It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of L

Opothecary · Post by **Opothecary** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:54 am

In the world we live in now, if Boards of Canada started today they couldn't have been successful. The sounds of Maxima, those Old Tunes tapes, that had to be put down to tape, because that's all they knew. Thank god we didn't have the internet and message boards to tell them that they sucked. Back then, there was the illusion of mystery, no torrents compiling every little song, no twitter tracking every movement. That website with the little kid on park gear. Those enigmatic album titles/song names. Literally anything was possible. We had crappy MP3s of Twoism. Eventually Maxima too. Then the professtional remaster of Twoism. I'm pretty sure we all thought Hooper Bay et al would be released, maybe once per year but at least it would HAPPEN!

Opothecary · Post by **Opothecary** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:16 am

Listening to Mansel, as dissonant as it is, reminds me of growing up. It makes me think of the docks at my grandparents' cottage in the Thousand Islands as the water and wind hit the buoys, while I sat inside and watched weird puppet shows on the Canadian broadcast channels which came in there. I'm sure that the Sandisons meant something totally different by it, but it makes think of an innocent time in the 80s, watching Canadian broadcast shows and feeling alone but happy. I don't know if I'd have the love for BoC that I do if it wasn't for that Thousand Islands / CBC connection that were my summer weekends.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:04 am

Opothecary wrote:Listening to Mansel, as dissonant as it is, reminds me of growing up. It makes me think of the docks at my grandparents' cottage in the Thousand Islands as the water and wind hit the buoys, while I sat inside and watched weird puppet shows on the Canadian broadcast channels which came in there. I'm sure that the Sandisons meant something totally different by it, but it makes think of an innocent time in the 80s, watching Canadian broadcast shows and feeling alone but happy. I don't know if I'd have the love for BoC that I do if it wasn't for that Thousand Islands / CBC connection that were my summer weekends.

It's been said many times, to the point where it almost becomes cliche, but their genius was encapsulating that nostalgia, that sub-conscious yearning for a return to youth and innocence. Everyone and their mother does it today, but even 15-odd years later - nobody does it better. That was a lovely image you conjured up there by the way

turquoise70 · Post by **turquoise70** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:13 pm

It's been said before, also, that it may be the case that BoC only really speaks to a certain time and place. Take someone like me, for example, who was born in 1986 and doesn't have any solid memories of the early or mid 80s, and even the late 80s are super hazy for me. I had already missed a lot of the nostalgic references BoC were making in their music. Actually, when Oneohtrix Point Never got started, I felt an even closer kinship and nostalgia from that than I ever did from BoC, and my current theory is that it's just adjusted more for my time and my life. If it's the case - and I think it is - that BoC speaks mainly to a certain generation and a certain timeperiod, that is to say the undertones of their music aren't all timeless and a significant portion of it IS locked in a certain place and time, then what do we do? I'm comfortable letting the BoC nostalgia subside in lieu of something that suits me better, but what about other people?

The Friendly Stranger · Sat Oct 15, 2011 3:29 pm

BoC isn't about nostalgia for me. I'm an 87 child so I came along a bit late for that. I think their music is so special to me because it was the first electronic music I heard that I really loved. I always thought of it as cold and void of emotion but then I heard roygbiv and all that changed. It was weird and comforting at the same time. Needless to say I never looked back from there.

Music means different things to different people and for me nostalgia doesn't come into it with BoC. I suppose it does in the sense that I still get that feeling I first heard when I hear roygbiv but not as a general theme in their music. Fortunately none of the reasons why I love their stuff have an expiry date. I'm sure it's the same for many others too.

IanRedpoint · Post by **IanRedpoint** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 3:29 pm

Yeah. That's a pretty sound theory and it explains why Oneohtrix Point Never don't *quite* do it for me.. and also why I prefer the more '70s-influenced Emeralds and Mist.

I think BoC are extremely clever/talented at implying their nostalgic references rather than stating them overtly. I couldn't nail down a single sound of theirs and say exactly which memory it triggers in me as none of it really sounds like anything actually from the '70s... maybe some of the incidental music we had with our UK Schools and Colleges television programming, but the Ghost Box artists are much closer to that sound than BoC have ever been. BoC somehow make themselves sound like a faded polaroid memory of their influences rather than the influences themselves. That's the thing they do better than anyone else, and why a lot of people still appreciate them who are the wrong age to have gotten the influences first-hand.

I'm always comfortable with my tastes and allegiances changing over time. I am of that certain generation and timeperiod, so I guess there's a chance I won't stumble across something that scratches that nostalgic itch as effectively as BoC. Doesn't mean I stop looking though...

The Friendly Stranger · Sat Oct 15, 2011 3:34 pm

IanRedpoint wrote:BoC somehow make themselves sound like a faded polaroid memory of their influences rather than the influences themselves. That's the thing they do better than anyone else, and why a lot of people still appreciate them who are the wrong age to have gotten the influences first-hand.

You just hit the nail on the head for me. You can tell their music comes from such a personal place but it's not so specific that you need to understand or be aware of the exact influence that they are channeling.

Enoch · Post by **Enoch** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:25 pm

I've never really felt nostalgia over BoC, and the only things I can recall that their music reminds me of are the science documentaries they would play in school with the background music. It all fits together nicely in that way.

However, I have vivid daydreams while listening to BoC, so I don't mind having no nostalgia over it one bit. One time I had my alarm as Peacock Tail to wake up, and had one of the most vivid dreams ever because of that. Their music just unlocks my imagination.

lurkingrecords · Post by **lurkingrecords** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:00 am

Opothecary wrote:In the world we live in now, if Boards of Canada started today they couldn't have been successful. The sounds of Maxima, those Old Tunes tapes, that had to be put down to tape, because that's all they knew. Thank god we didn't have the internet and message boards to tell them that they sucked. Back then, there was the illusion of mystery, no torrents compiling every little song, no twitter tracking every movement. That website with the little kid on park gear. Those enigmatic album titles/song names. Literally anything was possible. We had crappy MP3s of Twoism. Eventually Maxima too. Then the professtional remaster of Twoism. I'm pretty sure we all thought Hooper Bay et al would be released, maybe once per year but at least it would HAPPEN!

I'd tend to agree with this. I couldn't prove it of course if they could be successful, but I've had that feeling also that because everything is oversaturated in the media, everything is too accessible and comes easy (and free if we're accounting for piracy) and it generally cheapens the impact of the band.

It was pure luck how I found out about them in 2002, and at that point pretty much no one of my friends had heard of them, so it was very new music and extremely prized for me to find. Even when I was into BoC so much and they were just releasing TCH it was very special for me to hear....but now because I've found this forum Twoism and know more about the band it has kind of lessened the impact of the idea for a future release, even though I know I'll be excited.

I think growing up and being more aware about music and life WOULD make BoC possibly have less impact if they released stuff for the first time right now, but I can't assess if that's a valid assumption or not.

This is an interesting topic because I was thinking about their impact a few weeks ago and how impactful their music is, which lead me to think about what music was like for the brothers back in '95 and about the methods they chose to use to release their music/reasoning behind their mystique.

Come to think of it, this is a fucking depressing topic for me, actually.....

Waterbagel · Post by **Waterbagel** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:44 am

lurkingrecords wrote: but now because I've found this forum Twoism and know more about the band it has kind of lessened the impact of the idea for a future release, even though I know I'll be excited.

you know, i think i might just not look at this site once the new album drops/once i get it

just for a while
just to let the new album soak in

Opothecary · Post by **Opothecary** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 2:26 am

lurkingrecords wrote: I'd tend to agree with this. I couldn't prove it of course if they could be successful, but I've had that feeling also that because everything is oversaturated in the media, everything is too accessible and comes easy (and free if we're accounting for piracy) and it generally cheapens the impact of the band.

It was pure luck how I found out about them in 2002, and at that point pretty much no one of my friends had heard of them, so it was very new music and extremely prized for me to find. Even when I was into BoC so much and they were just releasing TCH it was very special for me to hear....but now because I've found this forum Twoism and know more about the band it has kind of lessened the impact of the idea for a future release, even though I know I'll be excited.

I think growing up and being more aware about music and life WOULD make BoC possibly have less impact if they released stuff for the first time right now, but I can't assess if that's a valid assumption or not.

This is an interesting topic because I was thinking about their impact a few weeks ago and how impactful their music is, which lead me to think about what music was like for the brothers back in '95 and about the methods they chose to use to release their music/reasoning behind their mystique.

Come to think of it, this is a fucking depressing topic for me, actually.....

Yes, the internet has been a blessing and a curse. There's a ridiculous number of avenues to consume music and because of that music has become much more disposable.

It was a huge deal tracking down the MP3s of the vinyl rips for Twoism and Maxima. I don't mean it in a braggy respect, but more out of nostalgia (nostalgia about a group informed by nostalgia, geez) I was one of the first people I knew that had their hands on Maxima. I had to pull it off a private FTP site and the MP3s were cut pretty weird - the entire thing was maybe 9 or 10 MP3s, whoever made the rip didn't want to interrupt the flow of some of the songs. I wish I still had it - I've never seen it distributed like that anywhere else. I was sworn to never give it to anyone but I think it leaked out to Napster or whatever was around back then a month or two later. I'm not sure if the proper 20 track rip was derived from those MP3s or came from some other source.

I really look at them as one of the last great bands that started off doing things the old fashioned way. I remember reading something along the lines that friends would give them bootleg copies of Warp releases in the early 90s; this definitely informed their sound. I think whatever "genre" they've made music in, it hits those nostalgic buttons but the Warp influence was the perfection of the formula. I think the Old Tunes tapes and their musical history show that the sound that made them cult favorites might have just been a passing interest for them.

I'm sure they feel kind of shoehorned into what a BoC release should SOUND like. It might be getting more and more difficult to get back to that sound and have it be genuine.

Opothecary · Post by **Opothecary** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 2:37 am

turquoise70 wrote:It's been said before, also, that it may be the case that BoC only really speaks to a certain time and place. Take someone like me, for example, who was born in 1986 and doesn't have any solid memories of the early or mid 80s, and even the late 80s are super hazy for me. I had already missed a lot of the nostalgic references BoC were making in their music. Actually, when Oneohtrix Point Never got started, I felt an even closer kinship and nostalgia from that than I ever did from BoC, and my current theory is that it's just adjusted more for my time and my life. If it's the case - and I think it is - that BoC speaks mainly to a certain generation and a certain timeperiod, that is to say the undertones of their music aren't all timeless and a significant portion of it IS locked in a certain place and time, then what do we do? I'm comfortable letting the BoC nostalgia subside in lieu of something that suits me better, but what about other people?

It's definitely a generational thing - I was born in 1978 and watched a lot of those weird CBC documentaries while on vacation. I'm sure many of them were old even when I saw them and remember them from the 80s, but being born in 1986 you're probably on a slightly different trip. I'm younger than the Sandisons but I think I'm on the outer edge of that generation that was kind of "there". Seeing those documentaries probably gave me some extra reference points that maybe other people my age couldn't relate to. Even the plethora of Canadian content you'd see on Nickelodeon in the early to mid 80s kind of ties into that too. For you, Nickelodeon is probably Salute Your Shorts and Hey Dude, if anything at all.

I think people in their 20s are probably more in tune with the "disposable" aspect of music. There's so many tools that let you whip up a tune on your PC and make it sound pretty good. Not to say that something made strictly on a PC can't be genuine but I think the effort of making that music on old gear adds an intangible extra dimension to it that no one making music today using strictly modern technology might have trouble tapping into.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:19 pm

I was born in 87, and I don't have any memories of the 70's or 80's really, but BoC allows me to imagine it perfectly, and I just love the style of it. I don't think me being born late has been a hindrance to my enjoyment of it at all.

MAXIMUS MISCHIEF · Post by **MAXIMUS MISCHIEF** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 8:57 pm

i agree MHTRTC and other early stuff is pretty specific forms of nostalgia, how ever i would say that the campfire headphase is timeless and it doesnt point to one period of time, imo its the perfect portal into the memory banks

saturdayindex · Post by **saturdayindex** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:48 pm

I would differentiate between evoking feelings of NOSTALGIA and evoking feelings of CHILDHOOD. For me, being also a child of 1987, BOC never really reminded me of any TV shows or any references that I could really be able to tap into.

What BOC did do for me, though, was to evoke a feeling of being reconnected with childhood, when life and its emotions flowed simply. The lack of words in most of BOC's music, the warm fuzzy sound, the simple melodies, the mystery, the contrast of light and dark--these all remind me of my childhood.

Today, though, years later, BOC does evoke nostalgia in me... remembering when I listened to them years ago.

ZosoCon · Post by **ZosoCon** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:19 am

Here's my take, which seems to be shared by most i would guess (...born in '83 btw). Nostalgia is pretty much universal, and BoC taps into that idea. They specifically tap into the 70's nostalgia, which of course has a unique flavor. But this flavor has also trickled down into the next generations, things like sesame street and other 70's/80's oriented concepts, for example, have been played on television and/or have been present and accessible within contemporary media for decades. So really it is easy to "apply" the 70's nostalgia to anyone who was born later, if they remember watching/listening/experiencing etc. those things during childhood. But of course this would not be to the same extent as for the people who actually grew up in the 70's/80's or even to the extent as for the Sandison Brothers themselves, who grew up in a particular way that couldn't really be shared by anyone except for themselves.
And Saturday Index, i see your point, and i think your music is by far the best on the One on Twoism compilations.

polar sky · Post by **polar sky** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:22 pm

turquoise70 wrote:It's been said before, also, that it may be the case that BoC only really speaks to a certain time and place. Take someone like me, for example, who was born in 1986 and doesn't have any solid memories of the early or mid 80s, and even the late 80s are super hazy for me. I had already missed a lot of the nostalgic references BoC were making in their music. Actually, when Oneohtrix Point Never got started, I felt an even closer kinship and nostalgia from that than I ever did from BoC, and my current theory is that it's just adjusted more for my time and my life. If it's the case - and I think it is - that BoC speaks mainly to a certain generation and a certain timeperiod, that is to say the undertones of their music aren't all timeless and a significant portion of it IS locked in a certain place and time, then what do we do? I'm comfortable letting the BoC nostalgia subside in lieu of something that suits me better, but what about other people?

I didn't miss the nostalgic references do to the fact I grew up with older brothers. When I was born in January of 1985 my oldest Brother was 11 who was born 1974 so I got all the hand me down VHS tapes and toys/music from the 70s and early 80s. So I kinda grew up with what they had too.

Twoism-ist · Post by **Twoism-ist** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:32 pm

saturdayindex wrote:I would differentiate between evoking feelings of NOSTALGIA and evoking feelings of CHILDHOOD. For me, being also a child of 1987, BOC never really reminded me of any TV shows or any references that I could really be able to tap into.

What BOC did do for me, though, was to evoke a feeling of being reconnected with childhood, when life and its emotions flowed simply. The lack of words in most of BOC's music, the warm fuzzy sound, the simple melodies, the mystery, the contrast of light and dark--these all remind me of my childhood.

Today, though, years later, BOC does evoke nostalgia in me... remembering when I listened to them years ago.

everything in this post

Jonse · Post by **Jonse** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Well, being born myself around the start of the 90's, I in no way whatsoever have BoC's specific nostalgia. In fact, someone born in the 80's probably doesn't either.

However, that does not mean I can't learn about the past and eventually put myself into that feeling of nostalgia.

Disregarding the meanings beneath it all though in relation to nostalgia, I will at least have nostalgia for the music itself as I first heard it when I was a teenager. When I'm middle aged, I'll still look back and have fond memories of BoC. That's what really matters for me. They invoke feelings of future nostalgia. When they do remind me of past/childhood in thematic elements, they remind me more of a childlike mindset being tapped into by an adult, as opposed to memories of the events as a child. This is probably because they've existed for me while still in (and currently, having just left) that phase of youth.

I sort of feel like there's a progression of a character in BoC's albums when it comes to the ages of a human. For me, it starts with MHTRTC. The protagonist is born, and he/she begins to go through early childhood, developing their mind, being susceptible to the world around them and slowly growing up. In IABPOITC, it's just an extension of that childhood, serving as the bridge from a young child into a teenager. In Geogaddi, the protagonist becomes a teenager and progresses through those years. His/her life becomes dark, grim, moody, driven by the instability of human hormones and the slow realization of the true nature of the world around them. They say goodbye to their childhood, plunge into depths of depression and inevitably begin to make their way back out of it. In TCH, they've done just that, and now as an adult, they are beginning to travel, explore the world around them, see new things with their friends, and embark on a new phase of acquiring knowledge in what's basically a road trip through life. TCH EP is again, an extension of that phase.

Anyways, just an interesting thought of mine. We'll see if what BoC produces next will fit into that mix.

Also, to bring up something that Kinksi said which is still floating through my mind, MHTRTC apparently has "doppler nostalgia". I still really don't see it. Anyone know where there's "doppler nostalgia" in MHTRTC?

isawdrones · Post by **isawdrones** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:36 am

Yeah thats an interesting question really. What is the new technological medium doing to music? In terms of how we acquire, create, and subjectively enjoy it. Did artists like autechre, aphex twin, boc etcetera exist in this intermediary point between 20th century music and whatever technological paradigm we are facing now in the 21'st? Were they in the right place at the right time, ..situated in this little sweet spot that allowed the creation of new motifs and ideas etcetera? Electronic music seems increasingly disposable. Everybody's past time.

People have the technology on their macs or pcs to generate something like "Geogaddi" or "85-92" but it doesn't get it done. And its more complex than the old "Hardware vs. Software" debate. The consolidation into the computer format has done something to electronic music for sure. What exactly that is we are just now getting a hint of.

____twoism

It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of L

It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of L

Re: It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of

Re: It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of

Re: It couldn't happen now - BoC retrospectives, headful of