Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: Denis Villeneuve's psychological thriller about a man who sees his doppelganger in a movie, and begins an obsessive search for the look-alike, is a strange, tense, highly stylised dive into a world that's informed by some of the masters of surrealist tension. At times invoking landmark mind-benders such as David Lynch's Lost Highway, albeit with a far less experimental narrative structure, to say its score works hard to set the tone is putting it mildly.
Created by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, Enemy's soundtrack is a joy, but also thoroughly trippy. It's unnerving, and yet inviting, laidback while also mournful, and always has this air of the unknown and uncertain about it. Boasting white noise, strings, drones, woodwind, elements of classical, jazz and library sounds are all here, at times invoking space age imagery, in other moments taking use back to the great mysteries of 20th Century cinema.

Review: Essex based composer and music producer Robin Carolan is the man behind the acclaimed Tribute Angle label. He's worked with a fine array of artists including Bjork and Holy Other and now links with Seb Gainsborough who makes electronic and orchestral music as Vessel. This is the first time the pair have worked with director Robert Eggers on a score together and the results speak for themselves. It is harsh and uncomfortable with a dirty aesthetic that is designed to match the film, The Northman, and does so with great sympathy and respect to the authenticity of the Viking era period piece.

Review: Silva Screen Records continues their vast compilation project here with another tribute to the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, the legendary former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra who passed not so long ago. They have pressed this one up to various formats and this is a gatefold transparent lime green and black splattered vinyl from the acclaimed film scorer. He wrote for epics such as Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky and The Last Emperor. This album takes in plenty of the most standout tracks from those movies, all performed by the Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by Dirk Brosse.

Review: Not seen Exception? OK, let's start there. The Netflix series is at the vanguard of new adult animation epics. Setting its scene(s) in the future, we follow a space mission crew desperately searching for a world that can be terraformed in order to sustain life, humans already having been driven from Earth. It's a stark and foreboding journey which resonates almost too much in an age when the climate crisis is just beginning to show us what happens next.
For something like this you need a score of serious standards, so who better to draft than the master himself, Ryuchi Sakamoto. One of Japan's most respected, revered, and iconic musical minds is pretty much capable of creating anything, from curious pop to the kind of atmospheric overtures, strange incidentals, ambient arrangements and nerve-rattling movements that define this soundtrack.

Review: Here comes the second episode of the fifth series of the anthology series Black Mirror, composed by cult electro pop artist, David Bowie collaborator, and synth wizard. Ever since the late 1970s people have been enthralled to this man's deft soundtrack work as he constantly serves up devastatingly emotional pieces of apparently empty music that is a long way from the playful pop he stared with as part of Yellow Magic Orchestra. This new one is perfectly zen, meditative and mindful, with delicate synth drones and glassy keys, icy tinkles and distant ripples soothing your mind, body and soul.

Review: This release marks the first offical vinyl outing for Gustavo Santaolalla and Mac Quayle's soundtrack. It is the highly anticipated 2020 sequel, The Last Of Us Part II and features stunning new artwork by Tula Lotay and liner notes by Co-Writer and Director Neil Druckmann. Musically it is a striking and emotive listen that takes in moments of bass heavy impending doom next to gentler tracks of acoustic guitar that soundtrack tearful moments. The dual narratives of revenge and differing perspectives of the game all shine through in beautiful fashion.

Review: The Cowboy Bebop was an anime series that was much loved for its soundtrack albums by Japanese composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno and his band the Seatbelts. The sounds were weird and wonderful affairs that made odd connections between seemingly disparate worlds - jazz, rock, J-pop and electronic, often with a curious aesthetic. Just this year, Kanno has returned to soundtracking the series on Netflix so this reissue is sure to connect with fans old and new. It is largely instrumental, with big band pieces next to more ambient passages and extensive alto sax deployment. As far as cult records go, this one is right up there.

Review: Widely hailed as one of the greatest animes of all time, and certainly one of the most successful, Cowboy Bebop was celebrated for its music as much as its narrative and animation. The soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno, who formed a blues and jazz band Seatbelts especially for the task. Kanno took a bold approach following her own instincts instead of sticking close to the requests from director Shinichiro Watanabe, and in turn her music ended up having a big impact on the way production unfolded. Quite simply, the end result would have been very different without Kanno's work, which has been faithfully packaged on this stunning double LP edition, pressed in brown and white vinyl.

Review: Curated under the expert guidance of Yoko Kanno, this LP offers a selection of chill-out and downtempo tracks that allows you to explore iconic songs like 'Adieu' from Cowboy Bebop: Blue (featuring Emily Bindiger) and a brand-new recording of the hit 'The Real Folk Blues' (featuring Mai Yamane). Immerse yourself in the cultural phenomenon of Cowboy Bebop with this exceptional vinyl set on deluxe 140g pink and dark blue marbled" vinyl disc with an insert print containing song track list, credits, liner notes and interviews with Yoko Kanno.

Review: Whirlybird is a documentary which demanded a different sort of sound from Ty Segall,. He departs for his usual rock vibe and took on this challenge with an all new vibe. The resulting soundtrack is crafted from a variety of synth sounds, electric keyboards, drums, percussion and saxophones and off course, some of his signature guitars, It is sorry telling instrumental music with a real sense of its own narrative and perfectly frames the film's compulsive themes and images. It stands alone as a fine listen and a great testament to Ty's versatility.

Review: Assassin's Creed is one of the most successful video games of the modern era, and its soundtrack is right up there with the bets of them, too. Valhalla: The Wave of Giants is the work of Einar Selvik, whose ten evocative tracks are all steeped in Nordic mysticism and indigenous musical traditions that bring each track to life. They further embellish the authentic ethnography of the Viking culture that is the central tenet to the game and this version comes in a limited edition white vinyl via Lakeshore.

Review: David Shire has one hell of a back catalogue. Active within music since the 1960s, and specifically theatre and film soundtracks in the 1970s, while many of the biggest names behind movie scores have a tendency to explore the same avenues, and therefore wind up creating tunes for relatively similar flicks, in this case that's not really true. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (the original, of course), All The President's Men, and parts of Saturday Night Fever give some idea as to the breadth of his mastery.
The Conversation slips right in there in terms of period and genre, but is, of course, a very different classic to a movie about a New York subway train getting hijacked or social tensions in Brooklyn at the height of the disco era. While largely focused on piano solos, we also get late night dance floor jazz, tense drone, and moody avant-garde, just in case the on-screen action wasn't brooding enough already.

Review: The soundtrack to David Cronenberg's 1983 masterpiece, the Canadian science fiction horror film VIDEODROME has been fully, painstakingly restored from original master tapes over many years. Four decades after first release it remains a classic of the genre that Mondo, Backlot Music and Howe Records now serve up for the first time ever on vinyl. It was produced by Howard Shore and Alan Frey and comes on original artwork by Rich Kelly, with great liner notes by Annette DiGiovanni and pressed on 180 g vinyl. It is a futuristic and cinematic work that has more than stood the test of time.

Review: Australian singer-songwriter Sia - formerly the voice of chill maestros Zero 7 - is a real pop gem who directed and co-wrote the musical film Music. She penned 10 new tunes for the occasion, with the best of them making the cut here next to songs inspired by the film such as the Dua-Lipa co-written 'Saved My Life.' Largely pop in style with undercurrents of electropop, reggae, EDM and R&B, these are accessible songs that bounce with joy and exuberance. The title track in all its sweeping cinematic glory will likely be the standout for many.

Review: If you're unfamiliar with Yugoslavia-era Croatian animated children's entertainment than where have you been? And, please, allow us some introductions. Produced for 11 years, between 1967 and 1978, Professor Balthazar was a kids show about a benevolent genius scientist (the titular star) who helps those around him overcome various problems, often through the use of invention, using a magical machine to come up with innovative designs to solve any issue. While there is certainly subtext to read into - TV has always been a bastion of propaganda, not least behind the Iron Curtain of yore - trying to pinpoint the location or origin here isn't easy, if you don't already know. No character speaks a discernible language, making this resolutely universal storytelling. Similarly, the soundtrack, by Balkan master Tomislav Simovic, is relentlessly shapeshifting and expressive, and impossible not to fall in love with, no matter where you grew up.

Review: Tomislav Simovic was among the most significant musical masters to emerge in post-World War II Yugoslavia. The Croatian artist was a member of several jazz bands over the years, is considered a pioneer of southern European electronic music, a highly respected musical theorist, commentator, and all-round visionary. During his lifetime, he would score 300 films, many of which are lost to the sands of time, and those that did survived, or were recreated by new artists, are considered examples of soundtrack as art. Few answer that call better than this previously unreleased collection of 18 short animated films from the Zagreb school, which positioned itself as an artistic institution concerned with presenting philosophical world views and changing the course of animated history. Simovic's work, even without the visuals, conveys this brilliantly, with a mixture of whimsy, comedy, contemporary songwriting, and grand arrangements.

Review: Four Flies are dab hands at digging out the finest curios from the hidden depths of Italian music culture, and this is surely one of their proudest proclamations. Guiliano Sorgini recorded the soundtrack to Riccardo Fellini's TV movie Zoo Folle in 1974, and the soundtrack came out the same year. Far more than a set of modest instrumentals or functional library music, this is raging, heavy psych funk of the highest order, with raunchy riffs, bugged-out flute, intense percussive beatdowns and so much more besides. Whichever plucky diggers originally unearthed this holy grail must have lost their tiny minds, because even framed with the significance it deserves, this is an out-of-this world record we're very fortunate to have back in our reach.

Review: Shame On Dry Land (Syndabocken) is an award-winning Swedish movie that picked up the Guldbagge prize for best feature film soundtrack in 2024. That soundtrack has been written and produced by sometime Studio Barnhus associate and mythical young artist Baba Stiltz. It arrives on vinyl for the first time here and is a dense affair with plenty of esoteric stylings as you would expect of a man with a famously hard-to-pin-down sound. It goes from heavy and dark to airy and Mediterranean and needs to be heard nice and loud for the best effect.