Boards Of Canada - Albums Collection 1998-2013 (5CD) [Combined Repost + New]

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Boards Of Canada - Albums Collection 1998-2013 (5CD) [Combined Repost + New]

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Collection includes: Music Has The Right To Children (1998); Geogaddi (2002); The Campfire Headphase (2005); Tomorrow's Harvest (2013) EU & Japanese Press.

Boards of Canada are the duo of Michael Sandison (born June 1, 1970) and Marcus Eoin (born July 21, 1971). Based on the northern coast of Scotland, the group got its start on acclaimed experimental electronica label Skam in 1996 after recording an obscene number of tracks and pressing the best of them up as a miniscule-run 12", Twoism, an eight-track promo EP the group sent to labels in lieu of a demonstration tape. The pair's first official release appeared on Skam toward the middle of 1996, and was quickly hailed as among the label's finest releases to date. Titled Hi Scores, the EP is an engaging mix of simple, infectious three-part synth melodies, subtle hip-hop and electro references, and alternately tense and relaxing beatwork endlessly repeated in shifting combinations (à la Autechre, Bochum Welt, and Cylob). Almost a mini-LP at six tracks and nearly half an hour in length, the debut was followed in late 1996 by a series of live gigs opening for Plaid and Autechre, as well as compilation tracks for Uvm and Skam/Musik Aus Strom side project label Mask (under the name Hellinterface).

Further releases for Skam, Mask, and 4th World in-house label Ampoule were scheduled, and in 1998 Boards of Canada issued Music Has the Right to Children, a landmark for electronic listening music that was widely copied. Nearly four years later (and after the release of only a single four-track EP and the archival Peel Sessions), the duo returned with its second LP, Geogaddi. Another long wait followed, until in October 2005 Boards of Canada released The Campfire Headphase, which introduced subtle changes into the pair's sound. A six-track EP, Trans Canada Highway, appeared in May 2006. After seven years of silence, the duo announced new music was on the horizon in typically cryptic fashion: a mysterious album released on Record Store Day 2013 was one of several clues that Boards of Canada's fourth album, the darker, more streamlined Tomorrow's Harvest, would arrive that June.

Biography by Sean Cooper, Allmusic.com

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Although Boards of Canada's blueprint for electronic listening music – aching electro-synth with mid-tempo hip-hop beats and occasional light scratching – isn't quite a revolution in and of itself, Music Has the Right to Children is an amazing LP. Similar to the early work of Autechre and Aphex Twin, the duo is one of the few European artists who can match their American precursors with regard to a sense of spirit in otherwise electronic music. This is pure machine soul, reminiscent of some forgotten Japanese animation soundtrack or a rusting Commodore 64 just about to give up the ghost. Alternating broadly sketched works with minute-long vignettes (the latter of which comprise several of the best tracks on the album), Music Has the Right to Children is one of the best electronic releases of 1998.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Geogaddi, the most anticipated sophomore full-length from an IDM act since Aphex Twin's SAW 2 in 1994, certainly looks and feels similar to the 1998 Boards of Canada debut, Music Has the Right to Children. The package design includes artful, bleached-out photos of children playing, while the lengthy track listing balances short vignettes with longer tracks. Fans will be delighted to hear that the music also reveals no great departure from one of the most immediately recognizable sounds in electronica; a pair of Scottish cottage producers apparently whiling away the hours creating music, Boards of Canada specialize in evocative, mournful, sample-laden downtempo music often sounding as though produced on malfunctioning equipment excavated from the ruins of an early-'70s computer lab. Geogaddi has a bit less in the way of melodics (the prime factor why Music Has the Right to Children was an immediate classic) and, as a result, sounds slightly less like trip-hop for fairy tales and more like the slightly experimental, but definitely produced, electronic music it is. Still, Boards of Canada surely haven't lost their touch for creating spectral machine music: "1969" is particularly lovely, with starburst synthesizer lines and disembodied vocoders trilling the chorus (the samples apparently originate from a David Koresh follower). For "Sunshine Recorder," a very fitting vocal sample – lifted from a documentary concerning a species of dandelion found by sub-aquatic robots on the ocean floor (and yes, that is Leslie Nielsen narrating) – prefaces the melancholy synth, vocal cut-ups, and glacier-speed basslines. It's clear Boards of Canada labored long to create Geogaddi, since only a tremendous amount of work can produce music that flows so naturally and unobtrusively that it never sounds produced.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Just their third missive in the past seven years, The Campfire Headphase displays Boards of Canada changing few of their methods but more of their sounds. The key difference between this record and its predecessors is the advent of unprocessed, recognizable guitars (a small heresy to portions of their fanbase). Although it smacks of a gimmick, and does occasionally remove the mysticism from their productions, it marks a good addition to their palette. Still in effect – and still never equaled anywhere else – is the pair's ability to make electronic music that not only evokes a much earlier period in music, but sounds as though it was last issued decades in the past as well. Intentionally aged and mistreated, the productions evoke the image of a reel-to-reel machine's 1/4" magnetic tape steadily disintegrating as it plays for the last time. The long gestation period of this material is also a hallmark of Boards of Canada, and it shows in the attention to detail. No production escapes their Hexagon Sun studio without being slaved over, and consequently The Campfire Headphase is one of the best-produced records of the year. One surprise is that, finally, a BoC track evokes another artist rather than standing alone: "Satellite Anthem Icarus," the third track, sounds like it could've emerged from the mixing desk of Nigel Godrich as he worked on Beck's Sea Change; in fact, many listeners' imaginations will be able to insert a world-weary vocal into the song and thus make the resemblance perfect. (Of course, Godrich has likely learned much from previous Boards of Canada work.) Also, while the duo have improved slightly as producers in seven years, they haven't grown as melody makers. The Campfire Headphase lacks the transcendent grace that made Music Has the Right to Children and even Geogaddi classics in their field. Working the same territory over and over again may have improved their touch, but it has assuredly stifled their innovative powers.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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With long-awaited returns by David Bowie, My Bloody Valentine, the Knife, and Daft Punk in just the first few months, 2013 was already the year of the comeback when Boards of Canada resurfaced. Despite the fact it had been seven years since their last release, the Trans Canada Highway EP, and eight since their last full-length, the uneven Campfire Headphase, upon hearing Tomorrow's Harvest, it almost feels like the duo never went away. Unlike some of the work by their returning contemporaries, the album doesn't reveal any dramatic changes; this is undeniably the work of Boards of Canada, filled with the melancholy melodies and subtly edgy rhythms they've been pursuing since the late '90s. Not that Tomorrow's Harvest sounds dated; actually, there are hints throughout it that the duo paid attention to the goings-on in electronic music during their hiatus. The uneasy mood and tight arpeggios that dominate songs like "White Cyclosa" recall Oneohtrix Point Never as much as their own catalog, while the unsettled low end that wobbles on "Split Your Infinitives" nods to dubstep (of the Burial variety, not the kind that filled stadiums). Since that style's originators made music that was nearly as understated yet evocative as their own, it makes sense that Boards of Canada would borrow from them, but most of Tomorrow's Harvest underscores that the duo still exists in its own world. If The Campfire Headphase tried to move forward as well as recapture the feel of Music Has the Right to Children – and ended up doing neither especially well – then this album could be seen as streamlined successor to Geogaddi. These songs may even offer a more balanced journey than that album did as they move from gentle unease to simmering dread and back again; "Reach for the Dead," the track the brothers chose to introduce this phase of their music, does both. Attention-getting tracks like "Jacquard Causeway," which announces itself with an analog fanfare that harks back to '70s documentaries, and the strangely stately pop of "Palace Posy," which could be a hit single if Boards of Canada were into that kind of thing, are surrounded by vignettes that loom and lurk, like "Telepath"'s eerie muttering and "Collapse"'s far-off crashes. The most notable change on Tomorrow's Harvest may be that the past it evokes feels colder and less innocent than previous reveries; this time, looking back is as much about nostalgia as it is making sure the duo hasn't conjured up something creepy behind you on "Cold Earth" or "Nothing Is Real." This chilly refinement may make the album a more intellectual pleasure than Boards of Canada's earlier albums, but it's a masterfully crafted work that feels like a natural progression for them. While this might not sound particularly exciting on paper, the consistent excellence of Tomorrow's Harvest is as comforting as a collection of quietly menacing android fever dreams like these could possibly be.

Review by Heather Phares, Allmusic.com

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