New releases last eight weeks: Leftfield

Review: Cliff Martinez's soundtrack is a full realised musical world that is defined by eerie synths and pulsating rhythms, all of which perfectly capture The Neon Demon hypnotic and unsettling atmosphere. Martinez is well known for his work on Drive and Only God Forgives and here once more delivers a score that is both haunting and seductive while mirroring the neon-lit world of fashion and obsession. The soundtrack weaves dreamy, ambient textures with dark, throbbing electronic undercurrents that draw you in and highlights include 'Neon Demon' and 'Mine' which pulse with icy beauty and mean this one stands as one of Martinez's most evocative and chilling compositions.

Review: Renowned DJ and selector MURO is a Jedi-level compiler and this new collection of his delves into Victor's extensive archives to spotlight a world of Japanese jazz, fusion and AOR. It take sin plenty of internationally known names like Yasuko Agawa on the sunset sounds of 'L.A. Night', Sadistics who offers the more psyched out guitar leans of 'On the Seashore', Yuji Ohno's neo-Balaeric bliss-out 'The Dawn of Seychells' and Hiroshi Fukumura's soul soothing Ry Ayres-style melodies on 'White Clouds.' These are luxurious sounds and timeless tracks with MURO's signature funky perspective making this a brillaint choice for brighter, warmer days.

Review: It's been a long time since Halo: Combat Evolved revolutionised the word of first-person shooter video games. Graphically superior to anything that had come before it, the franchise also benefits from a spectacularly gripping storyline in which humans are outgunned and out-teched by a ruthless and uncompromising alliance of superiorly equipped alien races united as The Covenant. The titular Halo adds a kind of Prometheus air of uncertainty, as nobody really knows what it does until attempts to activate the galaxy-destroying weapon reveal something worse than death - a parasitic breed called the Flood. If all that was enough to blow everyone away in 2001, 2004 brought us to a whole new level of immersion in this future scape. Just like its predecessor, a big part of the impact was the visionary score by gaming soundtrack masters Martin O'Donnell and Michael Savatori. Now here it is in all its Gregorian chanting glory.

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: Breaking from his directorial duties, American cinema auteur Eli Roth (Borderlands, Knock Knock, Green Inferno) stops by the CAM Sugar sound studio for a rare double 7" LP, pinching listeners by the ear and dragging them along a forbidden trail along the gothic, red-lit path that is Italian soundtrack legendariness. Drawing his selections here from a wealth of Italian B-movie expertise, not to mention ownership in his own collection, the contemporary horrorist has chosen 20 delicious but still downright saucy disco, bossa nova and psych tunes here, centring on the Italian Sexy Comedy softcore era of 1969-81.

Review: Phaedra is the fifth studio album by German electronic group Tangerine Dream, recorded in November 1973 at The Manor in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England, and released in 1974 through Virgin. An icier, tempoless departure for a band otherwise better recognised for their sequencer-led, soundtrack-bred sound, this was a hidden moulin for frost-drone fanatics, and a deviant pupil of the otherwise strict Berlin School. Despite receiving little to no airplay, Phaedra gained significant traction through word of mouth when it was released by a rather more hippified Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label, eventually reaching number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and remaining on the charts for 15 weeks. Its long-form pieces, such as 'Sequent C' and 'Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares', represent an indifference to constraints of timing, instead washing over the ears as diachronic, swirling, crisp ice ambient smirrs.

Review: Hiroshi Yoshimura is having a moment. Originally released in the 1980s, this collection of environmental music from the Japanese musician and composer offers a tranquil listening experience, Yoshimura painting sonic landscapes that evoke the subtle beauty of the natural world. 'Over The Clover' unfolds with the gentle sway of leaves, while 'Flora' captures the delicate essence of blossoming flowers. Each track is a miniature portrait of nature's intricacies, from the unfurling of morning glories in 'Asagao' to the whispering breeze of 'Wind Echo'. 'Maple Syrup Factory' adds a touch of unexpected sweetness, a subtle shift in the otherwise serene palette. But this is more than just pretty soundscapes. Yoshimura's music invites active listening, revealing intricate details that might be missed on a casual listen. It's music that rewards close attention while simultaneously blending into the background of everyday life.

Review: Much to nerdy Japanese electronic lovers' delight, Temporal Drift reissued Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround last year, and now carry on focussing on his work with the first-ever reissue of Flora, an overlooked gem in ambient music. Recorded in 1987 but unreleased until 2006, which was three years after Yoshimura's sad passing, Flora carries on in style where his acclaimed works Green and Surround left off. It's another sublime record that highlights Yoshimura's ability to explore the interplay between sound and ambience. He was a diverse talent who also created an album for museum playback, and composed a soundtrack for a contemporary fashion show.