BiH Bands: Boards of Canada

In 1998, Boards of Canada released Music Has the Right to Children, and it was the most original thing I had heard since I couldn't even tell you. And that is really ironic because there was nothing all that original about it. There wasn't anything there that Aphex Twin and many others hadn't touched on before. But somehow with their deeply nostalgic tones, analog synths, field recording samples, and modern beats, they evoked something personal and beautiful deep down within me (for seemingly everyone else who heard it as well). It was a brand new feeling, yet reminiscent of something almost forgotten: childhood. The album is peppered with samples of giggling children at play, and  song titles like Happy Cycling (not to mention the album's title), and even the album's images just brought me back to my childhood in the 1970's. It was like looking at an old photograph. Honestly, what does that? I suppose some books, and hearing songs that we loved when we were young. But this was new! 

The EP that followed much later, A Beautiful Place Out in the Country, furthered this. But they were never able to capture that greatness with subsequent albums, though who could possibly expect them to, or why would they have to? MHTRTC is not only the best BoC album, it is still one of the greatest albums ever made. That being said, there are only a few tracks from that album included here. That is one of those albums that really stands on its own and should be listened to start to finish to really understand it (it reminds me a bit of another of my all-time favorite albums, Unknown Pleasures; I love both of these albums but trying to pick out the 'best' songs is futile because it is the way they all fit together and form something greater than the sum the of their parts that makes them both so incredible).



But all of the BoC stuff is at least good, and at best is absolutely sublime. Here is a sampler that spans much of their lengthy career. If you even remotely enjoy this, find the time to give Music Has the Right to Children a proper listen (no distractions, just you and that music) from start to finish.



BiH Bands: Boards of Canada