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 boards of canada - listening post
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Here’s our review, now give us yours. Boards of Canada’s 1998 debut Music Has the Right to Children cornered an aesthetic of whacked-out fuzzy keys and lolling half-time hip-hop drums. Back then the leftfield scene was bolstered by such plodding experimentation - it was fashionable to embrace it. Now it seems just as fashionable to reject it.For certain twentysomethings, BOC represented a soothing stroll into nostalgia. Arriving at a time when technology was beginning to encroach on daily life, they offered something simultaneously modern, hip and warmly retro.  Fast forward to 2005 and detractors might point out a lack of musical progression while the world around them has caught up. Like its predecessors, The Campfire Headphase is rooted in the present, whilst still looking to the past. Warbling guitars are the only new addition here, influenced by BOC’s relationship with UK artist Bibio. And whilst their practice of degrading audio to Dictaphone degree appears more extreme this time around, the familiar BOC 'memory wash' remains constant. This album moves like a daydreamed walk through your old junior school, and while it fails to surprise it doesn’t disappoint. Have a listen yourself and post your thoughts below.
James Edwards
Boards of Canada – The Campfire Headphase, released 17 October 05 on Warp.
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comment by John
Aug 22, 2006
i was a big fan of most of the old stuff (corsair etc) and bought the lp with quite high expectations, but i think its definetly a letdown, its very predictable and stagnant at times, it does have its high points but theyre few and far between, if this is how boards have grown up, i expect the next album to come with a flatcap and walking stick..
comment by purpleNameless
Aug 21, 2006
This is a brilliant album. I don't like to pick a favourite Boards of Canada album because they're all different and amazing in their own way. The first BoC album I purchased was Geogaddi. This was my first experience of this kind of music and I was instantly fascinated. I loved it straight away. I bought The Campfire Headphase along with Music Has the Right to Children a few weeks later and I have to say that I was disappointed at first with TCH and let it gather dust for a bit. But driving around London on a rainy night listening to this is an amazing experience. It may not sound like much but this is an album that makes you think about more than the music. It's a soundtrack to your thoughts. That's the best way I can describe it. I think that when people review this album they think about it track by track. They talk about the weak ones and the strong ones, but they don't see the whole picture! Every track has been put in order for a purpose. The album acts like a friend when you're feeling lonely, and has an almost sympathetic air to it...I dunno if you know what I mean, but it feels very personal. So, stare out of a window on a rainy night and listen to this amazing album!
comment by benpaddy
Jan 20, 2006
Well i bought this album the day it was released and have listened to it nearly everyday (yes EVERYday) and i did leave a comment not long after and im still in awe. I still love most of the tracks and can still listen to them with fresh ears and still get goosey!Its fair then to say that i think i love it! I just cant wait till the next instalment BOC has to offer us. Mind you, im also feel the same way about Happy Cycling. I can still listen to this track today as if i've heard it for the first time and when it changes (about 5 mins in) its still as orgasmic as it was when i first tasted it. Dont know many other artists who have this hold over me or the ability to remain flavour of the month, every month to me..........Apart from madonna of course, shes god!
comment by dmanutp6
Dec 1, 2005
The acoustic samples may not be to everyones taste but I think they add nice atmospehre. The vocal samples seemed to be missing, lending you to feel anything without being tied to words. Electro samples are there to create a relaxing landscape almost like lucid dreaming. It has an underwater almost memory playback type sound that is amazing. I could see it as the perfect backround music for a film im writing.This is a classic Boards of Canada release. The album is touched with mystery, and deceptively tough with out of this world sound. It has mindbending melodic quality, what magical creations BoC came up with! WORD, Peacout dman P.S. I agree with everyone who would like to see sceptics top the BoC, and those who say you can't compare artist's in that genre. They are too obscure and absract.
comment by Mr_Bill_Hicks
Nov 29, 2005
I've had Campfire Headphase on constant play for around a month now. In every respect it's a perfect BOC record, atmospheric ancient-sounding instruments, twisty sad tunes etc. In fact some of the tunes on this record are quite honestly the most addictive things these guys have ever done. I had the melody for 'Peacock Tail' stuck in my head for about a fortnight. Some reviewers here have been unsure about the use of guitars on this record, but as a long-time fan of BOC, from way back ten years ago when they released 'Hi Scores' with Skam Records, I think the understated way they've used the guitars perfectly fits their palette, it's no shock at all, and in fact you're not even conscious of them anymore after the first listen. The main thing is, the gorgeous MELODIES! This is perhaps the BOC boys most insidious record to date. I've had several reports already from friends saying the same thing that I felt; that the tunes were starting to seep into day-to-day consciousness when you least expect it. I don't know how they do it, from the lead riff in 'Everything You Do Is A Balloon', through to the noodly break in the middle of 'Pete Standing Alone', and now on this album, the tense beautiful extended lead-in on 'Dayvan Cowboy' (surely this song is going to be playing in a cinema near you soon?!) through to the heart-tugging 'Tears From The Compound Eye'... It becomes clear that regardless of their chosen instruments, BOC have a knack for the most glacial, massive, tragic melodies this side of the Cocteau Twins. Recent interviews with the duo have made fascinating reading; how they see each album they make as a specific 'themed' entity with a palette all of its own; how they play all the instruments themselves, guitars and 'exotic' instruments included, and self-sample and 'destroy' them for the purpose of a weathered and worn sound; and yet the core beauty of their melodies still remains an unexplained mystery. BOC have more or less created their own category, neither sitting firmly in the 'electronica' nor the 'psychedelic' bracket, but somewhere in-between. There's a small industry of clones and copyists out there now, and while the more studied imitators are capable of aping some of the band's early production styles, nobody seems able to come up with stunning tunes such as the closing bars of 'Satellite Anthem Icarus' from this album. Beautiful, sun-frazzled music for the new acid generation!
comment by Curly_Q
Nov 27, 2005
I utterly agree with the person who commented on the fake album. I couldn't wait as well and downloaded the fake one. Some tracks were so good i immediately thought it was BoC, but some other tracks were too weird and bleepy to be BoC tracks. But, at least some of them, most tracks of the fake album are from Freescha. And they rule! I was kind of dissapointed with this new album. Some tracks are good but, too sampled (like the guitar riffs in some tracks clearly "show"). I didn't expect that from BoC. All in all, i listen more to the fake album than to the real one. BoC eat your heart out
comment by ilikelove
Nov 22, 2005
I really had no idea what to expect from this album and was surprised it was so 'conventional'.. My first reaction was that it was pretty unremarkable and maybe even a bit boring, but like BOC's output in general, after a few listens, the quality started oozing out and a few of the tracks started to lodge themselves in the mind. Stand-out track for me has to be 'oscar see through redeye.
comment by kevinbonbevan
Nov 2, 2005
or try http://kevinbonbevan.com/Contents... (chp 14 re: BoC)
comment by usetheforks
Oct 28, 2005
Terrific new album guys .. can we start lending it from the Central Music Library in edinburgh..5 copies o/o re Geogaddi Mike...having lent you the Incredible String Band Songbook you should have known its spelt K E O A D D I (there) Who has started doing your publicity? they deserve a rise? Cheers Garry
comment by Conrad99
Oct 26, 2005
Cursed with a truly brilliant first album, BoC will forever run the risk of subsequent albums being a disappointment to fans. For me, this was partially true of Geodaddi, which lacked anthemic soundtracks such as 'roygbiv' and 'Aquarius'. However, after numerous listenings, Geodaddi has become a firm favourite of my electronic collection, and I suspect the same will be true of The Campfire Headphase. More accessible than its predecessor, I believe it is definitely still pushing the envelope in terms of instrumental and production experimentation, while at the same time offering up melodies that are very listenable. And of course, they still have an uncanny way of making one reminisce of carefree childhood days, which no other artist can parallel. Well done guys on a great new album! Please keep them coming!
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related info
 useful linkswww.warprecords.com bibio: pitchfork review pixelsurgeon: boc review
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see also
 boards of canadatwoism
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music has the...by twoism123 geogaddiby releaseroger twoismby doctorvee
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