boards of canada - the campfire headphase

i've been thinking that this seems such a strange thing to say, since dayvan cowboy comes right after and out-immensifies it to bits (after the long intro)

the ultimate indicator of pre-release hype:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Boards-of-canada-Kaleidoscope-very-Rare-Warp-Skam-Aphex_W0QQitemZ4773127933QQcategoryZ9991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...um, it's a kaleidoscope (considering the highest bid so far, it must be a magic one.)

-- venimdenim (venimdeni...), October 2nd, 2005.

Not that I'm an expert on kaleidoscopes or anything but a friend of mine has one of these and it is absolutely beautiful.

Wogan - it may be the case that it is adventuring in ways other than those you are expecting or desiring.

"Peacock Tail" is immense, idn't it?

-- Nöödle Vägue (noodle vague), Thursday, 20 October 2005 20:11 (1 year ago) Link
Yes, yes it is.

-- Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 October 2005 20:21 (1 year ago) Link

I've just listened to this on repeat for about 3 or 4 hours whilst writing poetry. I've decided it might actually be better than Dayvan Cowboy. It. Is. Astonishing. One of the truly great chord-progressions.

This record is Ok. I think the lack of using the odd vocal samples is more telling than using a few guitar samples. BOC cutting up some odd vocal samples over some of their tracks was the icing on the cake. You take those odd ball "orange" out of there and the tracks are not quite as otherworldly. I think it is also possible that Boards of Canada felt like the using the cut up vocal samples was a bit of a crutch and went at these recordings with the idea of pull it off without using them.

i fuck with this but i hope the next one is better

i fuck with this but i hope the next one is better

a weighty sentiment

Surely the Album they were trying to make all along...a mix of 70's school and collages nature programmes and test card music...

i like this album...

Early on I complained about the easy-listening (perceived as generic) qualities of TCH. Those qualities are the reason i've returned to this album again and again. Just buttery, effortless-sounding tracks that put my mind at ease.

peacock tail is still sublime

Farewell Fire, guys

peacock tail is still sublime

Yeah, I also like Dayvan Cowboy a lot.

those two songs might be my favourite pair (as a pair) of songs this decade, and the last 1:20 of chromakey dreamcoat is possibly even better; the rest is mostly very good but as ethan says it would be great if the next album kept to TCH's initial level of quality throughout

nontheless, history will look upon this record very, very kindly

OMG i just discovered literally this second that hey saturday sun is a reworking of satellite anthem icarus, inevitably i prefer the first version, that first 22 minute stretch is unfuckable with

last 1:20 of chromakey dreamcoat is pretty much the pinnacle of 00's mood music, it ought to go on for twenty minutes

this is the only BoC album that i like. head and shoulders above everything else they did, it doesnt sound like they are trying too hard.

I wouldn't say it's head & shoulders above everything else they've done (I still think ROYGBIV and Kid For Today are perhaps their pinnacles), but is has, bar those two songs, got most of my favourite BoC tunes on it.

I still don't see the appeal of this compared to pretty much everything else they'd done. It's basically just a 90s chill out album, devoid of any of the personality of the previous two LPs. It just bounces along quite boringly, there's none of the mystery of Geogaddi nor the playfulness of Music Has The Right, and yet nothing to fill that void. Why in 2005 would I have wanted to listen to some sort of mowed-over rip off of Moon Safari?

what may have put me off was the pitchfork interview of the time where BoC basically destroyed any of the mystique they'd built up around themselves over the years and said in so many words that they were only interested in making nice music. THat's a bit like Kiss saying they'll never wear facepaint again.

See, I don't think I'd invested ANYTHING AT ALL in BoC's mythology or mystery, and thus couldn't give a shit that they were brothers who wanted to make music. This album, song for song, just contains the music they've made that moves me most.

Music has the right is still my favourite by a long shot but then again I've yet to hear the Campfire... Geogaddi never grabbed me although the weird middle eastern vibe on 'alpha & omega' is awesome. Twoism was incredibly overrated especially after all the fuss that greeted its re-release.

Fair enough, you don't have to invest in all that stuff. For me it was something that set them aside from other bands making a similar noise - backwards samples of Waco prophets, references to the fibonacci sequence etc.

I admit maybe it was time to jack a lot of that stuff in before it became clichéd. But all the same it doesn't stop Dayvan Cowboy sounding like Mondeo chill out Buddha Bar nonsense to me. I really wanted the follow up to Geogaddi to continue further into the bad-trip psychedelic nightmare it hinted at.

I had this vision of BOC's trajectory whereby Music Has The Right was the fluffy playful album with an innocuous surface but a slightly uncomfortable undertone (the closing warning seemed to hint that there was something more deep seated than this ambient loveliness). In a Beautiful Place and Geogaddi follow with a more confirmed feeling of paranoia (Energy Warning, Beware The Friendly Stranger etc). I was really expecting them to come out with a hysterical dark album, as would have been a logical conclusion to the cycle, but instead it's just lazy guitars and shimmery synths. It doesn't do anything for me other than make me think of adverts for Dulux paint and Herbal Essences bubblebath.

I guess that's just me and what I expect I suppose. Note I was a HUGE fan of this band and invested a lot of time in them at the beginning of the decade and so to be given an album of "just nice tunes" is a bit of a downer for me.

xpost

i pretty much agree with ya, i've always thought TCH just lacks depth, and it's never held my interest.

That's all fair enough, Grozart, and I can see that had I been that emotionally invested in them then TCH would probably be a big disappointment to me too.

I can relate to what Grozart is saying but the last few times I played this, on late sunny afternoons, it totally fit the mood. Different records for differnt times, I guess.

i think i may need to give it one last try.

take it on its own terms, y'know?

Though I wasn't in love with it at the time, this has become the album that I turn to when I want to listen to BoC these days. MHTRTC and Geogaddi are still great, but the former sometimes sounds a little chintzy and the latter has never been served well by all those interludes.

the interludes are what make it BOC dude!

haha dog latin is making me consider bothering with this. was never a huge BoC guy but maybe if they made nicer music i'd like 'em more.

Odd this should kick off on the morning I decide to listen to the album again for the first time in months, if not years.

"Dayvan Cowboy" is Mondeo chill out bar Buddha nonsense? I shake my head at you. Sometimes, keeping it (fairly) simple is the way to go. Especially when you can get such uniquely blissful sounds out of your instruments. Sonically and structurally, this album and Moon Safari are miles apart.

louis, what do you think of their other albums just out of interest?

I really like Music Has The Right To Children although I'm rarely tempted to listen to it ahead of TCH. Geogaddi I have but I don't really ever stick it on. Maybe I should rectify this! My brother has every single BoC release, obscure or otherwise, just in case I need to hear some of the non-album stuff. TCH is just so much...meatier, so completely at one with its own blissed-out vibe. It's hard to explain but the addition of guitar-sounds probably appeals to some sort of electro-friendly rockist in me. :D

yeah i think the guitar factor puts me off as well really. don't know why, it just seems like an unnecessary gimmick to appeal to Q magazine critics. gone are the analog synths and gnomic samples, here's some lush strings and slow picked guitar.

I think Geogaddi and In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country are my favourite releases by BOC. I've always enjoyed their eviler undertones as I said. MHTRTC is great too but I may have over-listened to it. Geogaddi is claustrophobic and messy in many places but I think it's also their most detailed and interesting.

Probably, Geogaddi is the one I admire most but tbh I haven't played in years. 'Beautiful Place' is the one I never tire of.