to revisit a pivotal moment in the evolution of dream pop and ambient music. The album's enduring appeal is evident in its continued influence in social media. The Moon and the Melodies remains a shining light that can happen when artists from different realms come together to create something truly timeless.

Review: Last year, Brian Eno served up his latest critically acclaimed album in the form of FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE. Now he follows it up with the much anticipated instrumental version. Despite his advancing years and the sheer scope of what he has already accomplish dint he ambient world - not least devising the genre in the first place - Eno still manages to excite and intrigue here. The artwork alone is beautiful, and the music inside is similarly lush - widescreen cosmic soundscapes with subtle melodies and shifting timbres, pregnant empty space and a knack for sounds designs with meaning few others can match.

Review: A true enigma, an artist that represents all that was fascinating and romantic and alluring and intriguing about 20th Century sounds, Brian Eno was always going to need a feature length documentary, when the time was right. Premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Eno, Gary Hustwit's ode to the man, myth and legend, wowed critics and blew audiences away. Not least because it uses a computer programme which selects footage and edits the movie so a different version is shown at every screening. Innovation befitting Eno, removing the visuals and focusing on the sounds readjusts our vision to bring Eno into greater focus. The breadth of what's on this soundtrack is remarkable, from upfront indie on 'Stiff' and the weird folk-pop of 'Spinning Away', a John Cale collaboration, the ghostly post-rave of 'Cmon' with Fred Again, spectacular pianos of 'Motion In The Field', ethereal ambient vocals on 'There Were Bells', the angular punk dominating 'Third Uncle' - we could go on, and on, and on.

Review: When The Ship was released in 2016, Brian Eno was comfortably settled into a rhythm with Warp Records which had yielded multiple albums with Karl Hyde amongst other projects. The Ship was notable in that it was Eno's first solo record with vocals since 2005's Another Day On Earth and its widespread acclaim saw it make an impression on the UK charts. Loosely based around the rich thematic thread of the Titanic, but it's as much an exploration of Eno's older, lower register vocal. There's also a choice cover of The Velvet Underground's 'I'm Set Free', which brings this majestic album to a close. Now it's seeing a re-release via UMR pressed on Coke bottle green vinyl.

Review: Eno is a new and groundbreaking documentary that explores the multifaceted career of musician, producer, artist, and activist Brian Eno. Compiled from extensive footage, music, and interviews, each screening of the film is different as it delves into Eno's music, art, and ideas. Accompanying this cinematic journey is a soundtrack spanning Eno's illustrious career, from early solo works to recent collaborations. Released on CD, the album features tracks from 14 different albums, including three previously unreleased recordings. 'Lighthouse #429, the first track from Eno's Sonos radio station, offers a glimpse into his extensive archive and overall this album celebrates Eno's influential legacy.

Review: Illuminating the remarkable, and largely otherwise undocumented, creative ferment within and between the British and American scenes of experimental music during the mid to late 1970s, Dialogo's box set - made in full collaboration with all of the composers or their estates - contains the entire ten album output of the label, completely remastered and housed in faithful mini-replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as an extensive booklet. Over the last few years, the Italian imprint has showed a remarkable dedication to the history of experimental music via reissues of seminal artefacts from the Cramps catalog, and important albums by Piero Umiliani, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Enrico Rava, and others. This initiative now takes on a towering scale with the first ever box set gathering the entire ten album collection of Brian Eno's Obscure Records, originally issued between 1975 and 1978. A truly groundbreaking body of recordings - many of which have remained out of print and difficult to find for decades - it contains some of the most important, influential, and enduring music to emerge during the second half of the 20th Century, which collectively reconfigured the terms of Minimalism and laid the groundwork for the emerging movement of Ambient music over its short, three year run.

Review: Now here's a rarity for you. Not even many of the most committed megafans know that Brian Eno, Holger Czukay and J.Peter Schwalm, accompanied by Raoul Walton and Jern Atai, performed a secret live music show, outside the esteemed Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, situated in the city of Bonn, in August 1998. Forming a part of the opening party of Eno's Future Light-Lounge Proposal multimedia installation, this furtively-recorded album hears an exclusive slice of incidental "high-altitude food music", of course made during Brian Eno's airborne ambient era. Now reissued via Gronland, this five-piece cut of sophisti-ambi-krauttronica makes for a welcome surprise.

Review: Roger and brother Brian Eno have already assured their legacy as pioneers of experimental ambient music. Mixing Colours was their first album on Deutsche Grammophon and this reissue reminds us why the par are so well known for revolutionising music-Brian through innovative pop treatments and Roger with ambient synth/piano works. This collaboration reflects their shared genius and guides you through rich soundscapes blending mood and place into immersive auditory experiences. Crafted over several years, this poetic collection highlights the brothers' mastery and is a deep dive into ambient sound.

Review: Celebrating its 30th anniversary this Record Store Day, 'Original Soundtracks 1' is a bold, imaginative collaboration between British ambient pioneer Brian Eno and Irish band U2 under the moniker Passengers. Blurring the line between ambient experimentation and cinematic storytelling, the album features 15 tracks that were all conceived as soundtracks for fictional films. Highlights include the haunting 'Miss Sarajevo' with Luciano Pavarotti and contributions from Howie B and Holi and this remastered anniversary edition comes on recycled black vinyl. An adventurous 1995 release that stands up now as an atmospheric, genre-blurring work and a rare and inspired detour in U2's discography.

Review: Given 'Africa' has been the soundtrack to university athletics union night's out for the last 40 years or so it's safe to say Toto are a band that really deserve more in-depth attention. As this mind-blowing soundtrack to the cult science fiction film Dune goes to show, there's a lot more to the outfit than the chart-friendly glam-riffdom of their most famous single.



Brian Eno's name gives a sign of how arty things get, but in truth he's only responsible for a fraction of this adventurous listen, which is packed with movie soundbites to set the scene among fantastical landscapes, rather than realism. From classical overtures ('Leto's Theme', 'Trip To Arrakis'), through tense incidentals ('The Box') and crystalline synthdom ('Prophecy Theme'), it's only really on the credit-worthy 80s pop balladry of 'Take My Hand' that we get the stadium payoff Toto fans are used to, completing an epic journey.