Savath & Savalas

Fluttering string melodies, tapping percussion and lilting vocal harmonies lend this disc a predictably ethereal quality, but there's also a warmth to Scott Herren's aesthetic that distinguishes him from all the other intergalactic laptop producers (see the Warp catalog). The closing strings of "Mi Hijo" are just shy of mawkish, but the Spanish guitars employed throughout point toward a barely concealed romanticism bubbling through the occasional spurts of dissonance, making this the perfect soundtrack for highfalutin seductions.