NEW BOARDS OF CANADA

[szycag]

Yes, if you were serious. It's got a beat so that's not the best comparison, but it's moving towards that kind of ambient... cinematic is probably the best word.

[Vexorg]

I like it. Takes a bit to get going, but once it does, it sounds quite good. For some reason, the "Out in the Desert" aesthetic reminds me a bit of some of the stuff Blue Man Group has done:

Blue Man Group - Club Nowhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7dbMWNKh-w

[szycag]

It's much better backwards!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... OK3qAki-fc

[GaijinPunch]

Yes, if you were serious.

I was, even though I rarely am.

It's got a beat so that's not the best comparison

Indeed.

, but it's moving towards that kind of ambient... cinematic is probably the best word.

Hmmm.... I don't see the parallels... in the least. Also, this is a 4 minute track on a total of likely 70 minutes of music, so I think the most important thing is to reserve judgement. I can name 5 electronic acts off the top of my head that sound more like Stars of the Lid than this though.

[scrilla4rella]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Qo2EZNeU#!

this new LP keeps sounding better and better. The bpm of these tracks feel much faster then the codine drip-pace of Headphase Campfire. The melodies and tempo of this one sound closer to tracks from Music Has the Right and Geogaddi. Anticipation is increasing...

[RNGmaster]

More news.

https://www.facebook.com/events/133438326851947/



Full album transmission Monday on boardsofcanada.com, 21:00 GMT.

[Vexorg]

Listening now. There's a couple of tracks I don't like quite as much (Jacquard Causeway just sounds a bit off for some reason, probably because of the weird beat) but overall it's quite good.

(Edit: Stream is over. All in all I'd say it's quite good (already got a preorder in) but Reach for the Dead is probably still the strongest track on here. It was hard to tell which track was which in the stream, but aside from that the best ones seemed to be New Seeds and Sick Times.

[szycag]

Jacquard Causeway is my favorite track if it's the one I'm thinking of, but I'm trying not to spoil it for myself too much.

[RNGmaster]

Second half fucking owned. Much less oppressive than I expected, but still had much more substance than Campfire Headphase. Really great drum programming.

I'm not too fond of those transitions, or the shitty shpongle-esque vocal effects, but otherwise, AMAZING

[GaijinPunch]

I missed it, but all the better. Just going to wait until my vinyl arrives, get naked, and listen to it.

[rancor]

GET!!

[Randorama]

GET!!]

First impressions, please?

[GaijinPunch]

Nice...
Do I need to pay $20 for those stickers.... hm...

[szycag]

http://www.planet.mu/discography/ZIQ007

Saw a Facebook post from Planet Mu... there are still 12"s of this which has the BoC remix of Poppy Seed (one of the best tracks they've ever done) wish it included the reprise too, but that's only on the CD. It's only 5 pounds, but I'd probably end up paying $15 after shipping for it and I only really want the BoC track. Thought I'd share anyways

[GaijinPunch]

This is readily available on discogs as well -- cheaply.
Used, but still cheap. Might get it at some point, but as has been stated here, listening to a single track of theirs can be a little unsatisfying.

[Vexorg]

Got my copy (off Amazon) today, and I've had a chance to spend more time listening to it now. As before, I still think Reach for the Dead is easily the strongest track on here, and on further listening I really liked Nothing is Real, Palace Posy, Sick Times, New Seeds and Come to Dust. Still can't quite get used to the off-beat of Jacquard Causeway, although a lot of the critics seem to call it their favorite track on the album.

[opt2not]

Got my copy (off Amazon) today, and I've had a chance to spend more time listening to it now. As before, I still think Reach for the Dead is easily the strongest track on here, and on further listening I really liked Nothing is Real, Palace Posy, Sick Times, New Seeds and Come to Dust. Still can't quite get used to the off-beat of Jacquard Causeway, although a lot of the critics seem to call it their favorite track on the album.

I'm loving the off-beat Jacquard Causeway. So many instruments playing off that theme! Lots of oblong depth in that track.
I'm also loving New Seeds and Nothing is Real.
But I only listened through it twice now, but those are the tracks that stand out aside from Reach for the Dead.

[szycag]

Too much of the tunefulness I liked about BoC is missing from Tomorrow's Harvest. Almost every track feels like a B-side or unfinished and anything fun/funky is stripped out. I know this one is intentionally dark but Geogaddi had loads of tunefulness... it's intentionally boring really. Jacquard Causeway is interesting until you realize the song is going absolutely nowhere. It's like someone got really good at putting BoC sounding loops together, but forgot to add any personality or interesting left turns. Most all the songs end about exactly where they started, just built up a little more. I'm sure they'll get on more soundtracks with this stuff, to get a gloomy mood on a BBC drama or more horror movies about Super 8 films, but I feel kind of stupid having to TRY to give this album my full attention span front to back. This one really wasn't for me.

[rancor]

I think I'm with szycag. I've waited so long to give my opinion because I was hoping this album would grow on me, and it hasn't. I've always considered Twoism, MHtRtC, and Hi-Scores to be their most amazing albums, with Geogaddi somewhere at the bottom.
When the 1-2 punch of Campfire Headphase and Trans-Canada Highway were released back in '05/06, I fell in love all over again and listened to those two albums dozens and dozens of times. They (along with MBV's "Loveless") almost became my soundtracks for my early explorations of Tokyo. This new album just makes me want to go back and listen to older releases again. Reach for the Dead is an amazing track, but as was said - the rest of the album just feels incomplete, and the "sound collages" like the first track just make me angry. That shits just noise. I think this is now my least favorite release.

[RNGmaster]

I think I'm with szycag. I've waited so long to give my opinion because I was hoping this album would grow on me, and it hasn't. I've always considered Twoism, MHtRtC, and Hi-Scores to be their most amazing albums, with Geogaddi somewhere at the bottom.

Personally I think this is their most atmospheric release yet. I feel like i'm in the middle of the cold war when I listen to it, hearing helicopters and planes flying over my house, worrying about Soviet bomb plots... The imagery in the art book and the videos they've released is very evocative. The second half is damn catchy, too. I still don't like the bridge tracks or the vocal processing, but when a band drops New Seeds, Come to Dust and Semena Mertvykh in a row I can't really complain.

I've only listened through it during the livestream - I'm going to wait till my new headphones come in to reserve judgement.

[Vexorg]

I'm not a big fan of Geogaddi either, but I still like a few of the tracks here. Overall, I think I still like Campfire Headphase better though.

[szycag]

Geogaddi is wonderful, especially tracks like Alpha and Omega and You Could Feel The Sky. Everybody always talks about "Orange!" but I love the "Yellow" in Alpha and Omega more. I've played Geogaddi so many times that it will never sound like the first time... I hate that I kill the magic overplaying stuff like that.

[blackoak]

I'm very curious now, going to give it a listen this weekend and report back.

[jonny5]

I agree with some of the sentiment expressed here about some of the tracks having a very BoC sound, but not quite the depth I have grown accustomed to from their music. I think szycag sumed it up nicely:

It's like someone got really good at putting BoC sounding loops together, but forgot to add any personality or interesting left turns.

That, and they seem to recycle their synth patches quite a bit. I love their sound, but I think they use some too much. I put Com Truise in the same boat; great music, but sounds can get stale if you use the same patches on every other song.

All that being said, I quite enjoy it. I am all about cinematic music and soundtracks, so I really dig the vibe on this album. So far I think my favorites/stand-outs are Gemini and White Cyclosa. Gemini in particular has a really nice 80's horror score vibe going on, and White Cyclosa totally reminds me of the main theme from 'Surf Nazis must die'.

[604_degrees]

I enjoy this album very much. Little bit strange, yeah, but I think that this is normal for the time we are living in.
At least this strangeness is pretty same as with new Autechre's EXAI. (I mean if we are comparing these new albums to the old bands's material)

[Rupert H]

I absolutely love the Fabio Frizzi-inspired tracks (White Cyclosa and perhaps Collapse) and kind of wish they'd stuck to that vibe as a consistent concept album. But then I guess it wouldn't really be BoC.

I still love the whole thing.

[szycag]

I came back to it after some time and warmed to it a little... especially the last third or so of the album is definitely the highlight, like RNGmaster said. Felt the same way about Campfire Headphase.

Mostly bumped this to say that everything by BoC is now set to be repressed on vinyl very soon, excited!

[GaijinPunch]

Vinyl collectors should be happy to know the BoC back catologue will be re-pressed all by the end of the year.
http://warp.net/records/boards-of-canad ... -catalogue