Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory - Elements Of Light

An album, literally, with bells on! As with the last couple of entries, it's instrumental, electronica, with the exception of the bells! I'm starting to feel that this blog needs some noodley, 10 minute guitar wig out or some earnest singer songwriter emoting all over the place but the shuffle refuses to give us that at the moment. This album comes from a very different place to that of the Boards of Canada, which invites (compels?) you to pay it some attention. Elements of Light comes from a more dance (house?) orientated tradition. The use of the bells give the album and overall feeling of warmth but its so warm and smooth I find it a bit soporific, the inclusion of two tracks clocking in at 12 and 17 minutes, respectively, doesn't help either. It's a nice album (damning with faint praise maybe?) but  I think the best thing to do with this is either to dance, gentlely, to it or to have it on in the back ground while you do something else. At least that way you can stay awake.

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Another album from the last year. If you're ever looking for a definition of the description "Bleak Beauty" listen to this. Like a lot of the stuff I've been listening to recently it's electronic and, largely, instrumental, with the exception of a few sampled, hard to discern, voices. It's great and reminds me of 80s film sound track for something like Escape from New York Friday 13th or Halloween . It's one of those albums that keeps on giving. Every time you listen you hear something new.