I think TH will likely have the same ratio of beatless tracks to beatful tracks as we have come to expect. It would be odd if they released an entirely beatless record with no forewarning at all. Sure they could do that if they wanted to but it just seems like something they wouldn't do. I don't think they could entirely ignore the pressure of their fan's expectations although I am sure they don't like the influence that has on what they decide to release.
I wasn't sure how to take their comments about TCH when they said they wanted to get out of the electronica section. Did they go in a different direction just because they didn't want to be narrowly classified? Did they not make the album they really wanted to make? I fucking love that record though and had to put it on yesterday again and it still just gets better and better, especially when some small part of me questions its awesomeness.
Anyway, someone on here turned me onto Stars of the Lid and I am so thankful! It was all I really wanted to listen to for a while. I am definitely a long time Autechre fan too but everything from Confield on takes a while for me to get into. I find myself buying their records and then just letting them sit around, shrink wrapped for a year before finally opening them and putting them on. Then it takes a couple of years for me to start to notice tracks that stand out and then boom, I have a breakthough moment with one of their tracks and it starts to sound as good as their mid-90's stuff to me. I actually really like that it takes so long to grow on me because I have lots still to mine in their more recent records.
There is so much noise stuff out there I like too and I rarely listen to it but when its time and place comes up, its just perfect.
Wow....17 days to go!....

I also just realized that if I don't get a hold of some WAV files before the 10th, I am going to be in the middle of the wilderness when my pre-ordered records arrive. This is going to kill me. Listening to the new record in the middle of a wilderness in the Pacific Northwest would be perfect though.