Your controversial BoC opinions.

[steeldancer-x]

But I will say this: they figured it out and knew what they were doing by Geogaddi.

[Wildfire]

Starting to think I should retract this statement from the thread, turns out not to be particularly controversial after all! Glad I'm not alone in thinking that, anyway - Macquarie Ridge deserves way more love than it gets.

Macquarie Ridge, Poppy Seed remixes, Last Walk Around Mirror Lake remix, Whitewater - these for me were some of BOC at their peak. I love it when they get all chill and high. I also love inferno, but you can tell they take life a smidgen more seriously now.

[rubicon]

Starting to think I should retract this statement from the thread, turns out not to be particularly controversial after all! Glad I'm not alone in thinking that, anyway - Macquarie Ridge deserves way more love than it gets.

Macquarie Ridge, Poppy Seed remixes, Last Walk Around Mirror Lake remix, Whitewater - these for me were some of BOC at their peak. I love it when they get all chill and high. I also love inferno, but you can tell they take life a smidgen more seriously now.

+1 for Poppy Seed remixes, up their with their best for sure. That whole Slag Boom Van Loon remix album is pretty great actually, gonna line that up for a listen whenever I next take a break from Inferno.

Not exactly chill and high, but I'm hearing more light in Inferno the more I listen, particularly in the outro of Arena Americanada - the lightest and most spacious sounding thing they've done in ages to my ears (although The Process makes for a pretty swift 180!).

[mc10101]

Most of us would probably agree that Inferno is a superb album. But is it a superb Boards Of Canada album?
The change of credits bothers me more than it should. They could have easily kept this to themselves, but making it public invites all kinds of speculation. Is it possible Michael and Marcus don't get on like they used to? Or perhaps Marcus began working with Michael on some of these tracks before dropping out of the project for some reason??
Not only do we have 'written and produced by Mike Sandison', but for the first time there are individual 'roles' credited to each member with Mike's being a way bigger list than Marcus's.
This idea is very controversial to me, having always imagined them as a united front

[Cupz]

its probably not much deeper than setting up how they want the royalties split

[Den]

The credits also say, “Boards of Canada: Mike Sandison & Marcus Eoin.”

[Den]

The credits also say, “Boards of Canada: Mike Sandison & Marcus Eoin.”

[Wildfire]

I noticed Marcus was on the Backrooms credits as Marcus Sandison, not seen that before.

[iamthenight]

Most of us would probably agree that Inferno is a superb album. But is it a superb Boards Of Canada album?
The change of credits bothers me more than it should. They could have easily kept this to themselves, but making it public invites all kinds of speculation. Is it possible Michael and Marcus don't get on like they used to? Or perhaps Marcus began working with Michael on some of these tracks before dropping out of the project for some reason??
Not only do we have 'written and produced by Mike Sandison', but for the first time there are individual 'roles' credited to each member with Mike's being a way bigger list than Marcus's.
This idea is very controversial to me, having always imagined them as a united front

Bugs me out too… yet gives me hope for another release sooner than later

[TaoTapeTao]

Most of us would probably agree that Inferno is a superb album. But is it a superb Boards Of Canada album?
The change of credits bothers me more than it should. They could have easily kept this to themselves, but making it public invites all kinds of speculation. Is it possible Michael and Marcus don't get on like they used to? Or perhaps Marcus began working with Michael on some of these tracks before dropping out of the project for some reason??
Not only do we have 'written and produced by Mike Sandison', but for the first time there are individual 'roles' credited to each member with Mike's being a way bigger list than Marcus's.
This idea is very controversial to me, having always imagined them as a united front

The fact that you're saying they could have kept this to themselves reflects how it's not an actual significant factor. You're deciding to let an arbitrary interpretation dictate your perception of the record. It's Boards of Canada either way

[Redd Panderson]

Now that Inferno is out and its production sounds incredible, I think some careful, loving remasters of their other releases to bring them up to a similar level of production would be nice. Nothing majorly transformative because they're already great works as they are, but just a little breath of that something to give them a similar presence to Inferno's production quality.

I don't think it's necessary, it would just be nice to hear!

[astral deeps]

My take is that from MHTRTC to Geogaddi, almost every single sound comes from an Akai S1000 (aside from processing and certain longer sounds that may be recorded directly off of tape). Hotter take, not only do those sounds come from an S1000, but MANY of them are created solely from the built in waveforms, with the sine wave being one of their most signature sounds. By Geogaddi, I believe they used the Roland VP-9000, which I also think was prevalent on TH, and possibly the SOLE sampler used on Inferno. I say this because I am/was an owner of both - I stupidly got rid of my VP-9000 because I thought it was too ugly sounding...until I heard Inferno.

Other very hot take, some of their music has many libertarian undertones and it's very possible it isn't in jest, that it ties closely to the beliefs of the brothers.

[Wildfire]

Other very hot take, some of their music has many libertarian undertones and it's very possible it isn't in jest, that it ties closely to the beliefs of the brothers.

I think they are without a doubt libertarian - pro freedom, anti war, small government, live and let live types. I would be very surprised if they turned out to be fans of big government and censorship.

[Cupz]

Perhaps inferno wouldn't have taken 13 years to create if mike hadn't insisted on practicing and playing all the instruments of all the parts of the record himself. As impressive as that is, there is no shame in hiring session musicians who have each mastered their instrument and record them playing your music. Speeds things up considerably and one even helps out shining a light on great players. I think that little happy-go-lucky bass-riff in You Retreat In Time And Space is a good example. Sure solid, but it's no Chuck Rainey. Couldn't mike have hired a sitar player? Did he really have to keep us waiting 13 years while he (re)taught himself to play the sitar, harp and bansuri?

[WATER_CAN-_-]

Other very hot take, some of their music has many libertarian undertones and it's very possible it isn't in jest, that it ties closely to the beliefs of the brothers.

I think they are without a doubt libertarian - pro freedom, anti war, small government, live and let live types. I would be very surprised if they turned out to be fans of big government and censorship.

libertarian left maybe

Call it folk, nostalgia, pagan - it all comes down to the rustic/rural settings of your music, doesn't it? The music being dreamt up and worked out In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country, the land we inherited from our ancestors and haven't yet ruined completely. Being isolated from The City, Modern Life and the delusion of Ongoing Progress. How does that show in your music, you think?

Marcus: We're very much anti-globalization. One think that disturbs me is a trend today for technology to be created and used just for it's own sake. I recently heard a politician in the UK saying that population decline was a terrible thing and that if we don't build more houses then quality of life and the economy would suffer. It's such a naive and ignorant approach to the world. Where exactly do they stop? Once there is no land left, just industrial estates and housing? I think it's the saddest thing in the world that we have all the space and resources to give everyone a decent life, but it doesn't happen. George Bush is right in that there is an "axis of evil", but it lies at the door of big business and government. We try to support the idea of a less urbanized lifestyle in our music, but I don't want to preach to anyone.

[astral deeps]

Other very hot take, some of their music has many libertarian undertones and it's very possible it isn't in jest, that it ties closely to the beliefs of the brothers.

I think they are without a doubt libertarian - pro freedom, anti war, small government, live and let live types. I would be very surprised if they turned out to be fans of big government and censorship.

libertarian left maybe

Call it folk, nostalgia, pagan - it all comes down to the rustic/rural settings of your music, doesn't it? The music being dreamt up and worked out In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country, the land we inherited from our ancestors and haven't yet ruined completely. Being isolated from The City, Modern Life and the delusion of Ongoing Progress. How does that show in your music, you think?

Marcus: We're very much anti-globalization. One think that disturbs me is a trend today for technology to be created and used just for it's own sake. I recently heard a politician in the UK saying that population decline was a terrible thing and that if we don't build more houses then quality of life and the economy would suffer. It's such a naive and ignorant approach to the world. Where exactly do they stop? Once there is no land left, just industrial estates and housing? I think it's the saddest thing in the world that we have all the space and resources to give everyone a decent life, but it doesn't happen. George Bush is right in that there is an "axis of evil", but it lies at the door of big business and government. We try to support the idea of a less urbanized lifestyle in our music, but I don't want to preach to anyone.

Yea exactly what I get, and I said that somewhat facetiously, but gathered that feeling mostly from interviews over the years, and connecting it with the themes in their music. I also think they romanticize the desert a lot, which makes sense, as I live in Arizona and that dream that Marcus is opining is still somewhat alive here, but slowly dying. There are many reasons why data centers are built in drought affected areas, and it feels like a much darker continuation of the practice that he's protesting against. I relate to it a lot, and I also think it should be an apolitical topic.

[Negamuse]

Again, file this under "vague shit Negamuse remembers, which may or may not have happened because she was very drunk at the time" but I remember going to a bar in either London or Rotterdam that had the artwork for Music Has The Right as a giant mural. Terrifying.

Edit: oh this was in reply to the talk of the sleeve on a different page, didn't notice there were more pages

[Redd Panderson]

Again, file this under "vague shit Negamuse remembers, which may or may not have happened because she was very drunk at the time" but I remember going to a bar in either London or Rotterdam that had the artwork for Music Has The Right as a giant mural. Terrifying.

Edit: oh this was in reply to the talk of the sleeve on a different page, didn't notice there were more pages

Wow, I want to go!

[magrathea_ultima]

Today Roygbiv randomly came up on my smart home device as I was prepping dinner, and the one thing that struck me emotionally when it played after having soaked in Inferno for weeks was a sense of loss.

It did not do that with TH, but it did with Inferno.

I felt like something had crossed the line from happy daydream into longing to have it back all over again.

Weird?

[rubicon]

Today Roygbiv randomly came up on my smart home device as I was prepping dinner, and the one thing that struck me emotionally when it played after having soaked in Inferno for weeks was a sense of loss.

It did not do that with TH, but it did with Inferno.

I felt like something had crossed the line from happy daydream into longing to have it back all over again.

Weird?

Not weird, I've had this to some extent as well - absolutely love Inferno and TH, but we're in a totally different time now from when their earlier albums were made and it's hard to see any significant return to their 'lighter'/less heavy side any time soon. Not that that's a good or bad thing, just different and comes with a different emotional punch. There are still glimpses of it throughout Inferno though for sure, that's one of things that makes You Retreat In Time and Space in so poignant.