...if you're a sci-fi fan who also loves ambient music.

Just about everyone's seen the original Alien, right? (Not the increasingly pallid sequels.) One of the things I love about this movie is the foley, which hums and clicks constantly in the background, just like the interior of a real spaceship would (but probably quieter, since the actors aren't shouting to be heard over it). Every space has a different sound, constructed from industrial noises back in the day before samplers made that kind of thing look dead easy.

Now (well, last year, I think) comes Nostromo by Sleep Research Facility, which takes its inspiration from the same movie, the same spaceship, deck by deck, and thereby creates a whole new colossally dark soundscape for writing space opera.

I am in love.

Sadly, you can't rush out and buy it because it's unavailable at the moment, but a re-release is in the pipeline for this year, perhaps with a bonus track. And SRF's new album, Deep Frieze is equally brilliant. Buy that while you wait for the other one.

Better put on your thermal undies, though. It's so chill it's icy.