Leftfield is widely known for their then innovative sounds in breakbeat and progressive house music on full display in their 1995 album Leftism. Admittedly, I always liked Underworld more, but the album grew on me over time, as did their vastly underappreciated follow-up Rhythm & Stealth (which has one of the all time coolest album covers). Anyways, 7 years ago or so they released a third album finally - it was okay, few good tracks - fast forward to late last year and they quietly (to not much fanfare) released a fourth album, This Is What We Do.
It's good. That's about all. It isn't revolutionary or anything - in fact, it's more of the same really. Same old Leftfield sound that was established on their first two records - breakbeats, big beats, and hard, driving analogue synths with some clever and crafty vocal loops and vocal contributions thrown in to spice things up. Despite the lack of originality, I quite enjoyed the record. There's something comforting about an artist that doesn't really switch up their sound and releases one album every decade or so - it's sort of like seeing an old friend who you haven't talked to in a long time - and after the initial greetings are out of the way, it's like you've never spent any time apart. Comfort, yes, that's the word. It's not always what I want out of music, but when it is, and I'm in the mood, Leftfield is, and hopefully continues to be (i.e. I hope this isn't their final record) that friend. This is what they do indeed. And they're damn good at it.
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