issue 74

“I am not a soundtrack expert, I’m just a guy who loves music and happens to love film scores,” says Spencer Hickman, whose Death Waltz label specialises in beautiful vinyl reissues of cult film soundtracks. “This isn’t a definitive list, it’s just a list of soundtracks I like and you should maybe check out. Although there are a lot of classics, hopefully there are a few that you are not familiar with. Anyway, dig in and enjoy…”

As Bentley Rhythm Ace prepare to mark the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, Richard March recalls the early days of the band and reveals there was actually a (sort of) method to their (extreme) madness

With an eventful career that began in the 60s, Silver Apples have every right to enjoy a quiet retirement. But founder and lone surviving member Simeon Coxe is having none of it and has, instead, produced his magnum opus

As the British Library sound archive launches a multi-million pound project to save the nation’s sounds, we take a guided tour of their ever-growing collection to get an idea of the task ahead

OnDeadWaves is a fascinating collaboration between Mute artists Polly Scattergood and MAPS, also known as James Chapman. Their self-titled album is one of the most melancholic records you’ll hear all year, but they insist there are nuggets of hope sparkling in the sadness

Arty new wave outsiders who became unlikely pop stars, The Associates shook the 80s firmly by its lacy lapels. Three decades on, bandmates Alan Rankine and Michael Dempsey try to make some sense of it all…

There was no single unifying event for the formative UK electronica scene, no point when something suddenly clicked, no precise year zero moment. But there was a bunch of like-minded souls beavering away in what they thought was their own little void, unaware there were others just like them all over the country. We talk to seven of the artists featured on the ’Close To The Noise Floor’ box set and get their big bang stories

The rise of tech and how we use it to communicate is the central focus of Karl Bartos’ debut solo album from 2003. We connect with the former Kraftwerker to talk about the welcome reissue of the record