Review: The Guy Ritchie-penned film The Gentlemen centres on Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an American in London whose luxurious lap founders on the back of a lucrative but prone marijuana empire. As he plans to retire and sell his business, a web of schemes, blackmail, and betrayal unfolds as rivals plot to seize his fortune. British composer Chris Benstead's soundtrack is elusive and sluicing, incorporating Charleston-inciting bass undertows, ticking clocks and finger-clicking inquests, as of a main character's paranoia threatening to make truly manifest.
Review: Ambre Ciel is a Montreal-based composer and singer known for her dreamy, spacious soundscapes. Drawing from impressionism, American minimalism and contemporary classical music, her work blends layered violins, piano and ethereal vocals in both English and French so is a sophisticated and stylish sound. Coming from a family of artists, she began with violin at six, later experimenting with pedals, loops and harmonies. Her debut album Still, There is the Sea marks a delicate yet bold entry into her sonic world and is a deeply personal, atmospheric journey shaped by strings, acoustic textures and voice. It's an imperfect beginning, as she calls it, but one brimming with intention and beauty.
Review: A fourth full length from the Montreal-based enigma. Sarah Davachi's electroacoustic compositions have become the stuff of legend and hallucination-inducing live shows, refrains that bore into your mind then soul, detailed and complex ideas borne out in minimalist moods capable of taking listeners beyond themselves, out to somewhere completely new. Talk about a curveball, then. All My Circles Run features five totally unique compositions which all share one common trait - they eschew synthesisers and instead each focus on a different instrument. Hence the titles. 'For Strings', 'For Voice', 'For Piano', 'For Organ', 'Chanter'. But, although the record's core parts represent a different move for the musician, Davachi's incredible ear for subtly powerful sounds remains at the centre of the experience. So prepare to be blown away again. Gently.
Review: Originally released in 2015, this reissue returns to the stunning debut full-length from Canadian electroacoustic composer Sarah Davachi, who is rapidly becoming a big deal in the world of experimental sounds. Emerging from brief but acclaimed releases on labels like Important Records' Cassauna and Full Spectrum, this album marked her as a unique voice within the world of minimalist and experimental sound. Trained at Mills College, Davachi's work reflects a deep understanding of synthesis and acoustic instrumentation, with a focus on patience, atmosphere and tone over flashy modular theatrics. Rather than overwhelming the listener with density, Davachi builds a deep listening album full of impressive tracks. Vintage synths like the Buchla 200, EMS Synthi and Prophet 5 provide an enveloping tonal palette that reveal the composer's intent to create a more intimate, hybrid sonic language. The opening track 'heliotrope' unfolds like smoke rising into a high ceiling, shimmering with evolving harmonic detail. 'wood green' moves from near-silence to a radiant calm. An album of introspection and careful design in a world of maximalist electronics, a rare piece of compositional grace. Its return in reissue form feels not only deserved but necessary.
Review: Brian Eno, legendary master of ambient music and Beatie Wolfe, the LA-based conceptual artist known for her innovative blend of the physical and digital, unite for a collaborative sonic exploration. Throughout 2024, the two artists recorded material that bridges the boundary between deeply personal emotions and universal experiences, creating an evocative soundscape. The work pulses with the distinctive energy of Eno's ambient prowess, while Wolfe's haunting vocals add a layer of intimacy. On tracks like 'Milky Sleep' and 'Hopelessly At Ease', the listener is swept into a dreamlike state where time feels suspended. These moments of calm are balanced by the more urgent, yet still deeply meditative, 'Suddenly', which sways between serenity and tension. The delicate interplay between light and shadow becomes even more palpable on 'A Ceiling and Lifeboat', where the quiet sense of stillness gives way to a profound sense of rebirth. There's a sense of movement throughout the releaseiparticularly on 'Breath March', where rhythm and texture converge with palpable energy. Eno's atmospheric layers create space for Wolfe's voice to become a thread, guiding the listener through these reflective, almost sacred-feeling sonic spaces, where every note invites introspection and feeling.
Review: Brian Eno, a towering figure in ambient music and a master of sonic landscapes, has shaped the contours of modern music through his production collaborations with iconic artists like David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2. His latest work with Beatie Wolfe, a conceptual artist from Los Angeles, encapsulates a career of endless reinvention. Recorded in London, the collaboration weaves together the worlds of alternative vocals and ambient soundscapes. 'Big Empty Country' serves as a vivid contrast between light and darkiits day and night versions embodying the very essence of Eno's immersive, evolving sound. Much like his work as part of Roxy Music and beyond, this release is both forward-thinking and introspective, grounded in a shared commitment to environmentalism and artistic exploration. It's a meditation on space, sound and feelingian unbroken thread in Eno's enduring legacy of artistic expression.
Review: A striking collection of digitally manipulated piano pieces, each one of them on this album are named after iconic films and TV shows. They are all crafted late at night as a response to passive media consumption and aim to blur the line between classical impressionism and contemporary digital manipulation. Drawing inspiration from Viktor Shklovsky's concept of "ostranenie" (which means estrangement), the work challenges habitual perceptions and makes the familiar feel strange. The music oscillates between mechanical MIDI chaos and intimate, fragile moments that question the emotional stakes of sound in a world where technology can often flatten deeper meaning. It's a profound exploration of art's role in resisting the numbing effects of mindless routine and endless immersion culture.
I'm Tempo Des Scherzo Wild Herausfahrend - Allegro Energico (4:12)
I'm Tempo Des Scherzo Allergro Energico - Langsam Misterioso (20:13)
Review: Marking the beginning of Austro-Bohemian romantic-era classical composer Mahler's deep engagement with themes of resurrection and transcendence, Symphony No. 2 stands as his first fully personal statement in the form. Claudio Abbado's recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra remains one of the most striking interpretations available; spanning the breadth of Mahler's vision, from the luminous serenity of the softer passages to the thunderous force of its climaxes. This new edition revisits the original four-track tapes, offering a freshly remixed and recut version.
Review: Adapted from the Premio Strega-winning novel of the same name, penned by Antonio Scurati, M - Son of the Century is an ambitious performance piece about the political rise of Benito Mussolini, directed by BAFTA-grabber Joe Wright. As for the soundtrack, one half of The Chemical Brothers, Tom Rowlands, delivers a spellbinding, raw and truly emotional electronic epic which translates a tense and uneasy tale into sounds. "A lot of this original soundtrack was built around playing old acoustic instruments using modern electronics; working in that way helped me reference the past yet still create something fresh and dynamic," Rowlands has said of his efforts. A thoroughly unique and masterful series of compositions which could only have been created by a master of the craft.
Review: Mark Springer - long a restless force in post-punk, free jazz and modern composition - joins Neil Tennant for a cool-headed meeting of minds, fusing Springer's jagged piano suites with Tennant's metrical lyricism and raw delivery. The pair orbit very different creative poles: Springer, known for his time in London punk funksters Rip, Rig and Panic, often works in extremes; whereas Tennant brings a crisped, measured sensibility honed over decades of pop songcraft. Here they land somewhere unexpected, in a padded set of chamber-style pieces for piano, quartet and quintet, wrapped in a dry mist of vocals trading in reflection, dislocation and dream logic.
Review: A quarter of a century is a long time in any form of media or entertainment. But when it comes to video games and music, it might as well be a full century. What feels like a lifetime ago, in 2000 The Sims helped define a playable genre that had only seen niche popularity in the past with titles like Little Computer People and Creatures, and more mainstream attention with the standalone pet-in-your-pocket craze kickstarted by Tamagotchis. Breaking open the barriers between regular folk and the idea of living an entire life through a character on screen - now something we've become very used to - The Sims was revolutionary and appealed across the board. So it needed a soundtrack that could do the same. And that's exactly what it got. Beautifully immersive piano overtures, bouncy chip tunes, the kind of tracks you might find on a home shopping channel interlude... you get the point.
Review: One of the flagship albums by Aaron Funk aka. Venetian Snares (alongside Songs About Cats, Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006, Winnipeg Is A Frozen Shithole and The Chocolate Wheelchair Album), Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett marks itself out in his sonography as a breakcore album which, aside from its lobotomising breaks, features mostly classical strings and brass. Gloomy and melancholic, the album's title translates from Hungarian to "Born Under A Bad Star", i.e. "cursed from birth", and the record transmits a superstitious chain of influence, with track 3 covering Budapest composer Rezso Seress' 'Gloomy Sunday', which was said to have inspired the suicide of the original musician's own girlfriend. Renditions of Mahler, Stravinsky, Paganini, Prokofiev and Edward Elgar all follow in morose but energetic fashion, demonstrating the Canadian IDM artist's quirkily sized collection of drill bits.
Review: There are immersive experiences that inspire artists to do great things. Then there's Aboutface heading to the Wampis Territory, in the Peruvian Amazon, to live with the local community, learn a little of how they live and their relationship with the Lungs of the Planet, capturing field recordings collaboratively with those people, and trying to articulate their world through an electronic-organic deep dive album. After you've got over the jealousy about how life-changing that trip was, let's focus on the fundamentals. This is seriously escapist stuff that seems to have been made using every root, branch, and animal encountered during those weeks. The synthesised elements are audible, but take a backseat to what was and is actually there. Or here. Quite unlike anything we've heard this year, it's a stunning way to raise awareness and support for Indigenous-led conservation and initiatives trying to stop illegal deforestation and ecocide.
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