Boards of Canada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boards of Canada
(L-R) Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin
Background information
Also known as	Hell Interface
Origin	Edinburgh, Scotland
Genre(s)	IDM Trip hop Downtempo Ambient music Psychedelic music Experimental music
Years active	1987 – present
Label(s)	Warp, Skam, Music70
Website	boardsofcanada.com
Members
Michael Sandison Marcus Eoin

Boards of Canada is a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison (born 1 June 1970) and Marcus Eoin (born 21 July 1971). They have released a number of works, most notably Music Has the Right to Children and Geogaddi, with little advertising and few interviews. Their music is reminiscent of the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s television and contains recurring themes of childhood and nostalgia. 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 has recorded a few minor works as Hell Interface.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years (1980s–1995) 1.2 From Twoism onwards (1995–present) 2 Sound and methods 2.1 Influences 2.2 Themes 2.3 Subliminal messages, symbolism and religion 3 Discography 3.1 Studio albums 3.2 Old Tunes and other oddities 4 See also 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Official sites 6.2 Record labels 6.3 Discography sites 6.4 Unofficial/fan sites

[edit] History

[edit] 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.

By 1989, the band had been reduced to Sandison and Eoin.^[1] 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.

[edit] From Twoism onwards (1995–present)

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 was 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. The LP edition was pressed on sky blue vinyl. 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.^[2]

Their third album for Warp Records, The Campfire Headphase, was released on 17 October 2005 (18 October in the United States). The album 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.

[edit] Sound and methods

Boards of Canada's unique sound is a product of their strong use of analogue 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.^[3][4] 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".^[5]

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 22 were selected (not 23, as one of the tracks on the CD is complete silence).^[5] 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."^[5]

[edit] 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"),^[5] The Beatles ("[they] really became enthralling to us through their psychedelism")^[6] and My Bloody Valentine ("even if we don't sound like them, there's a connection in terms of the approach to music").^[2]

[edit] 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.

– ^[6] (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.

– ^[5] (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)

[edit] 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] including references to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians and numerology amongst others.^[9]

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.

– ^[5] (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)

Also of note is that in the track 'Gyroscope' from the album 'Geogaddi' it is possible to hear a young girls voice in the background reciting numbers in a random order. This is a sample taken from a recording of a Numbers station. In the song 'Aquarius' from 'Music Has the Right to Children' there is also a voice reciting numbers in a random order.

[edit] Discography

Main article: Boards of Canada discography

[edit] 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)
• 1996: Hi Scores – (Skam)
• 1998: Music Has the Right to Children – (Warp/Skam) #193 UK
• 2000: In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country (Warp)
• 2002: Geogaddi – (Warp/Music70) #21 UK
• 2005: The Campfire Headphase – (Warp) #41 UK
• 2006: Trans Canada Highway – (Warp) #63 UK

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

• Warp Records
• Skam Records
• Music70
• Matador Records
• Hexagon Sun Collective
• Boards of Canada discography
• Old Tunes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official sites

• Boards of Canada
• Music70
• Hexagon Sun
• A Beautiful Place – MySpace

[edit] Record labels

• Warp Records
• Skam Records
• Matador Records

[edit] Discography sites

• Boards of Canada at Discogs
• Boards of Canada discography at MusicBrainz
• Discography at xltronic

[edit] Unofficial/fan sites

• Unofficial Boards of Canada Resource Pages by Fredd-E
• Boards of Canada wiki
• Pre-2004 boardsofcanada.com Mirror
• Downloads of live performances, interviews, and radio broadcasts at WATMM

v • d • e Boards of Canada Michael Sandison | Marcus Eoin Management Warp Records | Skam Records | Music70 Studio albums Catalog 3 (1987) | Acid Memories (1989) | Closes Vol. 1 (1992) | Play by Numbers (1994) | Hooper Bay (1994) | Twoism (1995) | Boc Maxima (1996) | Music Has the Right to Children (1998) | Geogaddi (2002) | The Campfire Headphase (2005) Singles & EPs Hi Scores (1996) | Aquarius (1998) | Orange Romeda (1998) | Peel Session TX 21/07/1998 (1999) | In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country (2000) | Roygbiv/Telephasic Workshop 10" | Trans Canada Highway (2006) Live recordings Live @ Warp10 (1999) | Live @ Lighthouse (2000) | Live @ ATP (2001) Related articles Discography | Matador Records | Hexagon Sun Collective | Music70 Old Tunes Old Tunes Vol. 1 (1995) | A Few Old Tunes (1996) | Old Tunes Vol. 2 (1996)