A live version of the song (recorded by Steve Lamacq from a BBC Radio Session at Maida Vale in March 1999) can be found on Mogwai's 2005 live compilation album, Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003, as well as UK music magazine Select's 2000 compilation CD, The Deep End.

Another live version of "Helicon 1" (recorded at Rothesay Pavilion, Isle of Bute on 14 April 2001) can be found as B-sides on the Australian, New Zealand and Japanese releases of the "My Father My King" single, as well as the 2001 UK/European Tour EP.

At (2:50), all of the instruments pause for a brief second, then explode into loud guitar-driven noise, backed by a steady, heavy drumbeat (to which every snare drum beat is accompanied by a tambourine clash).

Almost two decades since the single was first released, an official music video was produced for "Helicon 1," directed by Craig Murray.

The video premiered on Vice Media's Noisey music channel on June 24, 2015, as an advance promotion for Central Belters, a 3-disc retrospective marking Mogwai's 20th anniversary as a band.