Shoegaze influences in BoC

Shortwave · Post by **Shortwave** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:01 pm

It looks to me this is a rather unexplored topic so far, but since I am a big fan of shoegaze (I mean real early 90s shoegaze, not today's crap), I noticed some similarities with BoC. Do you agree?

Like, say:

noby · Post by **noby** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:05 pm

Yep. Their idea of vignettes comes straight off of Loveless too.

Yeah That's Right · Post by **Yeah That's Right** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:19 pm

noby wrote:Yep. Their idea of vignettes comes straight off of Loveless too.

I always wondered if that was it. Honestly, I can't see much connection between the two bands' sound other than that, (other than some of Boards' really early stuff) but I did think that might be one of the ways that MBV influenced them.

On this topic my dad seems to think Chromakey Dreamcoat sounds like MBV, specifically Soon. Personally I don't see it at all, but maybe there's a subtle similarity in their music after all.

ChipSuey · Post by **ChipSuey** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:36 pm

Haven't they specifically shouted out MBV as being huge influences in both sound and production tecnhnique in interviews? I mean I can't be confusing them with ISB, whom they also hold in high regard but are definitely not shoegaze at all.

"Mike: Well, that's a great compliment. Of course we are massive fans of My Bloody Valentine. Loveless is probably one of my top five favorite albums of all time. I think that, even if we don't sound like them, there's a connection in terms of the approach to the music. The idea of making music where it's really difficult to figure out which instruments you are listening to but you just don't care. At the same time we also tried to get away from the notion that our music is entirely contained within electronic boxes. It never has been and we are not big fans of laptop music. So this time we really wanted to try and break out. We're not trying to be an IDM band and we're not trying to be a Warp band or anything."

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... of-canada/

sleepysilverdoor · Post by **sleepysilverdoor** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 6:19 pm

I don't know how deep you've gone into listening to the EXTREMELY limited early materials by them from their early days, but there's a short excerpt from a track off of play by numbers called "Wouldn't You Like To Be Free" that sounds uncannily like Boards of Canada trying to do a My Bloody Valentine track.

If that doesn't confirm the shoegaze influence, than I don't know what does. :p

Geogandhi · Post by **Geogandhi** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:13 pm

Can somebody tell me what criteria makes a band or sound shoegaze?

I hate micro genre's but seriously, fucking shoegaze?

Geogandhi · Post by **Geogandhi** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:18 pm

Just googled it.

I must have missed that one, even though I was listening to some of the bands at the time haha. I hate the twat that coined that genre though.

polar sky · Post by **polar sky** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:48 pm

Intrumental B by My Bloody Valentine. I can see BoC listening to this song during the Twoism era.

Instrumental B:

todieisfun · Post by **todieisfun** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:59 pm

polar sky wrote:Intrumental B by My Bloody Valentine. I can see BoC listening to this song during the Twoism era.

Instrumental B:

whoa! great tune... thanks for posting this

mc10101 · Post by **mc10101** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:09 pm

ChipSuey wrote:Haven't they specifically shouted out MBV as being huge influences in both sound and production tecnhnique in interviews? I mean I can't be confusing them with ISB, whom they also hold in high regard but are definitely not shoegaze at all.

"Mike: Well, that's a great compliment. Of course we are massive fans of My Bloody Valentine. Loveless is probably one of my top five favorite albums of all time. I think that, even if we don't sound like them, there's a connection in terms of the approach to the music. The idea of making music where it's really difficult to figure out which instruments you are listening to but you just don't care. At the same time we also tried to get away from the notion that our music is entirely contained within electronic boxes. It never has been and we are not big fans of laptop music. So this time we really wanted to try and break out. We're not trying to be an IDM band and we're not trying to be a Warp band or anything."

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... of-canada/

There was a lot of My Bloody Valentine influence on GEOGADDI particularly, as voiced by the boys at the time. I remember one of them saying that 'Loveless' was as close to a perfect album as you could get (or something along those lines). BOC had already developed the idea of short atmospheric interludes (a la MBV) as part of their 'perfect album' aesthetic, but one of the most striking progressions on GEO was the heavy use of saturation and distortion to create those big fuzzed-out sounds you just can't place. 'Loveless' of course, is literally built on saturation, distortion, and wavering pitch, delivering a kind of audio white-out. And let's not forget how far back in the mix all of MBV's vocal parts are, often obliterated by the sheer wall of sound.
I like 'Loveless' but I think BOC have gotten closer to the perfect album than MBV ever will.

ONTHE88 · Post by **ONTHE88** » Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:28 pm

sleepysilverdoor wrote:I don't know how deep you've gone into listening to the EXTREMELY limited early materials by them from their early days, but there's a short excerpt from a track off of play by numbers called "Wouldn't You Like To Be Free" that sounds uncannily like Boards of Canada trying to do a My Bloody Valentine track.

If that doesn't confirm the shoegaze influence, than I don't know what does. :p

I have a strong feeling (or I guess desire is more accurate) that Play by Numbers would've been the next landmark in shoegaze from Loveless. I bet it sounds like more of a successor of Loveless than "MBV" does

EDIT: Oh and Seefeel is hardly shoegaze. More of a crossover of drone/ambient and post rock

d e n · Post by **d e n** » Sat Jun 22, 2013 12:40 pm

Geogandhi wrote: I must have missed that one, even though I was listening to some of the bands at the time haha. I hate the twat that coined that genre though.

yes.

MBV isn't a shoegaze band or whatever. I think that label is unneccesary. They're just MBV.

That quote above says it all... BoC is influenced by them in several ways. They probably would have been just as successful if they recorded/performed music with more common instrumentation like MBV.

paraphrasing a quote from M. Sandison: "...were not an electronic band, were not an IDM band, were just a band."

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Sat Jun 22, 2013 2:03 pm

I was thinking of compiling a thread with all the affinity MBV and BoC share. The similarities are startling. If BoC were a guitar band, their sound would be so similar to MBV. I always think of these two bands as respective guitar based and electronic based counterparts.

sleepysilverdoor · Post by **sleepysilverdoor** » Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:00 am

Well, MBV is my favorite guitar based band and BoC is my favorite electronic band. Evidently I'm not alone, because I keep seeing Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher in people's avatars. Either that or people just want Belinda there for aesthetic reasons.

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Thu Jun 27, 2013 5:19 pm

polar sky wrote:Intrumental B by My Bloody Valentine. I can see BoC listening to this song during the Twoism era.

Instrumental B:

When I first heard this I couldn't believe how similar it was to BoC

IanRedpoint · Post by **IanRedpoint** » Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:46 pm

fujee wrote:I was thinking of compiling a thread with all the affinity MBV and BoC share. The similarities are startling. If BoC were a guitar band, their sound would be so similar to MBV. I always think of these two bands as respective guitar based and electronic based counterparts.

Which most likely explains why appreciation of BoC came so naturally to me, when I was a huge MBV fan.

So many parallels - the vignettes, the use of saturation as production, the love of flute-like sounds...

I also felt that Seefeel's Quique was the next step MBV might have taken if they hadn't gone into hibernation for 20 years.

Sun Drugs · Post by **Sun Drugs** » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:18 am

to me theres a great connection. I think a large part of it might also be the hardware they use/used.

Another one of Loveless's secrets was akai samplers, it probably doesnt get enough credit, sure Shields could play well and differently however without samplers the album wouldnt be what it is i think. The old S series are where its at. No wonder bands couldnt replicate that sound live.
Loveless is pretty much an electronic album imo (no wonder its the best rock album ever). Absolute masterpiece

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:00 am

Geogandhi wrote:Just googled it.

I must have missed that one, even though I was listening to some of the bands at the time haha. I hate the twat that coined that genre though.

I mean, genre names and splitting things up into micro categories is kind of dumb, but "shoegaze" is definitely specific sound. I guess you'd define it as being kind of "melty"? I dunno, like it sounds all melted and detuned. Boc definitely has that in their sound, the mbv connection has always been apparent to me. The way it's hard to define exactly what instrument is being played because of the way it's distorted.

Also Wouldn't You Like to be Free? is so awesome and always makes me imagine an alternate universe where boc did mostly rock based stuff.