NEW BOARDS OF CANADA

[RNGmaster]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO



DIGGING THIS COVER ART (seems to be a shot of LA from Alameda airbase overlaid with a freezeframe of mountains silhouetted by a nuclear blast)

After 9 days of mysterious YouTube messages/ARG shit, the album that all of BoC's fans have been waiting for since they dropped off the face of the earth after Campfire Headphase is finally here. It seems to be even darker than most of their compositions to this point. I seriously can't wait despite not being a big fan of theirs.

[blackoak]

Sounds interesting. I've never liked BoC that much, but maybe that will change. My sister loves them.

I thought the new Autechre was a little underwhelming too... hope there will be a companion EP more up my alley.

[GaijinPunch]

I was about to make this thread entitled "When April Fool's JOkes become reality".
So sick that the vinyl is already sold out... I was getting on a plane when I randomly read about it on Facebook. So glad I had a friend load up on a 2nd copy.

[jonny5]

Stoked for this!

[brokenhalo]

come on you cunts, lets have an aphex a.r.g. (pretty please warp)

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Feels weird that I heard about this from the Shmups forum, guess that shows how out of touch I am with music news. Thanks for the heads up RNG.

[RNGmaster]

I thought the new Autechre was a little underwhelming too... hope there will be a companion EP more up my alley.

I'm suprised about that. You mentioned liking Untilted and I think Exai falls into the same sort of intricate beat programming and heavy generative MAX MSP work they did back then.

If Exai has flaws, it's: 1. too unsubtle and gaudy, almost like modern EDM 2. the sound palette doesn't vary that much between songs. I get the feeling they only used a few of their synths rather than the crazy full studio setup they had for Quaristice. 3. Some of the tracks have no real progression.

As an album it probably fails but there are nuggets of genius that I don't see any other musicians approaching, like the middle section of bladelores, most of nodezsh, and YJY UX.

[szycag]

The guy who bought the "puzzle piece" record that was at Other Music in NYC is already flipping it on ebay to help pay for college debt. If this album theme is concern for the future like it seems to be from the title, that really brings it full circle.

[blackoak]

I'm suprised about that. You mentioned liking Untilted and I think Exai falls into the same sort of intricate beat programming and heavy generative MAX MSP work they did back then.

Yeah, I do love Untilted. I could probably write an essay on each autechre album as I see it, but I don't think it would be interesting to anyone but me. My favorites are Confield, Draft, and Oversteps. Exai is more like what I expected, but didn't necessarily want, after Quaristice. Its jammy and constantly bombastic, and yeah, to me it lacks a little bit of the dynamic range that Oversteps had, both in timbre and atmosphere (though some have said that album was a no-dynamic-snes-reverb-washout-lovefest, so to each his own). I was really hoping for Exai that they'd continue with the melodic developments of Oversteps I guess, but combine it with the beatwork and menacing quality of previous albums. Feel like I got the latter but not the former.

But I don't hate Exai or think its bad or anything, just a bit of a placeholder for me. I've listened to it on a variety of setups, mystical and non-mystical... who knows, maybe things will click more later.

[Vamos]

I'm suprised about that. You mentioned liking Untilted and I think Exai falls into the same sort of intricate beat programming and heavy generative MAX MSP work they did back then.

Yeah, I do love Untilted. I could probably write an essay on each autechre album as I see it, but I don't think it would be interesting to anyone but me. My favorites are Confield, Draft, and Oversteps. Exai is more like what I expected, but didn't necessarily want, after Quaristice. Its jammy and constantly bombastic, and yeah, to me it lacks a little bit of the dynamic range that Oversteps had, both in timbre and atmosphere (though some have said that album was a no-dynamic-snes-reverb-washout-lovefest, so to each his own). I was really hoping for Exai that they'd continue with the melodic developments of Oversteps I guess, but combine it with the beatwork and menacing quality of previous albums. Feel like I got the latter but not the former.

But I don't hate Exai or think its bad or anything, just a bit of a placeholder for me. I've listened to it on a variety of setups, mystical and non-mystical... who knows, maybe things will click more later.

I think we have similar tastes although id probably put draft 7.30 as my fav ever so slightly above untilted however atm its all about mark fell on every level SND/mark fell/sensate focus have you checked any of that stuff out?

[opt2not]

Yeeeaaaaah new BoC!! Been waiting a long time for a new album!
This, plus new Daft Punk coming out soon and my summer is going to have some good listenin'.

[RNGmaster]

Oversteps works really well conceptually as their 0th album, how it's sort of a return to their melodic/ambient roots, a summary of their progress, and also about them "overstepping" their earlier conceptual restraints and limitations. I do not want to listen to it through in one go, unlike my fav AE albums, though. I can't really hold much interest in the second half aside from Yuop (How do AE always manage such perfect closer tracks?) krYlon and redfall ruin the album's momentum for me.

Treale, though. Jesus, Treale is on another plane of existence.

About this BoC: I doubt that the music in this trailer is going to be representative of the album, though I hold out hope that elements will be there in the intro track, sort of like Ready Lets Go in Geogaddi. The tone that I'm getting so far, with all the references to death and even the cover art with its hints at nuclear war, is much darker than Geogaddi but also much less subtle. I think that's kind of sad since BoC do "unsettling" much better than they do "apocalyptic".

[GaijinPunch]

I think it's difficult (and unfair) to judge a track or a sampling of a BoC album. I've not been a huge fan of them for a long time (I do like their stuff, and only recently decided to grab the rather pricey vinyls) but I think with all of them (even the EPs, like High Scores) have to be viewed as a whole. Definitely the definition of "the whole is better than the sum of it's parts".

[szycag]

I'd like to hear some 120+ bpm tracks on this new one but I doubt it. Tracks like June 9th and Basefree are the ones that really grew on me. Anymore if I get the urge to listen to those kind of melodies I'll just go with the newer stuff by Lone instead. I'll still buy this new one on wax no matter what though, that cover art is very cool.

[scrilla4rella]

This is amazing news! I thought that these guys have just given up on publicly releasing music and retired to a commune deep in the Scottish wilderness. The way that they rolled out the info on the new album with the random vinyls hidden in record stores was so cool. I can't believe that they are sold out of pre orders for the vinyl already! I was *this* close to ordering it when the news broke. Looks like its too late now.
-
BoC releases must be listened to in their entirety. You really have to get into their whole world view and aesthetic to fully appreciate the production and subtleties of the mix. There's no way one track or teaser can give you an idea of the albums quality.
-
The new Autechre album is not so hot but Oversteps is a masterpiece!

[GaijinPunch]

I was able to luckily grab Music has the Right to Children on vinyl for a paltry 6800 yen the other day. It seems price for a vinyl, but they're basically $100 + shipping (often from Europe) on discogs, and even more on Ebay. They had another one for 5000 yen, but it had a scratch - not enough to affect play, but enough to make me pay an extra 1800 yen.

Now to get Geogaddi.

[scrilla4rella]

Geogaddi is a is another braindance classic, and the packaging is pretty wild as well. Though the music itself is not as accessible as Music has the Right to Children. It's more of a slow burn...
As far as I can tell the Vinyl for the new album is still available for pre-order on Bleep. I should really bite the bullet and just order it but my turntables are in cold storage back in Cali so it will end up as more of a decoration

https://bleep.com/release/43515-boards- ... escription

[scrilla4rella]

I'm suprised about that. You mentioned liking Untilted and I think Exai falls into the same sort of intricate beat programming and heavy generative MAX MSP work they did back then.

Yeah, I do love Untilted. I could probably write an essay on each autechre album as I see it, but I don't think it would be interesting to anyone but me. My favorites are Confield, Draft, and Oversteps. Exai is more like what I expected, but didn't necessarily want, after Quaristice. Its jammy and constantly bombastic, and yeah, to me it lacks a little bit of the dynamic range that Oversteps had, both in timbre and atmosphere (though some have said that album was a no-dynamic-snes-reverb-washout-lovefest, so to each his own). I was really hoping for Exai that they'd continue with the melodic developments of Oversteps I guess, but combine it with the beatwork and menacing quality of previous albums. Feel like I got the latter but not the former.

But I don't hate Exai or think its bad or anything, just a bit of a placeholder for me. I've listened to it on a variety of setups, mystical and non-mystical... who knows, maybe things will click more later.

I think we have similar tastes although id probably put draft 7.30 as my fav ever so slightly above untilted however atm its all about mark fell on every level SND/mark fell/sensate focus have you checked any of that stuff out?

Why no love for Tri-Repeatae?

[GaijinPunch]

Cheers to scrilla4rella for alerting me to the mystery event just now across from Shibuya station. At midnight, a full video from the upcoming album was played on the Glico screen. There was quite a turnout, and anyone around the area that didn't know about it stopped to watch (some in the street, in perfect Japanese style) as the video was quite enticing. All other screens stopped for the night, and it counted down for 3 minutes.

I'm sure it's on Youtube by now, but I have a 1080p version which is currently 3Gb if anyone wants to host.

[GaijinPunch]

Enjoy... my 2nd Youtube video ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi13F-ljtyE

[RNGmaster]

Thanks for this, man.

[undamned]

I was able to luckily grab Music has the Right to Children on vinyl for a paltry 6800 yen the other day. It seems price for a vinyl, but they're basically $100 + shipping (often from Europe) on discogs, and even more on Ebay. They had another one for 5000 yen, but it had a scratch - not enough to affect play, but enough to make me pay an extra 1800 yen.

Now to get Geogaddi.

Holy cow. I had no idea these were worth that much. I think i might have Geogaddi vinyl somewhere in my stuff that I haven't unpacked since I got married. I for sure have Twoism vinyl. I'm really not a record person, but as I recall, first print Twoism CD was sold out at my local store but they had the vinyl, so I just picked that up and had my roomate record it to CD for me (lol). I think Geogaddi was just really cheap somewhere so I thought "hey, cool, BoC wall art!"

Looking back even before that, I think the first time I heard BoC was in like 1997. Some friend of mine was back from college and had a pile of electronic music to share with me. BoC was in there and I thought they were pretty neat. It wasn't until probably 2003 that I finally bought something of theirs, Geogaddi. Since then I've picked up High Scores, Twoism, A Beautiful Place Out in the Country, Music Has the Rights to Children, and the Campfire Headphase, none of which has been disappointing. Definitely in my top 5 favourite artists.
-ud

[RNGmaster]

The first single is out.

[opt2not]

FUCKING YES
I. love. it.

Edit: I had to explain what kind of music BoC is to someone who hasn't heard of them. How would you describe them, if you had to throw a label around? The best I could come up with was: Aurally-rich Analogue Electronica. or Chill-out and listen music.

[RNGmaster]

Uh, "unsettling downtempo electronica" i think

[opt2not]

Unsettling, is a good one.
But there are a bunch that just makes me feel -- warmth. Like Rue the Whirl and Aquarius (ORANGE!) from Music has a Right, even Dayvan Cowboy has that sense of wonderment for me.

This single gives me that same feeling.

God I love these guys.

[szycag]

I'm not disappointed or anything but the song is about exactly what I expected from the teasers, background music. The only lead melody is an arpeggio, and it's layers of surface noise and swelly pads. Eventually some digitally crunchy drums that sit weird with the otherwise analog feel. So basically this is their Stars of the Lid album? Cool, but not what I personally wanted after that long a hiatus. Still anxious to hear the whole thing though.

Haha, one of the soundcloud comments: "I love BoC but Jean Michel Jarre still alive!"

[rancor]

Video for the single:

http://youtu.be/2jTg-q6Drt0

lol - "Feels like being force-fed tranquilizers and cake."

[GaijinPunch]

So basically this is their Stars of the Lid album?

Have you ever heard Stars of the Lid?

How would you describe them

They're pretty trans-genre. Ironically, since pretty much all of these guys have followed after BoC (and been inspired by them) if I had to describe them to anyone that was well-versed in electronic music, I'd probably say they're the best parts of Odd Nosdam, Casino Vs. Japan, and Tycho (amongst some others). The former being the most important, as BoC's beats are far funkier than most electronic musicians... for better or for worse.

[scrilla4rella]

I stupidly didn't make it to Shibuya for the unveil but I did check it on youtube. The new single sounds very Geogaddi-like. The imagery also has a cool dry dessert sort of aesthetic. Instead of being in a lush Scottish forrest, now we're in a New Mexico dessert.