GENERAL NEW RELEASE SPECULATION TOPIC PART III

[Seat of Consciousness]

I'm saying no fucking way Inferno is the last album. Maybe people just don't want to get their hopes up and are saying it's their last because of how good it is, but for me it's giving way more "WE'RE BACK!" energy. The amount of research into production they had to do for Inferno must have been staggering, and it's hard for me to imagine that they would have spent so much time updating their sound just to say "see yah." I'm with the others who are saying this is a new era. Inferno is so packed with musical ideas that they must have an EP's work of outtakes, so I am tentatively hoping for a companion release in the next year or two. Giraud's Mirror also seemed to be alluding to a sequence of releases, so maybe they will try out a new format where they put out non-album singles every once in a while.

[Fredd-E]

It marks the end of their career just as much as Tomorrow’s Harvest did.

[dana]

You have to realise that sometimes a boards of canada song can sound like the last song ever, its just the sound that gives you that vibe.

[teknologika]

Well I am really hoping and praying for a compilation of their unreleased stuff. Perhaps a box set? Yeah that would be nice

[llydia]

6 pages in and we already all think its over. This is going to be a long ride... I am a firm believer in Purgatorio. Purgatorio all the way.

[mechanismj]

6 pages in and we already all think its over. This is going to be a long ride... I am a firm believer in Purgatorio. Purgatorio all the way.

I apologize for my spreading of holiday cheer.

[Redd Panderson]

6 pages in and we already all think its over. This is going to be a long ride... I am a firm believer in Purgatorio. Purgatorio all the way.

I gotta say, after a couple more listens to Inferno I'm feeling less convinced this will be their last album. It would be pretty nuts if they did a Purgatorio and Paradiso. Who knows!

[Soul_Slip]

I feel like with this record, after finding out it loops into TH after Collapse or before it sort of as the side-quest loop of someone experiencing the collapse first hand which then loops back to after collapse as the document of what happened/happens… at least that’s how I am seeing it now. The first time they have made a sequel so to speak or larger world building, which is interesting to me. All speculation might I add..

[gestell]

Well I am really hoping and praying for a compilation of their unreleased stuff. Perhaps a box set?

We call it a BoCset around here
I really hope one day we'll get so see some of their best songs like 5.9.78, Kiteracer 2, Powerline Misfortune, Northern Plastics .. officially released.

[Redd Panderson]

I feel like with this record, after finding out it loops into TH after Collapse or before it sort of as the side-quest loop of someone experiencing the collapse first hand which then loops back to after collapse as the document of what happened/happens… at least that’s how I am seeing it now. The first time they have made a sequel so to speak or larger world building, which is interesting to me. All speculation might I add..

It's an interesting potential area of connection for a lot of reasons for sure!

I view Tomorrow's Harvest as being more the society-level view of collapse while Inferno is more the personal & cosmic level (like the relationship between these two + each on their own kind of)

[Den]

I feel like with this record, after finding out it loops into TH after Collapse or before it sort of as the side-quest loop of someone experiencing the collapse first hand which then loops back to after collapse as the document of what happened/happens… at least that’s how I am seeing it now. The first time they have made a sequel so to speak or larger world building, which is interesting to me. All speculation might I add..

It feels like certain sounds from Tomorrow’s Harvest are overflowing into Inferno. I overflow man.

[TaoTapeTao]

The amount of research into production they had to do for Inferno must have been staggering, and it's hard for me to imagine that they would have spent so much time updating their sound just to say "see yah."

What exactly do you mean by research into production? They've been doing that for decades, I wouldn't say they necessarily needed to do research, just hone their craft that was already incredible to begin with.

Perhaps it is about getting my hopes up, but we just got a new record after 13 years. Maybe I'm saying instead that I'm not holding my breath for anything new for quite some time. They just hit us with an absolute banger. I don't think there's any rush for them to put something else out soon, and the record really speaks for itself. Me personally, I'd rather give that its time to shine for a while from now instead of shift into expectations from BoC for the future

[Seat of Consciousness]

The amount of research into production they had to do for Inferno must have been staggering, and it's hard for me to imagine that they would have spent so much time updating their sound just to say "see yah."

What exactly do you mean by research into production? They've been doing that for decades, I wouldn't say they necessarily needed to do research, just hone their craft that was already incredible to begin with.

I am speculating of course, but the way they updated their sound for Inferno feels very intentional. Not to say that the prior records didn't exhibit progress in production skills, but for Inferno I can imagine that they had a distinct vision for the sound design of the record and set out to develop those specific skills. If you look at the remixes for Nevermen and Treat em Right, you can see these ideas gestating for quite a while, namely creating a multilayered sonic landscape that combines crisp high-definition production with their classic analog sound. And then you throw into the mix stuff like Inferno's juicy bass sound and the more in-depth vocal manipulation, I think it's clear that the brothers put a lot of thought into how they wanted to create a new BoC sound that was a departure from their previous techniques.

I feel it was a necessity for them to be so deliberate in sound design given how much nostalgia and sampling of old media has become prevalent in music nowadays, thanks in large part to BoC's influence. Our relationship to the past has changed in the time since TH came out, and you can hear even mainstream pop artists are engaging with nostalgia in a way that is downstream of BoC. In electronic music, vaporwave has exploded in popularity since 2013, and now every producer and their mother is mining the archives for weird old samples. Simply put, they had to do something dramatically new if they were going to release a 2020s BoC record that sounded fresh, and I can only speculate that much of that 13 years was spent figuring out what that new sound would be, both from an artistic and a technical perspective.

[TaoTapeTao]

The amount of research into production they had to do for Inferno must have been staggering, and it's hard for me to imagine that they would have spent so much time updating their sound just to say "see yah."

What exactly do you mean by research into production? They've been doing that for decades, I wouldn't say they necessarily needed to do research, just hone their craft that was already incredible to begin with.

I am speculating of course, but the way they updated their sound for Inferno feels very intentional. Not to say that the prior records didn't exhibit progress in production skills, but for Inferno I can imagine that they had a distinct vision for the sound design of the record and set out to develop those specific skills. If you look at the remixes for Nevermen and Treat em Right, you can see these ideas gestating for quite a while, namely creating a multilayered sonic landscape that combines crisp high-definition production with their classic analog sound. And then you throw into the mix stuff like Inferno's juicy bass sound and the more in-depth vocal manipulation, I think it's clear that the brothers put a lot of thought into how they wanted to create a new BoC sound that was a departure from their previous techniques.

I feel it was a necessity for them to be so deliberate in sound design given how much nostalgia and sampling of old media has become prevalent in music nowadays, thanks in large part to BoC's influence. Our relationship to the past has changed in the time since TH came out, and you can hear even mainstream pop artists are engaging with nostalgia in a way that is downstream of BoC. In electronic music, vaporwave has exploded in popularity since 2013, and now every producer and their mother is mining the archives for weird old samples. Simply put, they had to do something dramatically new if they were going to release a 2020s BoC record that sounded fresh, and I can only speculate that much of that 13 years was spent figuring out what that new sound would be, both from an artistic and a technical perspective.

Ah I hear you on that, I totally agree! Really well put

[llydia]

Maybe there will be no new album...

I am feeling this way now

[Ottomatik]

Maybe there will be no new album...

I am feeling this way now

It’s only been a month since Inferno. It’d be wiser to wait another decade or two of before coming to such conclusions.

[magrathea_ultima]

Maybe there will be no new album...

I am feeling this way now

It’s only been a month since Inferno. It’d be wiser to wait another decade or two of before coming to such conclusions.

I will be well into my smallest weird number decade then... hopefully I live to see the day of another BoC release.

[llydia]

Maybe there will be no new album...

I am feeling this way now

It’s only been a month since Inferno. It’d be wiser to wait another decade or two of before coming to such conclusions.

I will be well into my smallest weird number decade then... hopefully I live to see the day of another BoC release.

I am under the thinking its better to assume there will be no new album and then be ultimately surprised when there is one!

[The Other]

It has probably already been mentioned. So apologies. I think it is possible we could see future releases under an alias. I think the flexi disc is a hint at that a little. Not saying we wont get something else released by "BoC" proper. Maybe older catalogue stuff. Something just tells me we will get some sort of continuation of the bread crumb trail that is the flexi disc.

Inferno = the cremation of BoC as we know it to be.
The flower on the hexi disc = flowers at a funeral and also blossoming of new era
Releases of old "Boc" material = In memoriam/celebration of life. (Past inside the present)

What good is a speculation thread with out some real tin foil hat wearing speculation...

[Redd Panderson]

What good is a speculation thread with out some real tin foil hat wearing speculation...

You're doing great, lol

Honestly I've kinda suspected something similar. They have made it fairly clear they're not going to release something expected in general--they won't put something out unless they have something new to say, except maybe with the exception of the fabled BOCset (I always feel so silly saying it).

Putting something totally different out under the Hell Interface name would be sort of surprising. Or they could pull a "The Tuss" and release things secretly under a different name.

...maybe they've been doing that for a long time? Mike does own a recording business.

*Puts on tin foil hat* what if all vaporwave is secretly BOC taking the proverbial piss / trying things out and seeing what sticks / making some money on the side?

Or what if at least some of the pre-Twoism album fakes actually ARE them making some low-effort music presented as obvious fakes of albums from their own lore? That wouldn't feel out of place alongside the goofy video they ostensibly did where they edited samples over someone's video of them describing BOC music theory using a piano.

*Removes tin foil hat* okay, back to earth. Gotta make a living...