Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: The second act of Bucharest-based duo Khidja, the deep-groove junkies' debut LP 'Transmissions Part 1 & 2' released earlier this year. Over the 76-minute runtime, the two delve into downtempo industrial, on 'Under Stressure' with its droning horns and spacey synths, to more traditional, analogue-influenced synthwave techno, 'Laid Back' sounding like a crazy circuit bypassing experiment from the bygone age of manual electro. Throughout the transmission, Khidja employs 90s tribal influences just as faithfully as 80s space-age synthpop tropes - like the trilling synth falsettos on epic closing track 'Oil'. Khidja have been proving in, and outside, of the club scene that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Review: For the fifth volume of The Encyclopedia of Civilizations, Abstrakce's collection of split LPs - in which selected artists offer insight into fascinating ancient cultures - hears them focus this time on the enigmatic Babylon, visited by two of the label's favourite electronic bands currently active. Berlin-based duo Driftmachine take us on a journey between the ancient cities of Akkad, Uruk and Ashur. Bringing together astonishing electronics with a superb and precise sound - floating somewhere between modular ambient, leftfield, abstract dub - every detail has been carefully crafted to produce a complex architecture. Unconventional tribal rhythms recall obscure rituals, while warm, dynamic pulses contract and expand, interacting on their journey along the sandy roads of the Mesopotamian basin. Afterwards, Glasgow-based project Komodo Kolektif delves into the Babylonian vision of magic through the figures of the Kassaptu (witches and wizards), and the use of Mandragora. A blend of both tribal primitivism and a futuristic vision is provided by their vast arsenal of vintage synths and effects units, Eastern metallophones and traditional hand percussion. This is deep, psychedelic electronics that capture the spirit of ancient Babylonian sacred ceremonies and their vision of the cosmos.

Review: Primarily known for his work with the double bass and modular synths, Egil Kalman straddles that unique hinterland somewhere between electronic, electroacoustic, and folk. Renowned for his ability to improvise and create stunning, beautiful, minimalist compositions on the fly, while this is hard to truly capture on record, Forest of Tines does its best. With a subtitle referencing the instrument Kalman is perhaps most associated with, the work is deeply textured and yet deceptively bare, with layers slowly revealing themselves before dissipating into the ether. A sonic adventure that lures us in with calm, organic movements set against tones that are more obviously the result of man and machine, timelessness meeting modernity in these exquisite forms, like stories of the ancients told through contemporary musical language.

Review: Kreidler return to Bureau B and not without good reason. Their seventh outing on the highly respected label follows suit on previous exploits, exploring some outer limits of cosmic-leaning, guitar-led, electronically augmented stuff. Tracks that feel made for the hidden dancefloors of weird basements as much as the soundtracks to avant garde science fiction. And if that's too much of a stretch, let's just say 'mesmerising' and have done with it. Comparing and contrasting the warm bleeps and filtered hooks of 'Diver', for example, with 'Tanger Telex' and its strange, smoky brass trip into downtempo smoky heaven serves as a quick example of just how broad yet coherent Twists is. As does 'Arthmetique', a strange, patient thing of rhythmic licks and spoken word, when considered next to the fuzzy, dub-tech-meets-math rock of 'Mount Mason'.