Back in stock: Leftfield

Review: Beneath the grit and, err, grime of UK MC output, there's a highly fertile and imaginative artsy scene making underground stars in cities like London and Manchester. Names like Blackhaine, Icebox Violet, and Novelist have long-since flown flags - to various extents - for experimental tracks that marry rhymes, poetry, abstract musicality and heavy broken beats.

Coby Sey is another for that list, and like the rest, as he explains on 'Permeated Secrets', he "don't care if you like my work". Simply put, these sounds aren't for everyone, they were never intended to be. Instead, they showcase a staunchly British take on urban observation, packed with melancholy, hints of rave, and a love for exploring outsider ends of established art forms - often winding up in places few have been before.

Review: Director Max Kestner's documentary film portrait Copenhagen Dreams is a tribute to the Danish capital. That also happened to be the place acclaimed composer Johann Johannsson was living at the time he was asked to score the movie. As always he does so with real aplomb and devastating emotionality. This now classic soundtrack features celestial keyboard sounds, emotive string quartets, clarinet, subtle electronic and plenty of melodic magic that both swells and breaks the heart. Academy Award winner Hildur Gudnadottir plays on the soundtrack with various other of Johann's favourite Icelandic talents.

Review: Ilian Tape's ITX Series provides another opportunity to sink into some deeply escapist ambient and drone soundscapes from the usually dance floor-focused breakbeat and techno label. MPU101 has served up a few of these EPs before and they always find them coax plenty of magic out of their analogue machines. 'TEAM 700_76' is a nice and bleary-eyed post-Blade Runner soundtrack, 'BLOCK-1_2AREA666' has a darker undercurrent of menace, 'TrailerparkBeauty' brings some twinkling celestial keys and 'Sunset Memories' closes on frazzled chords that speak of heat damage from a scorching sun.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight split on top of outer sleeve, slight creasing to outer sleeve, record unopened and in perfect working order***


Hype and awe abound over this Orb side project, with Oss having been resurrected last year several decades on from its initial stint as a hybrid live / DJ project from Alex Paterson and his longtime collaborator Fil Le Gonidec. This new album is a mere 8 track weirdo's favourite, straight from the brains of this techno-toned, post-dub power duo, from the psytech clicks and claps of 'Wow Picasso' to the worse-for-wear machinations of 'No Speed Limit'. Grab this special coloured vinyl edition while you can.

Review: Dino Sabatini returns to his own Outis Music label with another mesmerising selection of deep electronic sounds that seem to take plenty of influences from dub, downtempo, ambient and trip hop. The open has a creeping melodic sequence that is forever subtly shifting and brings a sense of eeriness to the smooth and unhurried dub rhythms below. 'Inenarrabilis' is then a double quick flurry of tiny synth loops and trippy effects then 'Plena Lunae' allows you to breathe once more and sink into a vast dub soundscape. 'Ego Experior' shuts down with some paranoid baselines bubbling up through a slowly churning groove. Some quality work here for sure.

Review: There isn't a Star Wars fan in the known galaxy who isn't singing the praises of The Mandalorian, a series which has gifted the world (and the merchandising machine) with the magic of Baby Yoda. As well as the stunning sci-fi action on screen, the series is also notable for the striking soundtrack from Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson, and now you can score a highly collectable edition of that very work thanks to this awesome picture disc. With the titular hero's helmet on one side, and of course wee little Grogu in his hover basket thing on the other, this is one that will look as good on the shelf as it will sound on the platter.

Review: It's 1990 and Depeche Mode couldn't really be riding much higher in the global music stakes. Having just released Violator, the band had finally debuted an album inside the Billboard Top 10 for the first time in their almost-decade-long history, and pretty much anyone who came into contact with the record was very quickly captivated by its sound. While definitely not a curveball, it marked an expansion of the group's existing style. Some have described it as synth-pop, others alternative rock. In many ways, it's a dance floor album, one that embraces goth and coldwave at its very core. Captured during their tour at that time, Set In Stone features landmark singles from the LP - 'Personal Jesus', of course, and 'World In My Eyes' - it also proves beyond any doubt that a Depeche Mode show is about more than simply playing the hits.