Boards of Canada: Difference between revisions
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The band made another release in 1996; titled ''[[Boc Maxima]]'', it was a semi-private release that notable for being a full-length album, and was the precursor to ''Music Has the Right to Children'', with which it shares many tracks. |
The band made another release in 1996; titled ''[[Boc Maxima]]'', it was a semi-private release that notable for being a full-length album, and was the precursor to ''Music Has the Right to Children'', with which it shares many tracks. |
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Boards of Canada's first commercial release occurred after attracting the attention of [[Autechre]]'s [[Sean Booth]], of the English label [[Skam Records]], one of many people sent a demo EP. Skam issued what was considered Boards of Canada's first "findable" work, ''[[Hi Scores]]'', in 1996. ''Music has the Right to Children'' was subsequently released in 1998. |
Boards of Canada's first commercial release occurred after attracting the attention of [[Autechre]]'s [[Sean Booth]], of the English label [[Skam Records]], one of many people sent a demo EP. Skam issued what was considered Boards of Canada's first "findable" work, ''[[Hi Scores]]'', in 1996. ''Music has the Right to Children'' was subsequently released in 1998. [[John Peel]] featured Boards of Canada on his [[BBC Radio 1]] program in January of that year. The session featured two remixes from ''Music Has the Right to Children'' — "Aquarius (Version 3)" and "Olson (Version 3)" — along with the tracks "Happy Cycling" and "XYZ". Excluding "XYZ", the set was released on a Warp Records [[Compact disc|CD]] titled ''[[Peel Session TX 21/07/1998]]''. |
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Though never an actively touring band, Boards of Canada did perform a handful of shows. Early shows saw them supporting Warp labelmates [[Seefeel]] and [[Autechre]] in a handful of UK dates. They also participated in a few festivals and multi-artist bills, including two Warp parties: [[Live @ Warp10|Warp's 10th Anniversary Party]] in 1999, and [[Live @ Lighthouse|The Incredible Warp Lighthouse Party]] almost one year later. They made their most prominent showing in 2001 as one of the headliners at the [[Tortoise (band)|Tortoise]]-curated [[Live @ ATP|All Tomorrow's Parties]] festival. They have not performed a live show since. |
Though never an actively touring band, Boards of Canada did perform a handful of shows. Early shows saw them supporting Warp labelmates [[Seefeel]] and [[Autechre]] in a handful of UK dates. They also participated in a few festivals and multi-artist bills, including two Warp parties: [[Live @ Warp10|Warp's 10th Anniversary Party]] in 1999, and [[Live @ Lighthouse|The Incredible Warp Lighthouse Party]] almost one year later. They made their most prominent showing in 2001 as one of the headliners at the [[Tortoise (band)|Tortoise]]-curated [[Live @ ATP|All Tomorrow's Parties]] festival. They have not performed a live show since. |
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Revision as of 22:45, 31 March 2007
 | This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. |
Boards of Canada |
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Boards of Canada is a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison (born 10 June, 1969) and Marcus Eoin (born 21 September, 1970). They have released a number of works, most notably Music Has the Right to Children, Geogaddi, and The Campfire Headphase, with little advertising and few interviews. Their music is reminiscent of the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s television. Michael and Marcus admit to being inspired by the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group's name is derived. The duo have recorded a few minor works as Hell Interface.
History
Early years (1980s-1995)
Growing up in a musical family, brothers Michael and Marcus Eoin began playing instruments at a young age. They experimented with recording techniques at around the age of 10, using tape machines to layer cut-up samples of found sounds over compositions of their own. In their teens they participated in a number of amateur bands, however, it wasn't until 1986 when Marcus was invited to Michael's band that Boards of Canada was born.
We began writing and playing music in a more serious way at some point around 1987. At first, we experimented without setting ourselves any questions, with whatever means were available to us, then we worked a lot with other musicians and with real instruments, which brought more complexity into our music. Five years ago [1993], we sounded a lot more gothic, much closer to experimental rock, with the occasional vocal. Though, it was heading for electronic music; already we were sampling our own instruments. Then we went back to something closer to our original spirit: simple and instinctive, the only difference being that from then on, we could use all the wonders of digital technology, and so it was a lot easier to experiment and to get what we wanted.
— [1] (Sandison & Eoin)
By 1989, the band had been reduced to Sandison, Eoin and Christopher Horne.[2] In the early 1990s, a number of collaborations took place and the band put on small, fairly regular shows among the "Hexagon Sun" collective.
In early 2000, the official website for the band, Music70.com, removed the early discography of Boards of Canada, although some information has been preserved by fans. Early tape releases by Boards of Canada include Play By Numbers, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay, and the earliest known release by the band is titled Catalog 3. None of the material from those days is readily available, and since official Boards of Canada sources ignore the existence of this material, there seems to be little chance for this early material ever to resurface.
From Twoism onwards (1995-present)
Template:Sound sample box align right Template:Sample box end
In 1995, the band made their first Hexagon Sun studio release, the EP Twoism. Like earlier Music70 releases, it was produced in a self-financed limited run and was privately distributed, primarily to friends and labels. Unlike previous releases, however, a small number of copies were also released to the public through the IDM mailing list. Though not a widespread commercial release, it was considered of sufficient quality and worth to be subsequently re-pressed in 2002, and serves as a demarcation point into more professional releases.
The band made another release in 1996; titled Boc Maxima, it was a semi-private release that notable for being a full-length album, and was the precursor to Music Has the Right to Children, with which it shares many tracks.
Boards of Canada's first commercial release occurred after attracting the attention of Autechre's Sean Booth, of the English label Skam Records, one of many people sent a demo EP. Skam issued what was considered Boards of Canada's first "findable" work, Hi Scores, in 1996. Music has the Right to Children was subsequently released in 1998. John Peel featured Boards of Canada on his BBC Radio 1 program in January of that year. The session featured two remixes from Music Has the Right to Children — "Aquarius (Version 3)" and "Olson (Version 3)" — along with the tracks "Happy Cycling" and "XYZ". Excluding "XYZ", the set was released on a Warp Records CD titled Peel Session TX 21/07/1998.
Though never an actively touring band, Boards of Canada did perform a handful of shows. Early shows saw them supporting Warp labelmates Seefeel and Autechre in a handful of UK dates. They also participated in a few festivals and multi-artist bills, including two Warp parties: Warp's 10th Anniversary Party in 1999, and The Incredible Warp Lighthouse Party almost one year later. They made their most prominent showing in 2001 as one of the headliners at the Tortoise-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival. They have not performed a live show since.
The band released a four-track EP, In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country, in November 2000, their first original release in two years. A full-length album, Geogaddi, was then released in 2002. It was described by Sandison as "a record for some sort of trial-by-fire, a claustrophobic, twisting journey that takes you into some pretty dark experiences before you reach the open air again."[citation needed]
Throughout most of their career, Mike and Marcus chose not to publicize their brotherhood and were simply portrayed as childhood friends. Their kinship was finally revealed in a 2005 Pitchfork interview.[3] Michael explained that they concealed the fact to avoid comparisons to Orbital, another well-known UK electronic group composed of two brothers.
Their third album for Warp Records, The Campfire Headphase, was released on 17 October 2005 (18 October in the United States). The album covers much of the same musical territory as their previous works and featured fifteen tracks, including "Peacock Tail," "Chromakey Dreamcoat," and "Dayvan Cowboy." Two versions of "Dayvan Cowboy" --the original and a remix by Odd Nosdam -- are on the six-track EP, Trans Canada Highway, which was released on 26 May 2006.
Sound and methods
Boards of Canada's unique sound is a product of their strong use of analog equipment, mix of electronic and conventional instrumentation, use of distorted samples as well as live and radio or film lyrics, and their layering and blending of these elements.[4][5] Their deliberate eschewal of a purely synthetic sound gives their music a warmer, emotive quality, often meant to inspire nostalgia.
Brief interludes or "vignettes" feature prominently in their music. Such songs are often weaving melodies or speech accompanied by atmospherics to capture a specific moment or mood. They often last less than two minutes, but, as Sandison says, "those short tracks you mention, we write far more of those than the so-called 'full on' tracks, and, in a way, they are our own favorites".[6]
Boards of Canada have written an enormous number of song fragments and songs, most of which will never be released. It does not appear that their music is made exclusively for commercial release; rather, albums seem to be the result of selecting complementary songs from current work. For instance, Geogaddi's development involved the creation of 400 song fragments and 64 complete songs, of which 23 were selected (one of which is complete silence).[6] Says Eoin: "The idea of the perfect album is this amorphous thing that we're always aiming at [...] the whole point of making music is at least to aim at your own idea of perfection."[6]
Influences
Interviews with Sandison and Eoin provide some insight into the duo's creative inspiration. They have cited several acts that have influenced their work, including Joni Mitchell, The Incredible String Band ("we have all the String Band records [...] our rural sensibilities are similar"),[6] The Beatles ("[they] really became enthralling to us through their psychedelism")[1] and My Bloody Valentine ("even if we don't sound like them, there's a connection in terms of the approach to music").[3]
Themes
I've always been fascinated by the connection between music and numbers. Psychedelic experiences lead in this direction; they help us to see things in terms of numbers and their forms, of structures, as if the music was made out of crystals.
— [1] (Sandison)
We've touched upon the theme of lost childhood a few times because it's something personal to me that gives me real inspiration through its sadness. I think sometimes the best way to get inspiration is to face up to the things that make you very sad in your life, and use them.
— [6] (Sandison)
[On The Campfire Headphase] "We usually imagine our music to have a visual element while we're writing it, so we were picturing this character losing his mind at the campfire and compressing weeks of events into a few hours, in that time-stretching way that acid fucks with your perception."
— [7] (Sandison)
Subliminal messages, symbolism and religion
Marcus and Michael have both expressed a strong interest in the power of subliminal messaging and their work is full of cryptic messages.[8] Some critics refuse to listen to their music on account that they are positive the band is trying to brainwash their listeners for unknown motivations, citing references to David Koresh and occult symbols as proof.[9] Others approach these facts from a skeptical angle, saying that these are simply "cute tricks" and an ironic gesture towards people who take such things seriously (and as a bit of a similar gesture towards their own body of work in later releases).
We're not Satanists, or Christians, or Pagans. We're not religious at all. We just put symbols into our music sometimes, depending on what we're interested in at the time. We do care about people and the state of the world, and if we're spiritual at all it's purely in the sense of caring about art and inspiring people with ideas.
— [6] (Sandison)
I do actually believe that there are powers in music that are almost supernatural. I think you actually manipulate people with music, and that is definitely what we are trying to do. People go on about hypnotizing people with music, or subliminal messages and we have dabbled in that intentionally. Sometimes that's just a bit of a private joke, just to see what we can sneak into the tracks.
— [10] (Eoin)
Discography
- Main article: Boards of Canada discography
Studio albums
- 1987: Catalog 3 - (Music70)
- 1989: Acid Memories - (Music70)
- 1992: Closes Volume 1 - (Music70)
- 1994: Play By Numbers - (Music70)
- 1994: Hooper Bay - (Music70)
- 1995: Twoism - (Music70)
- 1996: Boc Maxima - (Music70)
- 1998: Music Has the Right to Children - (Warp/Skam)
- 2002: Geogaddi - (Warp/Music70)
- 2005: The Campfire Headphase - (Warp)
- 2006: Trans Canada Highway - (Warp)
Old Tunes and other oddities
- Main article: Old Tunes
Various Boards of Canada recordings have been found online, claiming to be original tracks from Catalog 3, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay and other pre-Twoism albums, but none have been officially acknowledged by Boards of Canada. Rumors persist that the duo will eventually re-issue their early albums as-is or as part of a special boxed set. Speculation regarding re-issues continues to be an intense subject amongst fans.
References
- ^ a b c Kyrou, Ariel & Leloup, Jean-Yves. "Two Aesthetes of Electronic Music" (Jun 1998), Virgin Megaweb magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ Campbell, Peter I. and Goderich, S. "Matador Records' Boards of Canada Biography" (Sep 1998), Matador Records. Retrieved on 2006-03-23.
- ^ a b Hoffmann, Heiko. "The Downtempo Duo" (Sep 2005), Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ Pytlik, Mark. "The Colour & The Fire" (Feb 2002), HMV magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ Micallef, Ken. "Northern Exposure" (Jul 2002), Remix magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ a b c d e f Poolman, Koen. "Play Twice Before Listening" (Mar 2002), OOR magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ Hutton, Erin. "Emotional ABUSE" (Dec 2005), Remix magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ Diddy, Mikey P. "Brainwashing, Misanthropy and Society: An Analysis of Boards of Canada's Geogaddi". Retrieved on 2006-03-23.
- ^ Brown, Colin. "What the hell is up with Boards of Canada? Shorter analysis of Geogaddi". Retrieved on 2006-03-23.
- ^ Nicholls, Steve. "Big Country" (Mar 2001), XLR8R Issue 47. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
See also
- Warp Records
- Skam Records
- Music70
- Matador Records
- Hexagon Sun Collective
- Boards of Canada discography
- Old Tunes
External links
Official sites
- Boards of Canada
- Music70
- Hexagon Sun
- A Beautiful Place - MySpace
Record labels
Unofficial/fan sites