Boc & your life...

[Distant Nebulus]

I am very curious about other boc fans, since I only know a few in person, such as the extent of the music's influence on your life. My friends and family know me as being obsessed with boc and think im strange when I explain what it is I like about them. I listen to many other artists from Autechre all the way to Jethro tull, but boc's music seems to run my life. I am a graphic design student and their music influences most of my work. and a few years ago when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me, she even mentioned how I seemed to care about boards of canada more than her...(not good).. If it is raining outside, I crave to listen to Geogaddi and get irritated when I am unable to do so. I even began smoking weed with the specific goal to hear their (and autechre) music while high..although ive recently quit. I also got a boc influenced tattoo last month.

My question is, has anyone else let boc influence them to this degree?

I love the music and I am not depressed or ashamed about their influence on my life, I just think its interesting how music can do this. the few people I do know that also listen to boc seem to just enjoy them among many other artists and don't take the time to purchase and collect all of their material and memorize song titles and overall information about them like I have.

[rolypablo]

I've told you many times... stay aff the Boc.

[lyst]

Awesome post. I delve into this a lot as well. Boards of Canada affected how I view music since I first heard them, had to be around 12 years ago. At the time I was getting into the underground hip-hop of the 90s, but still was fiending for something and I just couldn't put my hands on it. Well an internet buddy from AOL shared common musical taste with me and that was my first introduction to the Electronic world, beginning with BoC and Aphex Twin.

Ever since then, I have only sought to find music that gives me the same feeling that BoC did / does. Most people do not understand my taste in music, being from the Midwest of the USA, but the few that I have gotten into this music also care for it almost as much as I. I also began to make music myself, in an attempt to create a similar emotion in the listener. This is not an easy task, but it's fun to crack at it as a hobby apart from fulltime work.

Right now I've been rocking these shirts every single weekend, I think my friends and GF are getting annoyed.

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[zeoevil]

Discovering Boards of Canada allowed me to reconnect with the electronic music I enjoyed as a teenager while being more palatable for my more experienced ears. Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Ministry, and so on are far less friendly to ears that are no longer young and angry.

That and I fit into the nostalgia crowd given I am about the same age as the Sandisons, I was raised on American PBS, and my mother and I traveled across the country in a car when I was very young. If I didn't know better I'd swear I WAS a Sandison.

[nick47]

V-neck boc shirt? Classy

BoC is definitely a large player in the music section of my life (which is a good portion)
Whats getting annoying is trying to explain how MUCH BoC makes me feel. The way a song I had never heard before made me really FEEL some emotion that was not my own. Other people just dont seem to get BoC. It makes me sad, not because they dont like BoC themselves, but that they dont / cant understand the pure happiness and euphoria that comes with listening to a band you truly GET.

[lyst]

Hah. Yes, very classy. I love it. Have it in White, Black, and Grey. My friend last night just asked "So do you ever take that shirt off?"

Anyone interested in grabbing it theirselves, MSG me and i'll shoot you the website.

They also sell BoC hoodies for a whopping 20 bucks.


@Distant Nebulus . I may be coming to you for Album covers.

[Kathleen]

This is a neat topic. I'll weigh in with my two cents about me.

I started listening to electronic music in 1998/1999, and it was SO much better than what my friends were listening to (I grew up in Northern British Columbia, Canada. We listened to a lot of Pantera and Slayer.) But as much as I liked Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, when I discovered BoC in 2000 all I remember thinking was, "HOLY CRAP WHY DIDN'T ANYONE SHOW ME THIS EARLIER?!" The first BoC song I heard was "Everything You Do is A Balloon".

When Geogaddi came out I was truly in love and BoC got a permanent spot into my top five favourite bands. Over the years many other "favourites" have come and gone, but only BoC really stands up to 12 years of repeated listens. They have slowly become my favourite band. I kind of want to get a BoC tattoo - a small turquoise hexagon behind my ear - since I have a few others and it's probably a less stupid, and more meaningful tattoo that most girls get.

I'm also a big BoC evangelist, and I like telling other people to listen to BoC, usually in silly ways.

Also to the point of Distant Nebulus: Going for a long walk while extremely high and listening to BoC is one of the finest things in the world. This sounds dumb, but when I'm stoned, I find my perception of the music slows down and lets me pay more attention to how BoC put their music together. The attention to detail is overwhelming and frightening and incredible.

[Beacon]

BoC has had a profound impact on my life, but I wouldn't talk about it with non-BoC fans. A composer once told me "if someone doesn't 'get' a piece of art, there is absolutely nothing you can say to make them 'get' it". I think that's true, so I don't bother trying to explain to most people what BoC has done for me. I don't think I totally understood why I liked BoC so much until recently.

I used to really like video games and other imaginative things. And I still do. But BoC somehow showed me that real-life was as magical and spiritual as any fictitious world. Walking around golf courses and through the woods while listening to BoC became one of my favourite activities, and still is. Something about BoC just resonates with the natural world and helps me to re-discover the mystery and wonder that every little thing on earth holds.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Holy fuck I love Boards of Canada.

[emzee]

Great thread. I can relate with what everyone has been talking about, kinda crazy.

[Jonse]

Well, it started a few years back. The earliest I can recall hearing BoC (before knowing it was them) was back around 2005, where I had heard Constants are Changing as an Adult Swim bump (this one, to be exact).

Now, jump to 2007. I was a huge fan of the psychedelic electronic folk rock-esque group Black Moth Super Rainbow, and although not tremendously similar to BoC I found their music through its fanbase's shared interests. The first track I had heard knowing it was by this "Boards of Canada" duo was Nlogax. Needless to say, I really liked it. I did some research, found Hi Scores and listened to it. When I was reading about BoC I saw a couple of things about TCH and one of them mentioned that its music was used heavily in AS bumps from 2005-2007. I listened to the album and, sure enough, they were what I had heard years before. Since I really enjoyed both Hi Scores and TCH, I decided to check out more BoC. I got Music Has The Right To Children and really enjoyed that as well.

However, although I very much so liked them, they were really not among my top artists at first.

I still had, at that point, one major album to go. Geogaddi. I heard it, and BoC took a major leap, from being something I enjoy to something that I'd follow relentlessly and be inspired by when it comes to creating music. They definitely had a huge impact and I really, really, really love them. Whether I'm going cycling, or driving, or playing a game, or just laying around they have been one of the few that stops being just music and starts being an influence over how you feel and think in general, which is pretty rare.

It's nice to see everyone here support BoC to this day, even after the long absence. I'll always feel like they're under appreciated, but the fact that their music resonates with others the way it does with myself is good to know.

[706010]

I am very curious about other boc fans, since I only know a few in person, such as the extent of the music's influence on your life. My friends and family know me as being obsessed with boc and think im strange when I explain what it is I like about them. I listen to many other artists from Autechre all the way to Jethro tull, but boc's music seems to run my life. I am a graphic design student and their music influences most of my work. and a few years ago when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me, she even mentioned how I seemed to care about boards of canada more than her...(not good).. If it is raining outside, I crave to listen to Geogaddi and get irritated when I am unable to do so. I even began smoking weed with the specific goal to hear their (and autechre) music while high..although ive recently quit. I also got a boc influenced tattoo last month.

My question is, has anyone else let boc influence them to this degree?

I love the music and I am not depressed or ashamed about their influence on my life, I just think its interesting how music can do this. the few people I do know that also listen to boc seem to just enjoy them among many other artists and don't take the time to purchase and collect all of their material and memorize song titles and overall information about them like I have.

I think you might be turning into a Parhelic Triangle.

What you really have is simply just a normal fan fever. Also, Boards of Canada is also one of my favorite bands. They do the melodies right, and give the perfect feel of being in a mountain at night. I can't exactly write my feelings down for Boards of Canada because it's just too hard.

[thinkdontpray]

great thread, and i can totally relate to everyone in here. while i havent gone as far as getting a boc tattoo (theres still time though) and while i dont listen to them as much as i used to (almost every waking minute since i discovered them in 2001) boc plays a huge role in my life

i have serious anger issues coupled with the fact that im now 3 years sober from a 6 year oxycontin addiction. since becoming sober ive dealt with my anger issues by listening to boards, when i was first clean if i craved to get high i would listen to kid for today on loop. when i recently quit smoking i would listen to boc to alleviate the cravings.

theres something about boards of canada that does something to me that no other band can even come close to doing. listening to the music has brought out something new inside of me, something exciting and fresh, something or rather someone i can be proud of. boc is like the key to ourselves and as stoney talk as that sounds, you all know its true

now obviously im not saying hey guys, get hooked to cigarettes and opiates and then when you want to stop just do boc. theres been a lot of work that ive had to do but whenever i stress or worry or get angry i'll put on some boards and let it peel away the layers of negativity. maybe it has something to do with the nostalgic aspect of the tunes which reminds us of a more innocent time, who knows.

but without boards of canada i would not be the same person i am today

[GH]

I often think that a person is more likely to be obsessed by a band or artist when roughly between the ages of 12-25.

At least that's the period where my whole life revolved around certain bands (one at a time). It was great, but I think now that no matter how wonderful a band might be, there's little chance they could become my whole world.

I'm well beyond that period now, so while I may really really really like a band or an album, I no longer have the room, or desire, to be totally submerged.

I guess when making music, it's probably not the healthiest thing to be completely focused ony any one band either.

[Betacord]

They do the melodies right

True, but I'd add they do harmonies just as good, if not better!

I'm not the biggest BOC fan, but their style seems to pair with my outlook in a way that I cannot say for most other artists; it's music that's very much to my taste, simple as that. Always loved a good instrumental and they've got them in spades.

I think they've always managed a certain balance in tone and instrumentation, that works so well as a soundtrack to a range of sights and moods - a very 'real' sound for want of a much better word.

I am rarely out on the road or path in my leisure - although certain BOC works suit those scenes well without a doubt - instead I'm more likely to be inside with a cuppa and a bunch of old tapes, re-viewing bits and pieces But even then, putting on a few BOC selections aren't out of place at all... And of course, some great music for when just plain chilling out.

Maybe not quite a 'universal' sound if there is such a thing, but I reckon they might be very close indeed.

[Distant Nebulus]

I am very curious about other boc fans, since I only know a few in person, such as the extent of the music's influence on your life. My friends and family know me as being obsessed with boc and think im strange when I explain what it is I like about them. I listen to many other artists from Autechre all the way to Jethro tull, but boc's music seems to run my life. I am a graphic design student and their music influences most of my work. and a few years ago when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me, she even mentioned how I seemed to care about boards of canada more than her...(not good).. If it is raining outside, I crave to listen to Geogaddi and get irritated when I am unable to do so. I even began smoking weed with the specific goal to hear their (and autechre) music while high..although ive recently quit. I also got a boc influenced tattoo last month.

My question is, has anyone else let boc influence them to this degree?

I love the music and I am not depressed or ashamed about their influence on my life, I just think its interesting how music can do this. the few people I do know that also listen to boc seem to just enjoy them among many other artists and don't take the time to purchase and collect all of their material and memorize song titles and overall information about them like I have.

I think you might be turning into a Parhelic Triangle.

What you really have is simply just a normal fan fever. Also, Boards of Canada is also one of my favorite bands. They do the melodies right, and give the perfect feel of being in a mountain at night. I can't exactly write my feelings down for Boards of Canada because it's just too hard.

Haha, Parhelic Triangle is one of my fav Autechre songs btw, other than that I don't really know what it means. ur correct though, It is simple fan fever, but boc seems to give its fans a very serious case of it.