Back catalogue: Library/Archive

Review: Alan Tew's driving jazz-rock, sleuth-funk masterpiece, Drama Suite Part I, is finally reissued to sate your appetites for arguably the very best library two-parter in existence. If you don't know, get to know. Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, this one's at the top of every library funk collectors' list. It's easy to see why. Racing out of the gate, the gritty crime funk of 'The Detectives' makes for a thrilling ride. A dramatic action theme, it's packed with strident playing and bags of attitude; and thereafter, we get ten drama-tinged, horn-heavy, wah-wah-laced, conga-enhanced, synth-riddled tracks built for maximum funk fever. 'Helicop' is one such fast paced and energetic dramatic action background, while 'The Big One (Prelude)' brings with it an ace bassline and creeps along superbly, adding tension with an amazing rolling piano loop stopping us dead in our tracks. It's all building to 'The Big One', a driving, dramatic, full-band action with fantastic funk breaks, heavy horns and *that* piano refrain. Notably, the track was sampled by Jay-Z; and you can't really blame him, can you?

Review: British library musician and composer Alan Tew has one of his many magnum opuses, Drama Suite Part II, reissued by KPM. With the label keen to flaunt its first edition's going rate on Discogs, Tew's follow-up to the first part is a holy grail for library music collectors, owing to its performative subtlety, breadth of mood, and doubtless bottling of several modish styles of the time: noir, dark jazz, explotiation theme music. The track 'Stonechange' in particular hears many coded rerubs, with many versions and sub-versions, as was of the factual, rationalistic and methodical approach to the library music of the 1970s and early 80s. It's also got an indelibly clean sound: as with all KPM reissues, the audio for Drama Suite Part II comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis.

Review: Jazz-man Greg Foat has always been more open-minded and eclectic than many give him credit for, delivering nods to pastoral folk, movie soundtracks and library music amongst his more jazz-focused output. Even so, "Photosynthesis" is still a curveball, featuring as it does drowsy and mostly leisurely soundscapes that move from Radiophonic Workshop influenced weird-outs and mutant lounge music, to stoned horizontal grooves and post trip-hop soundscapes. Interestingly, some of the album's standout moments come laden with woozy electric pianos and the kind of hazy, slow motion guitar motifs that evoke mental images of long, drawn-out sunsets.

Review: 'Available Forms' is the latest masterwork of the musical project Tobor Experiment, led by Giorgio Sancristoforo, an Italian sound artist and music software designer based in Milan. Active since 2007, Sancristoforo's work has largely centred on highly technical odysseys in avant-disco, exploring surreal takes on the ambivalent promises made by the tide of technological advancement, channelled into a that has been described, perhaps quite cleverly, as 'moogsploration'. Coming after a 12-year hiatus on gatefold LP, Sancristoforo returns to his go-to label Bear Funk for yet another foray into this retro-modernist vision, mixing genre-bent jazz, electronica, nu-disco, and psychedelic influences.

Review: Stefano Torossi and Sandro Brugnolini remain an important part of Italy's early wave of electronic musicians. The latter was particularly prolific throughout the '70s and '80s, but it was 1969's Musica Per Commenti Sonori that helped the two gain traction among international listeners, and helped to pave the way for later generations of both Italian and foreign experimental musicians. Schema has reissued the original on Costanza Records this time, and we gotta say that these are sounding as crisp and vivid as the original versions. There's a little bit of everything in here, from funk breaks to balearic ambience, and even wild strains of psychedelia, but what is most striking about this album is its ability to offer quality sampling material to almost any type of artist. Whether you're into crafting hip-hop beats, or house and even techno, there will be something in here for you. And if you want to simply listen, that's fine too, of course...