____twoism

1. What is this?! Ha ha ha. I understood Tomorrow’s Harvest immediately. This one I don’t understand at all. I can’t really get what they are getting at yet. Religion religion something??? Well, what I mean was I thought the religion theme would evolve through the album, but it’s more like it just keeps resurfacing in different forms rather than going anywhere. Well, i guess we have the heartbeat at the end and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum esque loading sound.

2. Prophecy really stands out as an absolute in your face banger. I kept waiting for more to come in that style, but it almost immediately shifts to a more mellower kind of thing overall. Until 5 minutes before the end. It’s just a first listen, but, for me, nothing really lived up to that “helllll yeah!!!!” energy we got from the 30 second title announcement video with the candles and the alter followed up by the banging drums and guitar and devil voice on Prophecy. I was expecting a grab you by the collar and shake you around record. A bit disappointing but I’m sure I’ll get over it.

3. I never in a million years expected to hear Hare Krishna on a BOC record. What were people’s faces like at the listening parties when that came on?

4. The fact they included it makes me think this album is leaning more on their “taking the piss” side than serious side. Which makes me think it should have been the first “Hell Interface” album. I wonder if it was supposed to be, and WARP said no, so in retaliation they slapped on the huge yellow BOC text on the front.

5. Or was it supposed to be the first Mike solo album?

23. I expect I’m going to find many of the vocal tracks annoying on repeated listen. Unfortunately I’m already a bit annoyed by the marvellous one and i’ve only heard it once.

9. I felt there were quite a lot of repeated patterns on this one, and less songs that evolve (ie. where they start is nothing like where they end). I don’t know if that is just my faulty first impression, but I remember listening to a few tracks expecting them to evolve but instead the same loops kept playing. Maybe the noise under everything is evolving more.

7. I don’t hate it, but I hope a. They release an unexpected follow up soon or b. They hadn’t released it and TH was the last we ever heard of them. I wish that hadn’t been the case.

8. So did they have a falling out while making it?

34. Is the whole thing just an evil trick to see if we get a wave of crappy amateur rip off merchants making lazy imitations sampling religious sermons for the next few years? Is it a ploy to get Radiohead to slap on some hare rama samples on their next album? Are they waiting to see if people will copy them as always while they laugh and have some beers at how they took the bait, or did they layer in all the over the top religious samples in the hope of breaking the copycats? That’s why I come back to thinking this was some good old Hell Interface/Old Tunes piss taking.

1. Again, I just don’t understand this record yet!!

I will post some “second” thoughts after listening to it for a week.

11. I take it all back. We are listening to people burning in the Inferno. We begin with the Wow signal hinting a much larger, complex universe than our tiny minded religious fiction that stops us from evolving. We hear all kinds of religous nutcases burning in the Inferno. We end with a human heartbeat (and a ZX loading sound!!!)… reality. Physical reality of what we are, feee from the mumbo jumbo. It ends suddenly and we have a few seconds of silence.

I'm with you on point 7. Prophecy is the standout on this album for me but aside from that and the last 2 tracks the rest were a bit of a let down tbh, not the biggest fan of dark ambient. I really hope there is a ying to this yang and a more optimistic tape/album/EP is in the works.

If this is indeed a Mike solo project then I'm out. The melancholy melodies & uplifting ethereal pieces are what kept me coming back. I do enjoy the odd sinister beat & eerie tune but there needs to be a balance imo.

Well then......

That was good, wasn't it? First impressions:

1 - Was struck by how much more "alive" it sounds than TH. I didn't (and still don't really) get on with TH at all - it sounds too cold. While a lot of their music has been dark or sinister (Hi Geogaddi!), there has always been a warmth there too - which I never got from TH at all. But Inferno has it back in spades - the "real" instruments are to the fore (I don't like the concept of "real music with real instruments" as such - there's 10x more humanity in a single Kraftwerk single than plenty "real" bands' entire careers) which I think adds to it - the live percussion and what sound like handclaps in places add warmth.

2 - Wearing their influences on their sleeves. Their biggest influence of course being Scottish psychedelic pop group Boards of Canada (see 3), but there are some definite nods/ similarities to other artists - a couple of reviews mentioned Tortoise which I can see a little. Age of Capricorn immediately reminded me of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians; The Word Becomes Flesh gave me John Barry/ Portishead/ Lalo Schrifin/ almost Bond theme (there was a very distinctive guitar twang in the mix!) vibes - 60s/70s spy movie/ thriller. On guitar sounds, Somewhere Right now.. was VERY Cocteau Twins / MBV (in the same way that Diving Station from Geogaddi had that warped Loveless sound). The guitar sound in Prophecy.. and elsewhere was very John McGeoch/ Siouxsie & the Banshees. I thought a couple of tracks had a bit of a Mogwai vibe to them (although I'm sure that's to do with shared influences - as well as a lot of post punk, which they have in common, Mogwai are definitely influenced by Scottish psychedelic pop group Boards of Canada (Stuart is a big fan for sure and a couple of their albums have definite BoC nods - Rave Tapes I think especially)). Father & Son was very Odd Nosdam/ Anticon.

3 - A thought about where it sits in their discography - I think it is both different to what they've done before BUT it's probably the only BoC album that contains as much music that could sit comfortably on any of their other albums I think? I couldn't imagine anything from TH sitting on TCH, or anything from that sitting on Geogaddi..., Geogaddi has *some* crossover with MHTRTC... but not much. Whereas listening through Inferno, I could imagine lots of those tracks sitting comfortably on other BoC albums. The opening chord of Hydrogen.... *is* Aquarius isn't it?!, You Retreat.. instantly took me back to Aquarius too (see 4) and MHTRTC - almost to the point of it sounded like the more "acoustic" MHTRTC they'd alluded to?

4 - The Funk! Per my first point about it sounding "alive" - there was a real groove to a lot of it; which I loved. I think the main reminder of Aquarius in You Retreat was the lovely bass. There was one tune that reminded me a bit of the WHY? remix - again; the live instrumentation (and especially percussion). The drums throughout sounded fantastic. I think maybe that groove is what was reminding me a bit of Tortoise in places.

5 - The vocals; after reading that vocals/ vocal samples were more prominent on this one I was a bit.... doubtful. Still not entirely sold on the vocal on Prophecy, but elsewhere... they work. The Hare Krishna chanting doesn't sound cheesy or bolted on, which is the risk of using such a recognisable vocal. Father & Son sounds a bit tongue in cheek the way is is chopped up? Again very Anticon/ Odd Nosdam; it works. And I really like the vocals in Age of Capricorn - they actually sound quite sweet ("MARVELOUS!").


Overall, it's an incredible record. Will it overtake some of the others as favourites? Hard to say - I've only heard it through once so far. But I immediately want to hear it again, which I didn't for TH. I absolutely love the warmth, humanity and sense of fun(?) - After hearing Prophecy.. I was concerned it would be a very dark record; but it isn't all. I know on hearing Deep Time for the 1st time (as Tape 05) a few of us here were getting a bit emotional - I know I was; it has a feeling of "maybe things are going to be.... alright?") and that's the sense I get from the album as a whole.

It felt great getting up this morning being excited to listen to a new Boards of Canada album. In't music brilliant?!

**EDIT - holy hell; that was my 2700th post!**

Mental notes I took while listening...

My overall impression is that it's everything I wanted from a new BOC album - completely recognisable as them, but with a new (but familiar) theme, a different sound palette, still those depths to figure out. Absolutely loved it.

The overall structure of the album and the variety of tunes absolutely signature BOC - the intro, ambienty tracks at the end, vocal/beat driven tracks, melodic vignettes.

Every track went somewhere completely different to where I though it was going and what could be more BOC than that?

It fits completely into their ouevre - in terms of sound, an obvious continuation from TH in using cleaner and more conventional 'modern' sounds, but warmer, more dynamic and 'in your face', if that makes sense.

In many respects I think it's more them than TH was, as someone else said, like Geogaddi, but updated.

Favourite/outstanding tracks on first listen - Naraka/Deep Time/Arena Americanada

Weakest track - All reason departs

A_Northern_Soul wrote:Well then......

That was good, wasn't it? First impressions:

1 - Was struck by how much more "alive" it sounds than TH. I didn't (and still don't really) get on with TH at all - it sounds too cold. While a lot of their music has been dark or sinister (Hi Geogaddi!), there has always been a warmth there too - which I never got from TH at all. But Inferno has it back in spades - the "real" instruments are to the fore (I don't like the concept of "real music with real instruments" as such - there's 10x more humanity in a single Kraftwerk single than plenty "real" bands' entire careers) which I think adds to it - the live percussion and what sound like handclaps in places add warmth.

2 - Wearing their influences on their sleeves. Their biggest influence of course being Scottish psychedelic pop group Boards of Canada (see 3), but there are some definite nods/ similarities to other artists - a couple of reviews mentioned Tortoise which I can see a little. Age of Capricorn immediately reminded me of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians; The Word Becomes Flesh gave me John Barry/ Portishead/ Lalo Schrifin/ almost Bond theme (there was a very distinctive guitar twang in the mix!) vibes - 60s/70s spy movie/ thriller. On guitar sounds, Somewhere Right now.. was VERY Cocteau Twins / MBV (in the same way that Diving Station from Geogaddi had that warped Loveless sound). The guitar sound in Prophecy.. and elsewhere was very John McGeoch/ Siouxsie & the Banshees. I thought a couple of tracks had a bit of a Mogwai vibe to them (although I'm sure that's to do with shared influences - as well as a lot of post punk, which they have in common, Mogwai are definitely influenced by Scottish psychedelic pop group Boards of Canada (Stuart is a big fan for sure and a couple of their albums have definite BoC nods - Rave Tapes I think especially)). Father & Son was very Odd Nosdam/ Anticon.

3 - A thought about where it sits in their discography - I think it is both different to what they've done before BUT it's probably the only BoC album that contains as much music that could sit comfortably on any of their other albums I think? I couldn't imagine anything from TH sitting on TCH, or anything from that sitting on Geogaddi..., Geogaddi has *some* crossover with MHTRTC... but not much. Whereas listening through Inferno, I could imagine lots of those tracks sitting comfortably on other BoC albums. The opening chord of Hydrogen.... *is* Aquarius isn't it?!, You Retreat.. instantly took me back to Aquarius too (see 4) and MHTRTC - almost to the point of it sounded like the more "acoustic" MHTRTC they'd alluded to?

4 - The Funk! Per my first point about it sounding "alive" - there was a real groove to a lot of it; which I loved. I think the main reminder of Aquarius in You Retreat was the lovely bass. There was one tune that reminded me a bit of the WHY? remix - again; the live instrumentation (and especially percussion). The drums throughout sounded fantastic. I think maybe that groove is what was reminding me a bit of Tortoise in places.

5 - The vocals; after reading that vocals/ vocal samples were more prominent on this one I was a bit.... doubtful. Still not entirely sold on the vocal on Prophecy, but elsewhere... they work. The Hare Krishna chanting doesn't sound cheesy or bolted on, which is the risk of using such a recognisable vocal. Father & Son sounds a bit tongue in cheek the way is is chopped up? Again very Anticon/ Odd Nosdam; it works. And I really like the vocals in Age of Capricorn - they actually sound quite sweet ("MARVELOUS!").


Overall, it's an incredible record. Will it overtake some of the others as favourites? Hard to say - I've only heard it through once so far. But I immediately want to hear it again, which I didn't for TH. I absolutely love the warmth, humanity and sense of fun(?) - After hearing Prophecy.. I was concerned it would be a very dark record; but it isn't all. I know on hearing Deep Time for the 1st time (as Tape 05) a few of us here were getting a bit emotional - I know I was; it has a feeling of "maybe things are going to be.... alright?") and that's the sense I get from the album as a whole.

It felt great getting up this morning being excited to listen to a new Boards of Canada album. In't music brilliant?!

**EDIT - holy hell; that was my 2700th post!**

Yeah, this sums up a lot of what I was thinking!
Totally got the overlap/similar feel to their other albums.
Prophecy is definitely the weakest use of vocals on the album and a few bits nodded back to what they do so well, chopping them up with the beats, a la Telephasic Workshop.
There was so much there that felt familar, but new, like your favourite band doing what they do, but with different instruments.

Setting: at home, Sennheiser HD600, Fiio KA17 (+3db EQ bass shelf <=100hz), FLAC 44khz/24bit, daytime, coffee. Listened e2e 2x now.

So … I dont get it. Where’s the narrative? Where’s the melodies?

TH was a magical cinematic flow that made sense instantly and put me in another galaxy. MHTRTC / Geogaddi also had a through-line, and they had melodies! TCH was a bit patchy but at least had some tunes.

Inferno feels like an unfinished beat-tape. Some tracks are really great, but they still dont go anywhere (Capricorn, You Retreat), or squander an otherwise super-solid base (Hydrogen, Naraka), or they employ really interesting nonstandard tunings but still fail to create a memorable melody (Arena). Prophecy stands head and shoulders above the rest.

I dont mean to be negative, and the production value is spectacular - this thing slams - and there’s untold textural depths in the mid-range. Maybe it’s a long-term grower?

sowhereareyouliving? wrote:So … I dont get it. Where’s the narrative? Where’s the melodies?

Are we listening to the same record? I don't think they've made another album so abundant in melodies, while there is no explicit narrative as such (outside of the ascension of humanity and the digitization of the human soul), the flow of the album is masterful imo, every track just feels absolutely perfectly placed between the one before it and after (excluding the first and last track obv). If anything i have too many ear worms from this album, my head is heckin bursting!

Haha, well I hope bandcamp put the right files in the download... Then again, if there's stuff that's better than these tracks I'm all ears! Listening through again now...

Another example of not going anywhere: Father And Son. Great setup, extremely deft sampling, then it just sort of noodles around a bit and cuts out. Would be stone cold killer with e.g. Doseone over the top, but otherwise feels flat

Sowhereareyouliving? That's pretty much how I felt too, even down to the tracks that you mention. Prophecy, You Retreat in Time and Space & I Saw Through Platonia are the only tracks that will be making it into my playlist. I have listened a few times and will continue to try and absorb it more but my first thoughts are that it is a little disappointing (for me) in that it doesn't have a few more uplifting tunes.

sowhereareyouliving? wrote:I dont mean to be negative, and the production value is spectacular - this thing slams - and there’s untold textural depths in the mid-range. Maybe it’s a long-term grower?

Hmmm. Gave it another couple of runs through and for whatever reason, it makes more sense now. Definitely a grower.

Still feels like many of the tracks dont really go as far as they could - it's very restrained / missing some sparkle - and the sequencing doesnt tell much of a story (yet). But as a whole, it sets a consistent tone, really interesting instrumentation & details, and has incredible, sometimes overwhelming production. Need to sit with it longer.

My early impressions are very positive. The reports from the listening parties gave me the feeling that I needed to prepare myself for a very dark, intense and possibly difficult album. Geogaddi on steroids, basically. Instead, regardless of what the themes are or what the samples are referring to, I'm hearing a generally warm, inviting and perfectly sequenced record that can be played either at medium volume while doing stuff, or cranked up for deep listening. It's truly brilliant and I've only begun to get my head around it.

Yup, I was totally wrong - woke up with several of the tunes in my head and a new appreciation for the whole structure. This thing has real depth

sowhereareyouliving? wrote:So … I dont get it. Where’s the narrative? Where’s the melodies?

Interesting how when TH premiered on YouTube, everybody in the comments was like 'where's the drop? where's the drop?'; now it's 'where's the melodies'?

Haha, I spoke too soon - once I got my head into it (similar to SxT not-coincidentally) it's all there

Long post on the way. To do justice to my one and only full listen. To the 13 years of wondering. I am just about to start it up again, loud at home in solitude, as play #2. It's been a few days, and it's already so tiring reading so many reactions or pronouncements from people. It'll be more fun to read and engage after I get a better grip on it. The album was so strange and rich to me, yet also somehow pained, that it's made me just want a long breather - I think it might be that powerful. In short, I wasn't bowled over on first impression - because it isn't a thrill ride. But I already am wowed in retrospect, for the combination attraction+elusiveness of the material - its soft and hard edges and weirdness+sincerity.
Ok, I've written and rewritten this but time to wrap it all up and live life.
First notes on Inferno: First off, I had blockaded myself from the Prophecy single all the way up til local record store session, Thursday, 5/28. I'm glad I did.
Next: Sound was ok, volume ok but a little soft. Record shoppers were a distraction. All the visual noise of music bins surrounding me was a distraction. Happy to hear it with my partner and a full room of fans. Thank you Warp!
Soon: I found myself judging my emotional response around 1/3 into it in terms like: what mood will I have to be in to want to pull this out and re-enter this journey? In other words: I can't see myself spontaneously filling the house speakers with Inferno anytime soon just to have something to listen to, or with company, or while doing anything else. But that is not necessarily a negative judgment, more admitting that it's maybe not a message of everything being alright and groovy in the world. Also that it is foreground music.
Sidenote: I later revisited that involuntary thinking ahead and a frightening thought hit me: what if there were an album that could only be heard once, here then gone. Like food. Or life. Silly thought perhaps but not pointless. The fact I was already taken out of the present by imagining future sessions made me realize there are countless states of listening and they all impact the experience. Anxious, hyper-curious, happy fans crowded into a record store on 5/28 are one kind of listener. A solitary, focused listen, judging every track against the band's reputation or "the times" or broader fields, is a critical listen. Listening high in a personal and comfortable environment is a luxury listen. Listening with the blues would be another listen. End of digression.
Takeaways: 1. From my one-time, ecstatic in the moment, but distracted by my environment listen, I walked away utterly convinced of the brothers' control over their craft and gave them credit for something that felt even more explicit to me, although they've always programmed albums well - a long and unified "total work." Somber and serious (when not also ticklish) that worked with "new emotions" than in their past.
2. I gestured silently to my girlfriend how I wanted it in some headphones. We both moved to its momentum. Heads in the room danced.
3. I was hearing and appreciating really finely tuned layers and dynamics even if I couldn't isolate or follow many of them in the room speakers. I welcomed new elements as they showed up, such gorgeous textures.
4. I still don't have a full-scope understanding of the religion subject, after a once through... My kneejerk thought is that there is a risk/track record of damage when faith is used for self-service, a self-inflicted blindness to the effects of one's actions or inactions, an exposed hypocrisy. It could be much more meaningful and personal than all that, not sure still...
5. Comparing the songs to my expectations or desires, and my feelings to some of those being shared above, I found that the more thin or less-developed or fulfilling songs (I'm still in the preliminary fog where there are no track names) chilled me out - I jotted this down about the backing music for the m double a spelling vocal - and effectively pulled my attention closer - a later song "slow, barely still beeping but a continuous tone wavering, never ending or looping, one line." Those periods have a purpose and they work in a context. I've seen one other person refer to this as an ebb and flow that's been perfected.
6. Tonally, as for the mood and heaviness, or "darkness," I told my girlfriend it felt to me like a pretty focused reflection on mourning/loss/disappointment/grief/shock/abandonment -- is requiem the right word? Like an injured hollowness was partly the point. Sadly witnessing. A little bit numb. Hooked on poison. And why aren't the people unanimously drooling over the record? Afraid of the dark? (Ha.) But I also wrote to my sister, trying to summarize it for a non-follower, that melodies and structures were somewhat subtle, mood somewhat edgy (ok quite a bit) but with catharsis and beauty as well. I know that Retreat in Time and Space is a stunner.
7. Then last night, my partner and I finally watched the Prophecy video for the first time and I was so psyched by it - the instruments that lead into the guitars - the voice! I am wondering how much the visuals play a part. Really great, I think!
The result: It's really odd after all the waiting that I've just let this album sit like a bomb in the house for so long before I even dig in to it again, as food. Waiting for the right time. I have quite a few music tagging projects I'm eager to finish up, plus catch up listening to other recent purchases, and even some BOC videos and audio mixes stuck in my head. I've begun reading more mainstream reviews, along with so many middling or halfhearted put downs by people on the icky platforms, along with an equal number praising how it grows with increased listening. It's a very hard record to write about, so far, for me. Because it is doing some things differently, confidently, that I can't pin down. Not necessarily "challenging" but I called it "complex" when chatting to others at the end, and quite effective. It is in my house like the heaviest thing I can think of. I see it as something they somehow were able to make that is more between Mike/them and the world/eternity than it is concerned with our reception/gratitude or even the headlines. I consider it bold and don't understand people saying it's safe and more of the same. They might mean recognizable? While others say it's too modern and slick and it wouldn't catch their interest without the Boards identification. Huh? Kid A was described as a provocation and an insult, I remember well. Inferno is a work of art, check. And I own it, wow! How does it work? What's it do? Enjoy the process! Boards and we are alive!

jcnporter wrote: In many respects I think it's more them than TH was, as someone else said, like Geogaddi, but updated.

definitely disagree with you on that one. Not sure where all the current hate for TH is coming from, but imho is that its a masterpiece and is more “them” to me than this one although I do like this new record as well. I feel that TH while being less front-line melodic in simplicity, made up for it in sheer synth mathematical engineering and really told the story and vibe perfectly. I will die on that hill defending that record haha

Soul_Slip wrote:

jcnporter wrote: In many respects I think it's more them than TH was, as someone else said, like Geogaddi, but updated.

definitely disagree with you on that one. Not sure where all the current hate for TH is coming from, but imho is that its a masterpiece and is more “them” to me than this one although I do like this new record as well. I feel that TH while being less front-line melodic in simplicity, made up for it in sheer synth mathematical engineering and really told the story and vibe perfectly. I will die on that hill defending that record haha

I really love parts of TH more than others. Still a fantastic album even if it doesn't have me coming back nearly as much. I listened to it all the way through again for the first time in awhile just prior to the release of inferno. Actually got much more enjoyment out of it than I had in recent years. It's their only album I cherry pick songs to listen to and do not give a full spin start to finish as much as the others.

With my first spin of Inferno I could immediately say it jumped to the or very near the top of favorite BoC releases. Something I couldn't say about TH. Doesn't make it a bad album y any stretch. However, it is safe to say that just as easily as I can put Inferno at the top I could put TH near or at the bottom. Not hate for TH...but something has to end up at the bottom of the list. All five of BoC's LP's are strong. There really isn't an outlier that is extremely weak. Says a lot about them as artist. It's all a matter of preference.