Do the 'mythical five' actually exist?

mr_udders · Post by **mr_udders** » Wed Jan 14, 2026 8:20 pm

Since there's been some recent discussion about possible leaks of Closes Vol. 1, I thought I'd make a post to get people's views on what seems to be a fairly hotly debated topic in the BoC-verse. Do the five pre-Twoism albums (Catalog 3, Acid Memories, Closes Vol. 1, Play By Numbers, and Hooper Bay) actually exist?

Curious to hear people's reasoning for their view on this, as ultimately we'll probably never know unless BoC decide to release this material at some point in the future.

WATER_CAN-_- · Post by **WATER_CAN-_-** » Wed Jan 14, 2026 10:55 pm

Does all of the material before "Twoism" really exist?

The official discography of BoC does not start with the "Hi Scores" EP on Skam, but much earlier. The list of references on Music70 includes an album even earlier than "Music has the right to children" - "Boc Maxima" (96), limited to 50 copies on CD and fewer copies on tape; most of the material was later re-recorded and recycled for their Warp debut - and a series of EPs that no one knows anything about and whose authenticity - the leaks on the Internet have always been incomplete, many tracks lifted or pilfered from behind the curtains of the duo's official website - it has never been possible to guarantee fully. Was there ever something titled "Closes volume 1", or "Hooper bay", or the so evocatively-titled "Acid Memories"?

They do exist,
maintains Sandison.
In their first incarnation they were cassette tapes, and we re-recorded some of them on CD, but the releases were very limited and they only circulated among our friends. We took great care to give them to the right people, in whose hands they would be safe; we never gave anything to people unless we knew them very well. If some of those releases have leaked on the Internet it's because we placed too much trust in someone, or because we distributed more copies than we needed to, there are twenty, thirty copies of some releases, but up to a hundred copies of others.

In all these years,
continues Eoin,
only 'BoC maxima' and the two compilations of 'old tunes' have circulated widely on the Internet. But it wouldn't surprise me if, this coming year, we started seeing the complete 'Acid memories' appear out there. In any case, the fact that our tapes remain unreleased is a miracle; when we made them, we had no idea that anyone would invent this thing called MP3.

Now, some consolation for the fans: aside from an EP for 2006, Boards of Canada's most ambitious plan for the future is to release a box set with a wide selection of material covering the period 1987 to 1995. "Maybe we will do it with Warp". Yes, please!

everythingyoudoisorange · Thu Jan 15, 2026 6:00 pm

no doubt in my mind. mdg said that from 1984-1995 roughly they have hundreds of songs each year in their archive. why wouldn't they have a few more unreleased albums?

Omikron · Post by **Omikron** » Fri Jan 16, 2026 4:04 pm

everythingyoudoisorange wrote:no doubt in my mind. mdg said that from 1984-1995 roughly they have hundreds of songs each year in their archive. why wouldn't they have a few more unreleased albums?

Agreed. The only reason we have full leaks of the old tunes tapes is because they were sent out more widely to record labels and other people for promotional purposes. The 'mythical five' are just a small collection of their private releases that we are very fortunate to even have a few snippets from.

Flory · Post by **Flory** » Sat Jan 17, 2026 3:36 am

Omikron wrote:
everythingyoudoisorange wrote:no doubt in my mind. mdg said that from 1984-1995 roughly they have hundreds of songs each year in their archive. why wouldn't they have a few more unreleased albums?
Agreed. The only reason we have full leaks of the old tunes tapes is because they were sent out more widely to record labels and other people for promotional purposes. The 'mythical five' are just a small collection of their private releases that we are very fortunate to even have a few snippets from.

Wouldn't R35TT be an exception to that rule?

derp! · Post by **derp!** » Sat Jan 17, 2026 3:17 pm

luminousdusk · Post by **luminousdusk** » Sat Jan 17, 2026 3:21 pm

Flory wrote:
Omikron wrote:
everythingyoudoisorange wrote:no doubt in my mind. mdg said that from 1984-1995 roughly they have hundreds of songs each year in their archive. why wouldn't they have a few more unreleased albums?
Agreed. The only reason we have full leaks of the old tunes tapes is because they were sent out more widely to record labels and other people for promotional purposes. The 'mythical five' are just a small collection of their private releases that we are very fortunate to even have a few snippets from.
Wouldn't R35TT be an exception to that rule?

Yeah absolutely. The only difference is R35TT was made for one person and not distributed to many

everythingyoudoisorange · Sat Jan 17, 2026 4:49 pm

luminousdusk wrote: Yeah absolutely. The only difference is R35TT was made for one person and not distributed to many

Was it though? iirc, mdg also said he has no idea where this collection of tracks came from but did not dispute its authenticity on an individual track level.

If one of the bros just made a compilation for one person, it seems he would have some more insight even if not pinning it to "it's this person specifically" vs. "no idea"

R35TT is a mystery in and of itself.

luminousdusk · Post by **luminousdusk** » Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:00 pm

its not really that much of a mystery but i wont spoil it

everythingyoudoisorange · Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:49 am

luminousdusk wrote:its not really that much of a mystery but i wont spoil it

Joyrex claimed to have a tape. But there have been credibility issues with the lad in the past on certain pieces of info.
And doesn't explain the poor quality of the rip.

Flory · Post by **Flory** » Mon Jan 19, 2026 9:08 am

everythingyoudoisorange wrote:
luminousdusk wrote:its not really that much of a mystery but i wont spoil it
Joyrex claimed to have a tape. But there have been credibility issues with the lad in the past on certain pieces of info.
And doesn't explain the poor quality of the rip.

Joyrex likely never owned the tape. He provided virtually no additional info on the tape like track names and the name of the compilation. Not even a photo of the tape or anything.

Flory · Post by **Flory** » Mon Jan 19, 2026 9:09 am

luminousdusk wrote:its not really that much of a mystery but i wont spoil it

;3

____twoism