Aimless and ambient

"Rather aimless and ambient" complained The Guardian. They say it like that's a bad thing!

Every so often, the near-infinity of annoyance that is Foals (MySpace) surprises me with a little gem. No great surprise, admittedly, that Kieran Hebden's epic remix of Cassius (listen via widget) resonated with these ears. 

But though their Antidotes was a way off LMYE's highlights of 2008 (also here), its Electric Bloom was also quite bracing. 

Now they've lobbed out a couple of quite tasty (whatever they say in Faringdon) works-in-progress: A Future Dub & XCFAVA . Have to draw the line at the choral 'Deux' version of Dub, though... 

But the best of the giveaways is this winningly moody, rackety take on some obscure B-side [try not to be put off by their "which we kinda prefer actually" comment]: Glaciers (Early Mix).

Neue Haas Grotesk

Recently got round to seeing Helvetica at long, long last. One of this inspired documentary's many delights is a tasty soundtrack that includes LMYE favourites Four Tet (new 4-track EP Ringer coming next month...), as well as sometime enthusiasms Battles, Caribou & The Album Leaf, & no doubt shamefully late in the day discoveries [several of them from the Thrill Jockey stable] El Ten Eleven, Motohiro Nakashima, Sam Prekop, Kim Hiorthøy & Chicago Underground Orchestra.

Here's a selection of highlights:

Four Tet > And Then Patterns (from Everything Ecstatic)
Battles> IPT-2 (from EP C)
Caribou > Pelican Narrows (from The Milk of Human Kindness)
The Album Leaf > Always For You (from Into the Blue Again; tragically, for a completist anorak, I don't have Shine (from the same album) - the track featured in Helvetica...)

& here's a track from El Ten Eleven, who supply the bulk of the film's music. If you like it, consider making a contribution via their 'PayPal-What-You-Can' facility (pick this or any of the three other tracks here & follow the link...).

El Ten Eleven > Lorge [zShare] (from Every Direction is North)



Trailer: