Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: While in 2024 we're supposed to understand, acknowledge, hear and appropriately respond to the trials and tribulations playing out in minds across the world, in many ways driven by global events and the status quo system we have rather foolishly settled on, for the time being, Lebanon Hangover's hiatus-ending two-tracker - their first studio work since 2020 - opens with a clear message. "Life is full of wonder, it's better than going under." Perhaps not the most sensitive way of telling us to appreciate our lot, the track itself, which nods to Head On The Door-era Cure, is all melancholic chords and a feeling of dizzying, perhaps even manic despair alongside the comfort that comes with recognising the universal human condition. It's a joyful but slightly sinister lead. Flip it to find 'KYIV', an acoustic-ambient-Cocteau Twins-esque tribute to the sorrow and pain of Ukraine, and, by association, other war torn regions of the world.

Review: Definitely one for the collectors, Lime was Canadian duo (then husband and wife) Denis and Denyse LePage, and 'Angel Eyes' was originally the second single from their third studio album, 1983's Lime III. Almost 40 years later, the track has returned as a short form release, offering the original synth pop anthem, and a clubbier dub mix.

For many, though, not least Unidisc Canada, the label carrying this re-release, the major selling point is a remix - and something of a remodelling - courtesy of Turbo Recordings boss and dance music icon Tiga. Forsaking the rather smiley and bouncy original work, in favour of something grittier and altogether more dystopian, it's a masterclass of rough, gnarly broken electro, reworking and chopping vocals into disorientating loops, before finally introducing a kind of warehouse synth pop sound.

Review: Minimal Wave presents an exquisite 7" EP release by Martin Lloyd entitled "L'Amant Electronique". Martin is mainly known for his Oppenheimer Analysis (Minimal Wave) and Analysis (Survival Records) projects, yet through the years he recorded over two dozen tracks on his own, most of which never saw the light of day. The four selected tracks were recorded between 1980 and 1984 in his own "Feedback Studios" in Battersea , London. Martin Lloyd delivers vocals via the vocoder and carefully layers synth melodies which range from upbeat and danceable, to what could be the soundtrack to a 1981 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The record is pressed on white vinyl with a heavy black jacket (spot gloss) and is limited to 999 hand-numbered copies.

Review: Reissued over two decades since its original release, the second full-length from Liverpool's Ladytron still thrums with the same sharp-edged futurism that made it such a cult touchpoint. Tracks like 'Seventeen' and 'Evil' captured a tension between robotic detachment and raw emotional charge, anchored in the band's icy synth palette and minimal, deadpan vocals. While 'Blue Jeans' flirts with glammy melancholy, 'Turn It On' and 'Fire' dial up the menace, tapping into something more volatile. There's something surgical about the sequencing tooi'Cracked LCD', 'NuHorizons' and 'Cease2exist' stretch into more abstract terrain, before folding back into hook-laced electro-pop with the closing title track and 'The Reason'. With Daniel Hunt and Mickey Petralia co-producing, the album took shape in Los Angeles but never lost the European chill that defined their sound. It's a record that helped redraw the map for synth-pop in the early 2000sineither retro-futurist pastiche nor pure nostalgia, but something sleek, cinematic and entirely their own.

Review: Lake Haze's third album on Shall Not Fade is another triumph with his signature shimmering melodies strung out over lush beats. Drawing on house, disco, garage and broken beat it is a rich affair with a strong UK vibe. There is elegance and symphony to opener 'Xyleac' that immediately gets your head amongst the stars. 'Diluspth' keeps up the majestic synth while 'Bbyncole' is double-speed techno with balmy celestial synths and hurried bass that locks you in. Tender ambient pieces like 'Shores Of Eternal Life' reset the mood and then the second half is a series of shorter sketches packed with electronic soul.

Review: Le Couleur consistently sidesteps complacency with each new album presenting a fresh musical experiment without ever losing its familiar foundation. With Comme dans un penthouse, the band takes its biggest leap into musical exploration yet as they revisit elements of 'Voyage Love' while delving deeper into disco infused with new wave nuances. The result is a cooler, more distant vibe compared to their previous work. The album crafts a narrative universe around Barbara, introduced in 'POP,' as she seeks excess, pleasure, and happiness amidst frenetic rhythms. From the Krautrock-inspired 'Autobahn' to futuristic tracks reminiscent of Das Mortal, Le Couleur deftly balances innovation with familiarity here on another sublime-sounding album.

Review: Leroy Se Meurt make a bold statement here with their new long player on the Mannequin label. It finds the Parisian pair keeping the foundational sounds of EBM, post-punk and electro at the core but also explores around the edges in fantastic fashion. The mood here is heavy and abrasive rock textures permeate the tracks next to electric synths and over worked samplers. The tracks feature lyrics sung in Turkish and French and are hard hitting affairs with floor facing, repetitive loop madness next to double-tempo cuts with chaotic guitars amongst much more.

Review: Wearing 1980s synth pop influences on their sleeve, and sounding exactly like they belong on the mighty DFA, Brooklyn's Light Asylum were rightly praised at the time they put out their debut - and, to this date - only studio album, circa 2012. Critics noted that, at a time when dance-punk crossover was everywhere, driven by LCD Soundsystem and many of the acts frontman James Murphy signed to DFA, the New Yorkers manage to differentiate themselves from the pack in several ways.

Taking a hint of Depeche Mode (well, maybe a bit more), a pinch of Nine Inch Nails, and parts of Throbbing Gristle, Gary Numan, and other pioneers, Light Asylum managed to introduce some much-needed light and spatiality into the often claustrophobically dark and oppressive industrial synth world. In doing so, they offer a sound that's somehow both universally accessible and niche, which is never an easy line to tread.

Review: On The Screen: an LP from the Belgian band Linear Movement originally slated for release in 1983. Linear Movement is mastermind Peter Bonne (A Split-Second, Twilight Ritual, Autumn) joined by Peter Koutstaal, and Lieve Van Steerteghem on vocals for several tracks. Some tracks appear on the exquisite Pulse Music cassette while the rest are previously unreleased. Linear Movement was featured on V/A The Lost Tapes compilation LP with their highly acclaimed The Game, described as an "unstoppable pop song". Linear Movement have been called "a more primitive, cold wave Visage", and have been compared to the Human League. Peter differentiated LM from his other projects TR and Aut by the distinct sound of the compositions: they were poppier.

Review: .The last time we fell in love with Kedr Livansky it was October 2021 and the world was looking up. Lockdowns were over, and Liminal Soul brought us a celebratory embrace rooted in dance music and post-club night warmth. "Trance-tipped, heart-on-sleeve dance music that's never shy and still always chilled out enough to sit back and contemplate," we said at the time. Myrtus Myth is a very different thing altogether, but thankfully feels no less optimistic. Definitely sitting closer to pop, a kind of soft-yacht-rock, electronic-jazz-chill, and beach bar downtempo compared with the dance floors we were so keen to revisit three years ago, a few things have survived - all of them wonderful deep. Another stunner, to put all that another way.

Review: Midway through the last decade, Bureau B reissued a kosmiche curiosity from cult synthesiser composer Rudiger Lorenz, Southland - a set inspired by idle daydreaming about the island nations of the southern pacific and the south Atlantic. Here, they return to the late artist's catalogue, presenting their pick of the music featured on the DIY tapes and records he self-released (usually in very small quantities) between 1981 and '83 - IE the period before Southland was recorded. Larger darker and moodier than that set, Lorenz delivers a synthesizer-heavy musical blend of contemporaneous influences that consistently delivers the goods. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the sparse and warped 'Chabomilla Sabinae', the Tangerine Dream-esque beauty of 'Dreaming of Saba', the electronic ambience of 'Independence' and the star-gazing drift of 'Anigre'.

Review: Danish artists Niels Lyngso and Morten Sondergaard initially bonded over their mutual love of DIY electronic music experiments, before realising that they were both poets. On the same day in 1992, they both released their debut poetry books and this collaborative album - a now sought-after obscurity that has been remastered and reissued by brand-new imprint Sunny Crypt. It's a fascinating and surprisingly on-point collection that effortlessly flits between keyboard solo-sporting instrumental street soul (the deliciously loved-up 'Dromte Mig En Drom'), tactile, organ-sporting slo-mo synth-pop ('Variete'), beat-free synth-tango ('Tango Del Amor'), poodle perm-sporting Scandinavian metal ('Vagvisa'), music concrete ('Edektronika', 'Babylon Gebbesogt') and hard-to-pigeonhole electronic soundscapes ('No. 8').