Squarepusher
Using the same equipment from the sessions that produced the majority of "Feed Me Weird Things" Tom now set about working on the material for his first album for Warp. His broad conception for this record was "to push away from the jazz influence that was being felt at the time to a more soundtrack-type of sound". According to Tom he was listening to, amongst other things, early Lalo Schifrin and the "Deathwish" soundtrack by Herbie Hancock around this time. That said, the album also contains some abrupt diversions into quite different musical territory, evidenced in what Tom calls the "Industrial Psychedelia" of "Chin Hippy" and "Rustic Raver".
Malcolm Middleton
Middleton released his first solo album "" in 2002, followed by "Into the Woods" in 2005. After Arab Strap split in 2006, the album "A Brighter Beat" was released in 2007. The first song on the album "We're All Going To Die" was released as a single on 17 December and started off with odds of 1,000–1 against becoming the Christmas number one – reportedly the highest odds ever quoted. After support from social networking websites and from BBC Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray, the odds dropped to 9–1, and Middleton was 4th favourite for Christmas Number One behind Leona Lewis, Katie Melua ft Eva Cassidy and "The X Factor" winner Leon Jackson. Murray started supporting the song as a response to repeated Christmas chart domination by manufactured pop acts churned out by the likes of "The X Factor". Middleton has said that, despite the song's negative-sounding title, he feels the song perfectly sums up the spirit of Christmas – the need to make the most of life while we have it. On the UK singles chart dated 23 December 2007 the song reached number 31, with the Christmas Number One being a cover of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's "When You Believe" performed by Leon Jackson. The publicity around the single gave Middleton significant mainstream exposure for the first time in his career.