Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: 'We Are!' was the very first opening theme for the TV anime version of One Piece, which first aired in 1999. The first analogue version of the 8cm single CD was released in November of that year. Sung by the franchise's in-house singer Hiroshi Kitadani, and bringing along with her a bursting, emphatic, nearing-on-frenzied composition, the theme instantly captures the vibe of One Piece; that of following Monkey D. Luffy and crew on serial whimsical piracies and carefree adventures, set against a more sinister backdrop of tyrannical secret police forces controlled by a World Government, in constant conflict with a Revolutionary Army.

Review: Who doesn't love Toy Story? It's an on going classic with a heart of gold, some of The best animation in the film world and most loveable characters to ever make the silver screen. Whether young or old, snuggling down to watch this sone is always a treat, and now you can bring some of that magic onto your decks with the red vinyl compilation album. It brings together some of the best tracks and favourite musical moments of the movie such as, of course the most notable song of them all, 'You've Got A Friend In Me (Para El Buzz Espanol)' as well as 'I Will Go Sailing No More' and 'We Belong Together.'

Review: Ben Kaczor and Niculin Barandun's debut album, Pointed Frequencies come on the tasteful German outlet Dial Records and explores the healing potential of sound through six immersive tracks. Their collaboration began in 2022 for an audiovisual show at Digital Art Festival Zurich and has developed masterfully since and as Kaczor studied sound therapy, Barandun became intrigued by its possibilities, and it is that which has inspired the album's direction. It incorporates therapeutic elements like binaural beats and solfeggio frequencies into a seamless blend of ambient and experimental music. Through free improvisation, the pair have cooked up some brilliantly contemplative pieces here.

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: The Natural Yogurt Band, purveyors of enigmatic library music, return with their eighth release, a cosmic odyssey that pushes the boundaries of their signature sound. Joined by keyboardist Huw Rees aka The Oracle, the band ventures into a richer galaxy of sonic exploration. 'Projections' sets the stage with its warped organs and gritty drum breaks, while 'Altered States' and 'Bio Morphic Patterns' delve deeper into the cosmic unknown, their swirling melodies and hypnotic rhythms evoking the vastness of space. 'Messages' and 'Nebulous' offer moments of introspection, their ethereal textures and ambient soundscapes creating a sense of otherworldly wonder. On the flipside, 'Perception' and 'Poly Morph' continue the exploration, their pulsating rhythms and experimental soundscapes challenging the listener's perception of reality. 'Existence' and 'Dimensions' close out the journey, their expansive sounds and philosophical undertones leaving a lasting impression. This is a must-listen for those seeking a unique and thought-provoking musical experience.

Review: The Necks' 20th studio album, Bleed, is an unbroken 42-minute composition that delves into the rich, unsettling beauty of stillness. Known for their minimalist jazz, the Australian trio takes their distinctive approach even further here, turning silence and decay into instruments as potent as any piano or drum. Each second feels like a meditation on space, where nothing is rushed, and every shift matters. It's a single composition, yet it feels like an endless expanse of possibilities, each sound lingering in the air before dissolving into the next. Pressed on Indie Exclusive Green Vinyl, Bleed is another masterclass from The Necks, a group that has never been content to rest on past achievements. They stretch the limits of jazz in a way that few other artists could, inviting the listener into a world where stillness isn't an absence but a presence. The sounds feel tactile, almost organic, as if they were born from the earth itself, then slowly decayed. Each listen offers something different, some new texture or note that was missed before, making Bleed a record that grows with you, becoming more complex and rewarding with time. It's minimalist, yes, but not in the cold, distant senseithis is music that pulls you in, demands your attention, and rewards it with an almost spiritual sense of calm.

Review: Australian minimalist-jazz trio The Necks return with a powerful exploration of stillness and decay in the for of their new album, Bleed. The record features one lone 42-minute composition in which the band masterfully delves into the beauty of space and subtle transformation. Through their unique blend of minimalist jazz, The Necks continue to craft a distinct sound that shows subtle evolution and makes for another striking chapter to their extensive body of work. Bleed is all about giving over to the meditative journey where every note and pause evokes the profound complexity of time and impermanence, all while showcasing the trio's remarkable ability to evoke plenty of very real emotion despite the minimal nature of their evocative sounds.

Review: Blake Neely's Masters of the Air is a stellar war score, much like his work for The Pacific and Greyhound. It achieves a near-perfect balance of bold heroism and quiet solemnity, bound together with a memorable main theme in 'Soar'. Neely, who previously worked on The Pacific alongside Hans Zimmer and Geoff Zanelli, has once again captured the raw heroism and terrible horror of WWII. The main theme, introduced in 'Soar (Main Title)', is elegant and evokes flying, though it may take a few listens to fully catch. Highlights include the tense 'Around The Clock', the sorrowful 'Every Second Is A Little Death', and the thunderous 'The Bloody Hundredth'. The score's mix of grand and rousing tracks with quieter, solemn moments, like 'Going Home', makes it a solidly entertaining listen. Fans of Neely's previous work, will find much to appreciate in this well-crafted soundtrack.

Review: Before he passed away in 1975 aged just 43, jazz musician and composer Oliver Nelson created a swathe of scores for film and TV, most notably Ironside and The Six Million Dollar man. This limited-edition release, the 19th in the 'Universal Pictures Film Music Classics Collection' brings two of Nelson's big-screen scores to CD for the first time. Tracks one to 18 form an expanded soundtrack to Western flick Death of a Gunfighter, a score in which Nelson focused on elegiac strings, melancholic motifs, suspenseful interludes and sweeping orchestration. The remainder of the CD presents the soundtrack to Skullduggery, a largely forgotten 'jungle adventure'. Nelson's music for this is more dashing, daring, upbeat and expansive, with extensive use of densely layered, tribal style percussion.

Review: Randy Newman's evocative score for the 1998 film Pleasantville is set to make its debut on vinyl, and it's an edition that soundtrack enthusiasts won't want to miss. Released by Varese Sarabande and Craft Recordings, this 2XLP Deluxe Edition comes in a stunning 'colourblast' red white & blue swirl. The collection spans 34 tracks, expanding the original score to an impressive 66 minutes. Included are previously unreleased tracks and extended cues, making this a truly comprehensive offering. The film Pleasantville, starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, is a poignant blend of fantasy and comedy that delves into themes of identity and change. Randy Newman's score perfectly complements this narrative, blending nostalgic Americana with deeply emotional compositions. His ability to infuse humour and warmth into the music shines throughout, particularly in pieces like 'The Pleasantville Theme' and 'Bud's A Hero' and visually, this album looks as good as the music within.

Review: Created and directed by Mike Flanagan, The Midnight Club is a hit original Netflix series with a soundtrack by The Newton Brothers that now gets its own vinyl release thanks to Waxwork Records. It comes across four sides of gatefold orange and purple swirl vinyl and is a tasteful mix of orchestral and synth sounds that are coated in eerie ambient cues packed with emotion and darkness that embody the modo of the film which centers around the stories of eight terminally ill people who all live at the Brightcliffe Home hospice centre.

Review: "A stunning use of Poe's work as the Cliffs Notes to his own majestic, intricate brand of storytelling, Flanagan's The Fall of the House of Usher showcases what the One Percent is willing to sacrifice to remain in high places." So says Vanity Fair of the Netflix Original Series, The Fall of the House Of Usher, a decade-spanning narrative that nods to several of the master horror author's most famous nightmares while telling tales of the wealthy and wealthier. It's typically polished-looking stuff from the country that can't stop making polished-looking dramas for video-on-demand services. But how about the score? Written by the Newton Brothers, regular collaborators of Gothic Horror creator Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House), the music could loosely be described as contemporary classical, and certainly does well in setting a scene and creating a brooding atmosphere, even if you're not actually watching the show.

Review: Definitely not to be confused with the 2005 Neo-noir US movie of the same name, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a 1966 Eurospy comedy directed by Duccio Tessari. The plot, which contains several genre tropes, revolves around a retired espionage agent who receives a death sentence after being caught trying to steal L1 million dollars. At the last minute, he's offered a reprieve, if he can steal a secret formula before terrorist Mr X does. We won't divulge what happens next, but as spy movies tend to, there are plenty of curveballs and red herrings thrown at us. Bruno Nicolai, a powerhouse of Italian cinema during this time, whose tracks have found their way into Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, delivers an archetypal score for this cinematic canon, packed with tension building percussive movements, swooning and sweeping string and woodwind pop, and even the odd gentle slow dance.

Review: While the world instantly remembers Ennio Morricone's heroic contribution to the world of movie scores at the height of the Spaghetti Western trend - Italian produced cowboy flicks set on the frontier of an early United States - less people will jump to the name Bruno Nicolai. And yet, here we are, faced with one of the greatest soundtracks ever written for any film in the canon. Archetypal of the genre, Nicolai conducted many of his close friend Morricone's scores, and this betrays what to expect from this masterpiece. The soundscapes are grand and pompous, open and mysterious, edgy and tense. Varied, but always the aural equivalent of panning across almost-unchartered plains and seeing a solitary rider appear on the horizon. If that sounds remotely entertaining, this is an essential.

Review: 25 years after it was originally unveiled, Nine Inch Nails' soundtrack for the video game Quake - a dark and doom-laden first person shoot-'em-up - still sounds surprisingly intense and unsettling. Their decision to write and record the soundtrack was itself pioneering - Quake was one of the first games to seek sounds from a big-name act - while its pitch-black musical blend of fractured electronic sounds, dark ambient sweeps and creepy, largely beat-free soundscapes was undoubtedly ahead of the curve. Remarkably, this meticulously re-mastered vinyl edition marks the first time the soundtrack has been available on anything other than a CD bundled with copies of the game. An undoubted classic of its type.

Review: Yuji Nomi's Whisper of the Heart: Image Album brings the magic of Studio Ghibli's beloved film to vinyl for the first time. Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's storyboards and sketches, this whimsical collection of orchestral music was masterfully composed by Nomi, perfectly capturing the film's emotional depth. The album includes four vocal tracks, with the iconic 'Country Road' leading the way. Directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and released in 1995, holds a special place in Studio Ghibli's legacy as the first feature not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata. Kondo's vision, supported by a screenplay by Miyazaki, shines through the film, blending heartfelt storytelling with stunning animation. The film introduced surrealist painter Naohisa Inoue to Ghibli's artistic roster, further enriching its visual style. Nomi's score is a whimsical, delightful experience, with each track meticulously tailored to match the film's scenes. Unlike other Ghibli soundtracks, this one doesn't rely on recurring themes, offering instead a fresh surprise at every turn. Now available on limited edition black vinyl.

Review: A Monster's Expedition + Earlier Adventures is a double disc collection of music from four different video games (namely A Monster's Expedition, Sokobond, Cosmic Express and A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build) all composed by Eli Rainsberry, Allison Walker, Nick Dymond, and Priscilla Snow. Each one is utterly unique to the game and each one comes laden with beautiful soothing atmospheres delicately coloured with ponderous and whimsical melodies that will distract you from whatever you are doing they are so gorgeous. This is music to get lost in and it comes with superbly serene artwork from Andre Rodrigues.

Review: Nokbient and Save Point's Video Game LoFi: Yoshi is a playful and charming electronic covers tribute to the classic video game character. A mix of chiptune-inspired synths and lo-fi beats, crafted delicately and softly for the modern listener, combine to create this lovely ode to everybody's favourite green, giant-nosed reptile. Yoshi's greatest character themes - including those from Mario Kart, Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Story - all combine in an unequivocally cute mood here.