Comedy in BoC

[number-six]

Having been a fairly new listener to their unreleased material, i've become more and more interested in their sense of humour. This is really obvious in tracks like Blockbusters, Light, Clear Hair, Devil, Iraq Says and so on. I'm intrigued on how much people feel this has carried on into their released work and ways in which they may have made it more subtle. For example, I often find some of their samples to make me laugh the first time I hear them - not because they're ludicrous, stupid or "wacky" but out of being surprised. Just like comedy, led down a garden path and then hit with the unexpected. This is the exact kind of a comedy Blockbusters relies on (stupid observation perhaps) and maybe they've found a way to evolve how they inject their sense of humour into their music? As a closing point, trying to find an example from their most recent release, I believe moments of Telepath can sum this up or even the entirity of Palace Posy and its placing on the record.

I don't think comedy is something that is a major theme for BoC whatsoever, but I think it's something that's incredibly vivid on their early work. As I say, i'm interested to explore how it's carried over into their later output.

[arvy]

Yes, I think BOC have good sense of humor, like every Brit do

[Lens Larque]

First BoC lol was on "Concourse" back in 99. One of their unappreciated qualities!

[Echo the Sun]

yep. for instance, a few days ago i commented on the humour in track "magic window" on geogaddi. to me, not only are they parodying artists like john cage and the silent track in general, they are also (by bringing the album duration up to the devil's number) poking fun at the claims that they are satan-worshiping occultists, trying to brainwash people with subliminal messages

[Aerial Boundaries]

I've tried telling people this before and got few responses. They have a great, subtle and intelligent sense of humour.

It is particularly apparent in some of the vocal samples they use. "Bordering Canada", everything from Telephasic is slightly hilariously ridiculous, "I noticed that you well it's another one of these right that's correct these look like full dimensional right thaaat's correct... well it makes a lot of sense", "orange!", "YELLOW", "puuuurpaaal" (from Music is Math), "get off a me!", "oh my gad!".

[Echo the Sun]

I've tried telling people this before and got few responses. They have a great, subtle and intelligent sense of humour.

i think their humour is sometimes altogether overt

[nick47]

I LOVE MY NEW SHEARS!!!!

I laugh every fucking time I see that name. I usually yell it out in a goofy accent, scaring / angering my gf

[Jonse]

Kind of feel they have this weird, random comedic aspect that fits well with the one audio recording we have of them speaking. Two normal dudes off to a pub. Their band's gimmick is being odd and full of random stuff like the satanic thing on Geogaddi. They made this whole cult-like following out of statements like spending three weeks/months (whatever it was) on one hi-hat/snare (again, whatever it was). They had a site where they uploaded a black box to tease everyone for the longest time because they knew there were people who would check it every day (and when the time came, they changed their site completely). They've even sent one dude here with contact to them that is supposed to show up mysteriously and vanish without a trace after confirming something low-profile. The same dude who responded to me like a week ago via PM about obtaining unreleased material from BoC. Has to be the single most asked question he gets and he responded pretty quickly. He probably sits around often with his online status set to invisible, observing this forum and the members of the cult they have.

And when they find out some of them really bought that shit about the hi-hat, they probably think it's hilarious. They're just two guys who I think capitalize on the fact that we don't really know who the hell they really honestly are. By the time TCH was coming around, they could have jumped to a level of celebrity like RDJ did many years ago, but instead they backed off. They've got this whole mystique that's probably 95% bullshit lol. Like the electronic equivalent of Tool or something with less identity. They have too much fun just poking at their fans every once and a while to be as serious as their albums sound.

[Aerial Boundaries]

I disagree with that in a number of ways, which mainly boils down to: 1) They've never done anything to make me think there are anything but honest people, and 2) At least one of them suffers from depression, which is very telling for me and which I relate to too strongly to think that they are just messing us around.

Don't get me wrong, some of the stuff they have done is obviously poking fun at the cultish aspect of it all, but I think they are pretty serious people who value the ideas they put into their music, and in their own admittedly distant fashion also value the people who enjoy and feel close to their music.

I wonder Rod, not to sound like I am being unnecessarily personal or critical here, but I wonder whether you thought this before TH? As I know that was quite a disappointment to you after so many years waiting. If that is the case I totally sympathise, or if it isn't I'll just shutup

[Jonse]

What?

I don't disagree with you, all of what you said overlaps here. I don't feel they're dishonest. They just joke around in a peculiar way that I was trying to define and it isn't career wide, like all they do is mess around - not at all. They make it obvious they do joke around though. It hits home regarding depression because I've been my entire life and I know very well the sort of things depressed people find funny.

BoC puts a lot of thought into their music and it's undoubtedly an enormous part of their lives. That doesn't remove the sort of thing I'm talking about, the more obvious little quips that give a band with little human identity a lot of emotional identity. It's all good natured, there's no malice behind it. Sometimes when I express something like that over text it can come off without the appropriate amount of exaggeration and one "lol" or an emoticon won't do the trick. That's why I think VOIP is an infinitely superior way of communicating over the internet.

And yes, I did. I thought it years before the black box showed up. This is a band that won't do a video or audio interview but will allow nine million photos of themselves to be taken and published. That was one of the first indicators, I still laugh about it every time, but if it's not coming through clearly then just forget about it. Anyways, I'm really tired of talking about TH because the discussions I've had showed me that even this forum was not ready to accept honesty about our sensitive subjects yet collectively and even that one was like a wound that never healed. The fact that it stems from 100% subjectivity is what really disappoints me and not so much the album itself. There's still people who know me as the guy that "hates TH" and I've never hated it. I'd listen to it over a lot of other music. I just didn't let their legacy interfere with my perception of the record. I thought that would be okay here but it's just too soon and anything less than a 9/10 is going to lead to a "BUT WHY? that doesn't need to happen.

[drillkicker]

spending three weeks/months (whatever it was) on one hi-hat/snare (again, whatever it was)

I could believe that if it's the snare from Music Is Math. That is one amazing snare in that track.

[Jonse]

spending three weeks/months (whatever it was) on one hi-hat/snare (again, whatever it was)

I could believe that if it's the snare from Music Is Math. That is one amazing snare in that track.

Of all albums it was TCH.

And on one of those tracks they mentioned using a DAW for (arranging percussion or timing or something like that), basically the percussion all over many of those tracks (Oscar See Through Red Eye comes to mind) sounds a lot more basic compared to the awesome "let's fuck everything up and then fuck it up again" sound of Geogaddi's percussion, which is far, far less minimal.

[Aerial Boundaries]

What?

I don't disagree with you, all of what you said overlaps here. I don't feel they're dishonest. They just joke around in a peculiar way that I was trying to define and it isn't career wide, like all they do is mess around - not at all. They make it obvious they do joke around though. It hits home regarding depression because I've been my entire life and I know very well the sort of things depressed people find funny.

BoC puts a lot of thought into their music and it's undoubtedly an enormous part of their lives. That doesn't remove the sort of thing I'm talking about, the more obvious little quips that give a band with little human identity a lot of emotional identity. It's all good natured, there's no malice behind it. Sometimes when I express something like that over text it can come off without the appropriate amount of exaggeration and one "lol" or an emoticon won't do the trick. That's why I think VOIP is an infinitely superior way of communicating over the internet.

And yes, I did. I thought it years before the black box showed up. This is a band that won't do a video or audio interview but will allow nine million photos of themselves to be taken and published. That was one of the first indicators, I still laugh about it every time, but if it's not coming through clearly then just forget about it. Anyways, I'm really tired of talking about TH because the discussions I've had showed me that even this forum was not ready to accept honesty about our sensitive subjects yet collectively and even that one was like a wound that never healed. The fact that it stems from 100% subjectivity is what really disappoints me and not so much the album itself. There's still people who know me as the guy that "hates TH" and I've never hated it. I'd listen to it over a lot of other music. I just didn't let their legacy interfere with my perception of the record. I thought that would be okay here but it's just too soon and anything less than a 9/10 is going to lead to a "BUT WHY? that doesn't need to happen.

I completely misunderstood that post then, apologies. Yes you are right, I hate talking over text as well sometimes.

Anyway, I only brought up TH because I was curious in this particular context. I don't have any issue with how you may or may not feel about the album, and frankly I am tired of talking about it as well even though I thought it was a solid release. There is too much tension around it. But I reckon this is history repeating itself a little anyway, as far as I understand it TCHP garnered a similar reaction when it came out, and many people made a u-turn in how they thought about it after a number of years. BOC albums take so much time to process for me, I guess it is the same for others. I'm still not entirely sure how I really feel about TH yet.

EDIT: Just saw your latest post and as an aside, I am not at all surprised that the hihat in question was TCHP The production has a surprising amount of depth for me. Maybe less complex, but the individual samples are very thought out I think.

[Echo the Sun]

@rodheh and aerial: can you guys link me to where you read about their depression? or are you just speculating?

[Jonse]

I can't. He mentioned it, I'm assuming he read it somewhere.

Anyways yeah, TCH has beautiful production. It's wide, warm, fuzzy and what makes those more minimal percussion bits work for me is the way they're juxtaposed against the beautiful ensemble of sounds going on in the background. Almost sounds detached from itself, where the ambience is EQd to the point where it sounds like real ambience you're hearing from beyond your headphones.

[jcnporter]

Being very serious about your views and work but not to take yourself seriously at all, I think is a fundamental part of (in particular) the northern British character- I've always seen most of BOC's work as investigating and exploring serious and interesting subjects, but incorporating a bit of a pisstake as well. With them being Scottish, I'd be surprised if it didn't.
I think most of their aesthetic - album and song titles, album covers, music itself - all have at least a small element of tongue in cheek about them.

[Echo the Sun]

It hits home regarding depression because I've been my entire life and I know very well the sort of things depressed people find funny.

I don't get what you mean by that. I've read a lot of sweeping generalizations and baseless groupings on this board. People can't be boxed up in Jungian personality profiles and grouped together in broad generalities with any accuracy; they are much too complex. I know some of you were really excited about the result of your 16 personalities quizzes, but I hope you know that it's pretty much a sham. The personality quiz results are meant to be broad and appealing enough so that most people accept the personality they are labelled and, if applicable to the respective business model, buy the extended information. Please note that I wrote most; there are a lot of people, including myself, that get mislabeled. It's natural for people to want to feel accepted and understood, and things like personality quizzes cater to and exploit this deep-seated human desire. It's so easy to label people, or assume that people who share a given trait with you, also share other traits with you, too, but such practices often oversimplify things to the point of absurdity. Something that's always irked me is political affiliation. Many people who identify with a particular political party adopt that party's stances on everything without really thinking if they agree with them or not. Labeling can be fun, but should very rarely be taken seriously.

[jcnporter]

It hits home regarding depression because I've been my entire life and I know very well the sort of things depressed people find funny.

I don't get what you mean by that. I've read a lot of sweeping generalizations and baseless groupings on this board. People can't be boxed up in Jungian personality profiles and grouped together in broad generalities with any accuracy; they are much too complex. I know some of you were really excited about the result of your 16 personalities quizzes, but I hope you know that it's pretty much a sham. The personality quiz results are meant to be broad and appealing enough so that most people accept the personality they are labelled and, if applicable to the respective business model, buy the extended information. Please note that I wrote most; there are a lot of people, including myself, that get mislabeled. It's natural for people to want to feel accepted and understood, and things like personality quizzes cater to and exploit this deep-seated human desire. It's so easy to label people, or assume that people who share a given trait with you, also share other traits with you, too, but such practices often oversimplify things to the point of absurdity. Something that's always irked me is political affiliation. Many people who identify with a particular political party adopt that party's stances on everything without really thinking if they agree with them or not. Labeling can be fun, but should very rarely be taken seriously.

Of course you're right, but generalities are inevitable when taking about any subject, sometimes they have a foundation in truth, sometimes not. The same can be said of personal experiences and anecdotes at the other extreme. Otherwise any debate ends up with endless caveats.

[Aerial Boundaries]

Being very serious about your views and work but not to take yourself seriously at all, I think is a fundamental part of (in particular) the northern British character- I've always seen most of BOC's work as investigating and exploring serious and interesting subjects, but incorporating a bit of a pisstake as well. With them being Scottish, I'd be surprised if it didn't.
I think most of their aesthetic - album and song titles, album covers, music itself - all have at least a small element of tongue in cheek about them.

For sure

@rodheh and aerial: can you guys link me to where you read about their depression? or are you just speculating?

"Mike: Now I find that a lot of the depression about losing my childhood has gone by the wayside because I'm able to go back there with my little daughter." - http://bocpages.org/wiki/Peering_Out_fr ... he_Curtain

"Mike: I have a long history of depressions, when im depressed I always seek for consolation in my childhood. That sadness, melancholy is always around In our music." - http://bocpages.org/wiki/The_Last_Secret_of_Pop (translated from Dutch)

When I read that second one, I was so happy that they'd confirmed that for me. I always had the feeling one or both suffered from it.

[drillkicker]

spending three weeks/months (whatever it was) on one hi-hat/snare (again, whatever it was)

I could believe that if it's the snare from Music Is Math. That is one amazing snare in that track.

Of all albums it was TCH.

And on one of those tracks they mentioned using a DAW for (arranging percussion or timing or something like that), basically the percussion all over many of those tracks (Oscar See Through Red Eye comes to mind) sounds a lot more basic compared to the awesome "let's fuck everything up and then fuck it up again" sound of Geogaddi's percussion, which is far, far less minimal.

It must have been the cymbal on Dayvan Cowboy, then. That's the only percussion that stands out to me on that album. It feels much more focused on synths (and obviously guitars) than on percussion.