Anyone heard of Chicago’s ‘Footwork’ scene? Yes? Wow. No? Well, that’s OK, because I am told it is still a small and localised scene of abstract dance music, and er, interesting dancing. If you are now a little curious then Planet Mu will be releasing a compilation album later in the year covering some of artists that represent this community.

Some of this music has travelled through various social networking sites, and thankfully, if you wanted to, you could probably pick up a few records here and there across the web. It still astounds me how quickly movements such as this can spread across the globe, and today you don’t have to wait for that retrospective quadruple LP release, you can simultaneously dive in and keep up with the latest music as it happens.

Anyway, that is just a way of demonstrating how the long tail of trends can again manage to reach your ears. Whilst sitting down in this chair a few thousand miles away from the epicentre of such musical communities it is hard to really get an idea of how ‘big’ these artists are. Not that it matters of course, but when there are so many splinter groups it is good to know the perceived dominant sectors — just for reference. The artists who form the current Brainfeeder roster are perhaps one the more principal groups within future beats, and they all explore the different uses of samplers and sequences in their Low End Theory club nights, and have staged a few celebratory nights in London warehouses with the backing of labels such as Warp Records.

Ardour is the latest lengthy release for the L.A based label. It comes after the cinematic Nothing Else by Lorn and the dense and somewhat off-putting Cosmogramma by label chief Flying Lotus. Ardour was created over a period of two years by Teebs, and a difficult time in his life at that. The personal issues which affected the work on the album (financial issues, and his father’s death) is certainly evident through the 18 tracks of the album. Ardour was created using a SP404 sampler, Fruity Loops and a load of borrowed equipment. The spacial sound-scapes and synths majestically flow within an almost melancholy overcast, particularly towards the latter part of the album. Despite the lengthy playlist, the album isn’t overtly long, with most tracks being somewhat too linear and short. However, that shouldn’t discourage from just how interesting is the amount of live instruments embedded within the music — what is real and what is sampled?. The production of glistening bells and chimes, flowing water, acoustic guitar juxtaposed the deep sub bass and crisp percussion leaves just enough space for some flowing melodic patterns and abstract keys. Two years well spent.