Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: It's 2025 and we're writing about the music from a video game. It's 2025, and this isn't the first time we've written about music from a video game. And it won't be the last. The difference is, in 2025 writing about the music from a video game is barely even worth commenting on, with symphony halls hosting live concerts celebrating the best sounds from playable worlds and everything from sweeping orchestral overtures used in epic adventure franchises to chip music accepted into relative degrees of the mainstream. Enter Akira Yamaoka, whose contributions to the pantheons of tunes have helped lay the foundations for taking video game music seriously in its own right. Breaking the mould not just for computer games but specifically survival horror tones with his first Silent Hill score, as you would expect, by the third instalment of the scariest series to ever grace a console this is a finely tuned process, in the best possible way. Eerie but cool, poppy but experimental, ambient, electronic, lofi-rocky and utterly absorbing as a standalone listen.

Review: The music from Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize and 12-Oscar-winning film encompasses the original score by Gabriel Yared with the haunting vocals of Marta Sebestyen and Fred Astaire. It is a story which has successfully made its mark on every medium that counts a - a classic to beat all classics. It's a cathartic journey that explores identity, fidelity, and fate amid the chaos of World War II. Shot against the majestic backdrop of the Northern Sahara and Italy, Yared's score blends Hungarian folk tunes, baroque themes, and romantic orchestration and mirrors the emotion of the film's characters without relying on visuals. Period tracks by Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman complement the emotional depth of the story.

Review: The film score to Kelly Reichardt's understated modern buddy movie classic, Old Joy, was composed by Yo La Tengo; one of the band's many soundtrack works, in addition to Shortbus, Junebug and Game 6, the Old Joy soundtrack was born of a years-long friendship held between the director and members of the band. Apt, since the film itself concerns the innate strength of amicable male bonds, maintained for years, even decades. This is also the most pensive and ruminative of all of Yo La Tengo's soundtracks, coming marked by montaging, repetitious guitar licks and pedal tones; excursive feels all round, matching the film's sombre and contrite climax. Now reissued for the first time on vinyl.

Review: Yo La Tengo release their understated, lonesome score to Kelly Reichardt's modern film classic 'Old Joy' (2006), a film dealing in lifestyle differences, drifting and reconciled friendship and the passage of time among other themes, Yo La Tengo's reflective soundtrack spans just six tracks and echoes Van Morrison in its full and embellished use of repetition, pockmarked by a slid-guitar, major-third-happy melancholia. Recorded in a single afternoon at Yo La Tengo's studio in Hoboken, this is a drifting, improvisatory journey, born out of years-long friendship between the band and the film's director.

Review: Japanese pop duo Yaosabi share the vinyl edition of their critically acclaimed song 'Idol'. 'Idol' is a combination of Japanese idol-styled pop, hip-hop, rock, and video game music, and depicts the two-faced nature of a fictional star in the Japanese idol industry; the record also serves as the lead theme music for the anime series Oshi No Ko, in turn based on Aka Akasaka's short story 45510, both of which also tracks Japan's cultural interest in the figure of the idol. This is a knowing slice of Japanese bubblegum, nonetheless aware of its murkier underbelly; it also packs a crazed confluence of idiomatic borrowings, from Atlanta hip-hop to orchestral music, and ties them all together with a single bow.

Review: This release sees Adrian Younge diving deep into the funky, soulful sounds of the 70s, crafting a soundtrack that perfectly captures the Blaxploitation era. The music is a vibrant blend of wah-wah guitars, heavy drums, and soaring strings, creating a cinematic soundscape that's both gritty and exhilarating. 'Black Dynamite Theme' sets the tone with its driving rhythm and powerful horns, while 'Man With The Heat (Superbad)' and 'Shine' showcase Younge's mastery of funk grooves. The soundtrack also features soulful moments like 'Gloria (Zodiac Lovers)' and 'Tears I Cry', adding depth and emotion to the overall experience. With its impeccable production and authentic vintage sound, this is a must-have for fans of classic funk and soul, as well as anyone who appreciates a well-crafted soundtrack.