Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Homaging mutuality in a robust creative dialogue, More Eaze and Claire Rousay add another flash of brilliance to a mesmerising string of allegorical LPs. Both born in San Antonio, Texas, Rousay and Eaze (Mari Maurice) riff (literally) on strummed country and noise rock echoes, reflecting an uptick in electronica artists sound-repainting the lonesome grasslands and desert great plains of the mid Southern United States. Yet on No Floor, there is an ardent sci-fi leitmotif too, producing a techno-realist vision reminiscent of a Texan Death Stranding and/or Simon Stalenhag painting. From 'kinda tropical' to 'limelight, actually' we hear shortgrass droughts, short-wave police radio chatter, and the bootup zaps of a beaten up pocket survivo-droid, as it scans the semidesert we alone must brave.

Review: This collaborative LP is a beautiful and intimate work that draws on elements of Americana, experimental sound design and post-rock. The duo have a deep connection going back to their hometown of San Antonio, Texas and here create a unique sound with lush textures and emotional depth that, unlike their previous work, involved more found sounds. No Floor showcases their mastery of traditional composition and sound manipulation with tracks like 'Kinda Tropical' and 'The Applebees Outside Kalamazoo, Michigan' evoking nostalgia and the complexities of youth. All throughout this record, you can feel the duo's bond in its delicate, evolving soundscapes.

Review: The full 83 track suite from the original Halo trilogy of video games is here, bringing you an exemplary score befitting of one of the most acclaimed Arcadian future combat shooter game series in the world. Now you can figuratively "don" your very own sonic Spartan supersoldier suit, as the game's trademark musical motifs - mystical Gregorian choral chants, missionary orchestral movements, gloried verging-on-prog upswells and downturns - are laid in pristine electronica-augmented fashion, by composers Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and C Paul Johnson. The midpoint of the record marks a highlight, where the Halo 2 soundtrack heard a long list of A-list musician collaborators, marking a heavy metal and nu-metal sojourn.

Review: Laced Records and Halo Studios partner up to bring the epic soundtracks of the original Halo trilogy to vinyl for the first time, remastering and revamping 83 original scores from Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. the music that defined a franchise is thus ethered in perpetuity. Weaving orchestral elements, prog rock, drum corps marches, and heavy metal, Halo presents a perfect bottling of angst and militancy; owing to its popularity with a certain teen gamer cohort, Halo 2's score especially made history as the first video game OST to chart on the Billboard 200. Now, each soundtrack is presented in its own sleeve with custom artwork, and comes in a collector's box adorned with a debossed Halo logo and silver laminate finish.

Review: American DJ, producer and electronic musician Evan Shornstein, AKA Photay, is perhaps best known for his work on labels like the uber-exalted Ninja Tune, highly respected Astro Nautico, and super-good Mexican Summer. And at times (well, on 2022's On Hold), he's worked with telephone hold music samples. Forget all that, though, because here he teams up with the similarly visionary-minded Carlos NiNo for a masterclass in atmosphere and laidback, slick, immersive tones.

It's hard to really put your finger on what's happening with An Offering. In some ways, it's contemporary classical, or at least it makes you feel like you're listening to an orchestra warming up, possibly playing incidental parts to augment some narrative playing out on an audibly large stage. In other ways, this is highly experimental business that occupies a space in a kind of instrumentally-unique ambient world. Jazzy, strange, ethereal, and utterly mesmerising.

Review: It's not just a clever name. Zake and City Dawn have come up with a record that genuinely sounds like the reflective moods that so often follow great loss, realised on record. Sweeping synth-strings on 'We Once Believed We Owned The Sky' only serving to reiterate the sense of lamentation that seems to pervade every corner of this album.

Sometimes looking back on what was but will never be again is the only real way of making ourselves feel better - by connecting to intensely emotional memories we can trigger an outpouring that's truly cathartic. As if following that pattern, Frizzell & Duque: A Sorry Unrequited is a strangely uplifting experience by the time we're listening to the closing bars of 'The Sparrow's Flight', even if that's only because of the sense that others have the capacity to feel the same as we do.

Review: A new double cassette box from Past Inside The Present, which sees its co-founder zake in relatively rare solo mode mixing soothing ambient sensibilities with orchestral, classical influences. 'Dernier Souffle (Pt 1)' is a great example of how the two can meld very easily and comfortably, a sense of slowly retreating heartache creeping over its open, slabs of floating sounds, whereas the three parts of 'La Paix Eternelle (Pt 1), on the other hand, evoke heavenly choirs of angels. An album with its head in the clouds, for sure, but once you join it there you won't want to come down.

Review: Zake and City of Dawn are the aliases of Zach Frizzell and Damien Duque respectively, two Texan ambient explorers with plenty of sizeable lineage in the field. Frizzell in particular runs the highly regarded Past Inside The Present label, and he also has a staggering amount of recorded work to his name. The pair have worked together a lot over the past two years, and now they make the move to Danish label Azure Vista for this blissed out excursion into purest drone abandon, with all the soothing harmonic tones your restless mind could ever wish for.

Review: Certain Path is a serene, piano-driven album by collaborators zake (aka label head Zach Frizzell), From Overseas which is Kevin Sery and City of Dawn aka Damien Duque. This reflective collection of seven pieces invites deep contemplation with tender piano motifs and subtle drones creating a meditative atmosphere. Opening with 'Where Time Slows Down,' the album blends delicate melodies with layered guitar textures. Inspired by Frizzell's wife, the title track offers heartfelt emotion, while 'Avec l'aide de Vincent' honours a close mentor. Throughout, the artists employ nocturnal recording sessions, field recordings and analogue treatments to craft an introspective, evocative listening experience.