“New Paths To Helicon” by Mogwai

"New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 2", "Helicon 2" to the faithful, first appeared in February 1997 on a limited double A-side seven-inch with Pt. 1, before Mogwai gathered it onto Ten Rapid (Collected Recordings 1996-1997). Andy Miller produced, and it's post-rock at its most patient: a quiet guitar figure over softly padding drums, bass and a second guitar shadowing it, until one guitar breaks away into a lead while the other scatters soft harmonics. It sinks back into the riff, and when the lead comes round again it has grown teeth.

"End", the closing track on Ten Rapid, is nothing more than "Helicon 2" run backwards, and a take cut at Maida Vale for a John Peel session in January 1998 later surfaced on Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003. Peel's listeners had already voted it near the top of his 1997 Festive Fifty.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.