Boards of Canada on another level

PlacentaSand · Post by **PlacentaSand** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 5:53 am

I find myself detaching from mainstream media and pop culture more often then i realize sometimes. A lot of things seem fake or untrue if you understand what I'm saying. My girlfriend introduced me to the Scottish duo only a year ago and ever since then I've found out so many things about myself that i never would have learned if it went for Boards of Canada. To me they have somehow gotten to a point that goes beyond music and even beyond their "nostalgia" factor. I try to understand whats so special sometimes, like, is it the bond the brothers share that make their music so captivating? Is it because we barely know a thing about them? It really could be any number of possibilities. Boards of Canada seems to do this to a lot of people I'm guessing. Even after writing this I'm still unsure how to describe the connection i feel i have towards their content..

lurkingrecords · Post by **lurkingrecords** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:25 am

That's awesome, man....I feel the same way as well.

WATER_CAN-_- · Post by **WATER_CAN-_-** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:13 am

Glad you brought this up. I've though about this myself, and I think you articulated it well. I do get the nostalgia; however I get sense there is something more that is sort of transcendent in a way that nothing else in this world effects me like, and not just music.

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:44 am

I think the mystery factor is certainly a big part of their appeal. I don't think them being family has much to do with it, because there are many families in bands which produce bad music.

I think essentially, they are so special because they have an extensive catalogue which is virtually flawless, no bad album, no poor tracks, lovely artwork etc..

I think there is just an aura of personal and professionalism about them. They want to produce music which is of true artistic merit, and create an appropriate image and folk lore which surrounds the sounds.

PlacentaSand · Post by **PlacentaSand** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:21 am

yes exactly. their work is very personal. almost as if they were narrating some of their own memories using the creative abilities they share. very righteous.

Saakki · Post by **Saakki** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:20 pm

Here's something for ya'll BoC fellas to read. Kinda widens your understanding about music in all levels.

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199586974.do

Very, very good and comprehensive, up-to-date opus that is. Explains many things which are discussed in this forum on a daily basis. Not the easiest place to start though!

Little Cloud · Post by **Little Cloud** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:23 pm

It's all so genuine and from it's own unique perspective, not at all a part of the "homogenised urban culture" one of them spoke of in an interview. So much music is so watered down these days (probably was before, but it just gets forgotten about) musicians in the same circuits get influenced by each other and start to sound the same. Where I live the music scene is all very "folky flouncy" or its laptop music which is ok, but its all the same, no ones daring to be different.

Fearless Flounder · Post by **Fearless Flounder** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:02 pm

Little Cloud wrote:It's all so genuine and from it's own unique perspective, not at all a part of the "homogenised urban culture" one of them spoke of in an interview. So much music is so watered down these days (probably was before, but it just gets forgotten about) musicians in the same circuits get influenced by each other and start to sound the same. Where I live the music scene is all very "folky flouncy" or its laptop music which is ok, but its all the same, no ones daring to be different.

I think this is interesting. I know they mentioned before 'We're making a unique mental and temporal bubble for our records to exist in'
Sure they have influences, but with artists like BoC it seems that those influences are incredibly personal and removed from whatever is fashionable or 'now'. And they take time to create their own world using these influences.

I think many artists would gain from questioning how much of their work is actually their own voice and not a watered down version of someone elses. I'm sure there are many established bands who are actually pretty decent and sound nice, but maybe it seems like they don't tread their own path. Or dare I say it, perhaps some of them sound a bit too trendy. I think with Blog culture, it is as much true for the underground and supposedly cutting edge acts than the pop acts, that sometimes artists have a tendency to absorb each others sound too easily.

BoC seem to have sidestepped this nicely. I remember one interview they did back in the 90's stating how they wanted to avoid putting jungle beats over everything. As amazing as much of the music coming out of that scene was back then, I remember it was getting to a point where it was over saturated. Diluted versions of this stuff blaring out of TV ads and fucking Bowie using it on his records. I think they are right....I think as an artist it is important to keep focused and perhaps even be quite particular about what you choose to be influenced by. But of course to keep an open mind. As an artist you shouldn not feel some sort of obligation to like or be influenced by absolutely everything.

Betacord · Post by **Betacord** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:04 pm

fujee wrote:I don't think them being family has much to do with it, because there are many families in bands which produce bad music.

There are, but that's perhaps putting it a little too simply and generalising, especially where BOC are concerned.

PlacentaSand wrote:their work is very personal. almost as if they were narrating some of their own memories using the creative abilities they share. very righteous.

Yes, indeed.

I would imagine that their connection enables them to bounce ideas off each other that are very in line with each others' thinking - if you share memories and experiences with someone else, you can both see the world from that same point of view, so I have no doubts about how that could help creatively for what does seem to be a very nostalgic and personal sound; that, despite being of two people, always comes from one place.

So, I think it has everything to do with it - not necessarily the family connection in itself, but their shared perspective.

inverse · Post by **inverse** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:33 am

There is something that differentiates them from everything else. It's beautiful.

I had a dream I saw them live a few days back :/ Has anyone else experienced something similar?

kidfortoday70 · Post by **kidfortoday70** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:51 am

inverse wrote:There is something that differentiates them from everything else. It's beautiful.

I had a dream I saw them live a few days back :/ Has anyone else experienced something similar?

I've had those dreams as well...I've also had dreams where I find an ultra rare vinyl of theirs in a record store. Woke up extremely disappointed haha.

Raffa Jaffa · Post by **Raffa Jaffa** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:34 am

hello all ,
i got that feeling of a personal level of their music myself, its incredible and so unique, hard to explain, not any other band, musician or any artist reached that level with me. I wonder sometimes if they are aware of that, if they have included certain sounds on purpose, thinking that it might evoke this personal connection or is it just us translating it that way.....

pointlessdude · Post by **pointlessdude** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:09 pm

It's all about the setting. Fuck, I don't know how to put this into words, but big part of BoC's mastery stems from the fact that they've been able to put together many elements of our audiovisual and even previous culture right into their music, like, well-aimed connections. They convey things, they're chronists. They know how to get their shit together. And that's why way I see it the music sounds so evocatively human and profound.

Vexille · Post by **Vexille** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:42 pm

The main reason why I like boc so much is that before boc I never heard anything like them. They pioneered a specific sound and aesthetic. That is refreshing when the majority of music out there is just derivative from the same sources. I think when it comes to bands that break out of the mold and start a new movement (or subgenre or whatever) they tend to have the most loyal and dedicated fans.

The downside is all the clone bands that pop up trying to cash in on that. Very few of them are compelled to take that foundation and put their own spin on it. But rather "I want to sound like [pioneering band]" instead of "I want to sound like me, using some methods [pioneering band] brought to my attention."

aorta · Post by **aorta** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:45 pm

I listened to Boards of Canada last year and I didn't like them at all, so I didn't listen to them for a year and then I listened to them for the Christmas formal. Just so you know, cause the Christmas formal last year was so funny, I thought, "well, maybe..." I didn't like Boards of Canada before, but I had such a good time; it was just so funny,

bioluminescence · Post by **bioluminescence** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:31 am

The best excuse for failing at life is that you're a traveller from the future, so you can't do anything without fucking up the timeline!