Back catalogue: Modern Classical

Review: Leading British composer Craig Armstrong truly broke through with his second studio album As If To Nothing in 2003. It came five years after his 1998 debut The Space Between us and now celebrates its 20th anniversary with a deluxe reissue treatment that sees it get remastered at half speed for extra loudness and clarity. This special edition also comes with heavyweight villa and an embossed sleeve making it the ultimate collectors' package. The modern classical sounds contained within have more than stood the test of time, too.

Review: Originally released in the mid 80's on UK cassette label Bite Back!, this nearly lost gem finds new life 30 years later on Cocktail D'Amore Music. Steve has cobbled together a superbly melancholic electronic concept album. Wistful melodies often evoke sentiments of a lost childhood and hazy English mornings. Each song within remains untitled allowing full perceptive freedom as to what they all communicate, a language for the feelings that have no name. Untitled A1 - A6 leads one along intimate soundscapes of pattering drums and tinkering piano, a sense of closeness and trust develops with the introduction of each new idea much like the beginning of a bed time story. Untitled B1 - B3 then begin to breathe more openly awash in angelic colours before abruptly turning downward on B4, a wall of booming drums and atmospheres from the furthest reaches of the galaxy before the last trio of songs settles gently back on Earth.

Review: 'Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether' is the second album by Chris & Cosey as Carter Tutti, following 2004's 'Cabal'. A haunting, gothic 11-tracker that revels more in cinematic beauty than abrasive sonic gristle, its standout pieces such as 'Woven Clouds' recalling the heartfelt studio masterpieces of This Mortal Coil or the mysterious blackgaze dissociations of Black Tape For A Blue Girl. Cosey's voice appears in crystal clarity, against utmostly gut-wrenching string movements and synthetic choirs of angels.

Review: The Delphina James Steel Ensemble's Play Ludo is the follow up record to Pan Machine, a well received and critically acclaimed long player. This one is another unique proposition with rich steel band sounds taking on modern classical compositions. They are all lush in their arrangements, with plenty of moments of intimacy next to rousing melodies. Some tunes shimmer with a wintry chill and others are warm and diffuse like a hot summer's day. Another original work by this fine band.