14 days

Review: Disco producer, synthesizer pioneer and Hi-NRG originator Patrick Cowley made a lot of highly sexual music. In fact, his muscular synth-disco productions were, for years, the soundtrack of choice in San Francisco's notorious bathhouse scene. It doesn't stop there, though. Unbeknownst to most disco aficionados, Cowley also provided experimental synthesizer tracks to soundtrack gay porn films between 1973 and 1981. Initially released on vinyl last year, School Daze has now been granted a CD edition by Dark Entries and gathers together the best of those productions. Arguably, the material here is amongst his best work. Free of the constraints of the dancefloor, Cowley let himself go, delivering avant garde synthesizer compositions that ranged from spaciously psychedelic ("Out of Body", like some lost Confused House record) and decidedly cosmic (the chugging "Journey Home"), to otherworldly and outlandish ("Zygote"). Recommended.

Review: While opinions remain divided about Danny Boyle's belated follow-up to legendary 1990s movie Trainspotting, most have praised the vibrant soundtrack. Naturally, it contains fresh updates of material featured in the original film - a pleasingly fuzzy, in-your-face remix of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" by The Prodigy, a brilliantly evocative, pitched-down update of "Born Slippy" by regular Boyle collaborators Underworld - plus a swathe of specially commissioned tracks from Young Fathers and High Contrast (the noisy, indie-rock style "Shotgun Mouthwash"). To compliment the movie's nostalgic feel, you'll also find a dash of '90s chart-bothering house (Jason Nevins' remix of Run DMC), plus vintage cuts from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Blondie and The Clash.