Album: Music Has The Right To Children
Artist: Boards Of Canada
Born: Edinburgh
Released: April 1998
Genre: Hauntology
Simon Reynolds' Retromania has a brilliant section on Boards Of Canada, quoting philosopher Jacques Derrida on the "spectral nature of the archive" and detailing the efforts of hauntologists to revive the musical sounds of the past, in much the same way that hip hop did with samples. BoC's "darkly enchanting mix of psychedelia and electronica" is full of odd ambient noises and spoken word samples and is one of the founding documents of hauntology. When I first encountered this record, it was impossible for me to place it in time (the album sleeve looks like a faded shot from the 70s) or space (the band's name suggests North American roots). In fact, BoC is composed of two brothers from Edinburgh, Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison, who were immediately hailed as the successors to Aphex Twin. They in turn would inspire a whole new wave of hauntologists, notably the Ghost Box label set up in 2003, which has released great music by the likes of The Advisory Circle. One of BoC's techniques was to use fading analogue, rather than shiny new digital, equipment like a defective tape recorder. There's something nostalgic but eerie about the music at the same time, a result that Brian Eno's ambient work also achieved. For people of a certain generation, the music is particularly evocative, given that BoC used (what Reynolds describes as) "the incidental music in 70s wildlife documentaries or the perky-yet-poignant electronic interludes between mid-morning TV for schools".
The downtempo beats and the ambient synths are not original, but it's the way these elements are mixed with samples, in order to create unique textures, that makes the record so groundbreaking. The mixing, with interludes to break the flow, owes a lot to classic rock albums, while the samples of kid's voices and nature documentaries create a sense of pastoral bliss. The Color Of The Fire is one of the tracks with a children's voice sample, but there's something ominous about it too (a sinister edge that's reflected in the way the family have their faces bleached out on the album cover). It's as if to underline that everything beautiful must decay. Roygbiv (an acronym for the colours of the rainbow) is a rare example of a track with no darkness lurking beneath the surface, its sound like a burst of sunshine on the record. The track has a propulsive feel, punctuated by synth washes, wonky drum fills and more children's voice sampling. My other favourite moments are Wildlife Analysis, An Eagle In Your Mind, Aquarius and Pete Standing Alone, but the album is programmed so perfectly that it deserves to be listened to as a whole. BoC would follow this record with the almost equally brilliant, but more sinister, Geogaddi (2002) and then disappeared from view for several years after the release of 2006 EP, Trans Canada Highway. The cryptic marketing by Warp Records that accompanied the release of 2013 album, Tomorrow's Harvest, helped to reinforce the impression of a band cloaked in mystery. The record was absolutely stunning too.
Simon Reynolds' Retromania has a brilliant section on Boards Of Canada, quoting philosopher Jacques Derrida on the "spectral nature of the archive" and detailing the efforts of hauntologists to revive the musical sounds of the past, in much the same way that hip hop did with samples. BoC's "darkly enchanting mix of psychedelia and electronica" is full of odd ambient noises and spoken word samples and is one of the founding documents of hauntology. When I first encountered this record, it was impossible for me to place it in time (the album sleeve looks like a faded shot from the 70s) or space (the band's name suggests North American roots). In fact, BoC is composed of two brothers from Edinburgh, Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison, who were immediately hailed as the successors to Aphex Twin. They in turn would inspire a whole new wave of hauntologists, notably the Ghost Box label set up in 2003, which has released great music by the likes of The Advisory Circle. One of BoC's techniques was to use fading analogue, rather than shiny new digital, equipment like a defective tape recorder. There's something nostalgic but eerie about the music at the same time, a result that Brian Eno's ambient work also achieved. For people of a certain generation, the music is particularly evocative, given that BoC used (what Reynolds describes as) "the incidental music in 70s wildlife documentaries or the perky-yet-poignant electronic interludes between mid-morning TV for schools".
The downtempo beats and the ambient synths are not original, but it's the way these elements are mixed with samples, in order to create unique textures, that makes the record so groundbreaking. The mixing, with interludes to break the flow, owes a lot to classic rock albums, while the samples of kid's voices and nature documentaries create a sense of pastoral bliss. The Color Of The Fire is one of the tracks with a children's voice sample, but there's something ominous about it too (a sinister edge that's reflected in the way the family have their faces bleached out on the album cover). It's as if to underline that everything beautiful must decay. Roygbiv (an acronym for the colours of the rainbow) is a rare example of a track with no darkness lurking beneath the surface, its sound like a burst of sunshine on the record. The track has a propulsive feel, punctuated by synth washes, wonky drum fills and more children's voice sampling. My other favourite moments are Wildlife Analysis, An Eagle In Your Mind, Aquarius and Pete Standing Alone, but the album is programmed so perfectly that it deserves to be listened to as a whole. BoC would follow this record with the almost equally brilliant, but more sinister, Geogaddi (2002) and then disappeared from view for several years after the release of 2006 EP, Trans Canada Highway. The cryptic marketing by Warp Records that accompanied the release of 2013 album, Tomorrow's Harvest, helped to reinforce the impression of a band cloaked in mystery. The record was absolutely stunning too.
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