Ah, the ever elusive Boards Of Canada. One of my favourite electronic acts of all time. brothers Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison have been making music as Boards Of Canada since 1987 and recorded more than 5 other albums in that time. Copies of which were only given to family and friends (all the supposed copies floating around the Internet are fake with the exception of the Old Tunes tapes and Boc Maxima) before their big break with Twoism in 1995, the record that would lead to Warp Records signing them on.
Their debut on Warp, the excellently titled Music Has The Right To Children is one of the finest electronic albums ever recorded and is a perfect introduction point for anyone new to Boards, showing off their style of trip hop flavoured beats with some ambient style synths just below the surface. BoC also have a habit of making short melodic interludes that break up the other tracks, The first of which acts as an intro to the album.
This is immediately followed by the psychedelic, sample heavy beat fest that is An Eagle In Your Mind. The drone-y synths and the samples combined make for an interesting listen, Headphones recommended for this one.
As with a few other tracks on here, Turquoise Hexagon Sun featured on an earlier release, the Hi Scores EP, and I don't blame them for including it again on here. It's a brilliant track exhibiting all the flavours that are uniquely BoC: The beats, the melodies, the samples, and just a tiny hint of nostalgia lurking beneath the surface.
Another of the brief melodic interludes follows, this being halfway through the album, you've come to expect it at this point. But what comes next is nothing short of fantastic.
One of my favourite tracks from the album, Roygbiv. (a mnemonic for the colours of the light spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo & Violet) It was the moment the album clicked for me, starting with that catchy menacing sounding synth, slowly adding more to the mix until it becomes something truly special.
Another one of my favourites and track I've posted before; Olson. BoC really have a way of weaving emotion directly into their music, and Olson is no exception. It's awfully short but in a good way, because then the track stays just as sweet on repeat listens. An absolute classic.
Coming into the final stretch we have something that sounds a bit like early Autechre: Pete Standing Alone. Opinions vary on this track quite a bit, but personally it's one of my favourites, so much so I once had it on repeat for about 15 minutes without realising.
To play us out, what is in my opinion a perfect closer to this album. I'll let the track speak for itself here, literally.
And so ends another Warped post, enjoy the sounds and don't forget to drop me a line about these tracks, especially those of you new to Boards Of Canada.
All Nostalgic,
-Claude Van Foxbat
5 comments:
these posts are great. boc are the best
many thanks came to them late but have enjoyed most. Are you a fan of Casino Vs Japan?
ooh, can't go wrong with a boards post. can't now think of my introduction, was many many moons ago, but yeah, one of those necessary - um, tidbits - in the musical world you just can't get enough of. me, anyhow. they're bliss for me. for sure. "olson" is too short, but wow, love! i like "pete standing alone". i hadn't heard this one before. i'm semi-familiar with autechre, but i couldn't say i know the early stuff, just what i know. a few tracks here and there. i do want to say it has a similarity to someone else, but no, definitely hear their sort of signature glitch. ooh, it's definitely love for me. very nice!
@still asleep, I actually covered Autechre's early stuff in some earlier Warped History posts: 1993 & 1994. You should check it out, it's massively different from their later stuff. :)
The only problem with Roygbiv is that it's too damn short, this track should have been at least 6min in lenght!
Post a Comment