These days, library music for TV producers means reaching lazily for one of two CDs: the soundtrack to The Hours by Philip Glass or The Essential Michael Nyman. Maybe something from the charts, if you're lucky. Which is a shame, as there was once a whole industry devoted to creating original mood pieces forTV and film, with specialist labels such as KPM hitting a particularly stylish vintage in the early Seventies.
During the UK loungecore' scene of the Nineties, DJ Paul Tunkin noted how well such Hammond-heavy instrumentals worked at his Blow Up club in London. After much detective work tracking down the masters, he lovingly put together these infectious compilations, now reissued due to a resurgence of interest: Jarvis Cocker booked the KPM composers for his Meltdown Festival, while the likes of 'Blow-Up-A-Go-Go' are all over the trendier clothes adverts. Instant, impeccably-dressed cool. Dickon Edwards