If I had to pick an artist or band in the last decade or so as my favorite, it would probably be Boards of Canada. I wouldn't necessarily call them the best in that time period, they're certainly not the most important by any definition, and if I had to pick one artist's body of work to take to the hypothetical desert island, it probably wouldn't be them, but nobody else in recent memory has made music so beautifully transcendent.
Boards of Canada are the quintessential group whose sum is greater than its parts. The parts can be described and analyzed, and influences can be heard, but the effect that is felt when the music meets the mind and soul is indescribable. The feeling of bliss brought on by the best of their music is truly otherworldly, and it simply cannot be described, which usually leads me to make pointless statements like, "If the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey was a DJ, it would play Boards of Canada."
Their new album, The Campfire Headphase, released on Tuesday, is not drastically different from their previous two (those being 2002's Geogaddi and 1998's Music Has the Right to Children). The only major difference is the addition of guitars, a sound that is jarring at first, but easy to get used to, and in the end, the guitars are only worth noting because they blend so seamlessly with the established and instantly recognizable Boards of Canada sound.
Those looking for a major artistic development in The Campfire Headphase will be disappointed. If anything, it sounds more like their landmark debut album than Geogaddi does. This may be a problem for some, but I'm perfectly ok with it. The best moments on any Boards of Canada album, The Campfire Headphase included, are so transcendent, so engulfing and soothing, that "artistic development" seems like a pointless concept, and whether or not something is "good" becomes meaningless. With a pair of headphones and the right mood, a song like "Satellite Anthem Icarus" doesn't seem like the work of artistic stagnation, it seems like the end result of all musical evolution. It seems like bliss in its purest form, timeless beauty that's impossible to dissect. And it seems impossible and pointless to try to go anywhere else with it, because it's already in the best place it'll ever be.
All of which is to say that Boards of Canada still may not be the best, most important, or most prolific group around, but they're still my favorite.
5 comments:
Sounds fascinating to me--I'm almost ready to run out and buy some albums! Before I do, however, I would appreciate your description of their music.
"Beautifully transcendent" conjures up something in my mind, but that can mean different things to different people. To me, it might be some passages from Steve Hackett's albums "Voyage of the Acolyte" or "Spectral Mornings'" to some jackass commenting on my blog, it apparently means Korn or Limp Biskit.
So while I think that we probably hear things somewhat similarly, I'd like to hear what these influences you describe are. Is this ambient/trance, symphonic rock, new age, prog, neoclassical, or none of the above?
Thanks,
d.a.
Right on, brotha.
The most troublesome thing about Boards of Canada is how someone like me (and you, apparently) feels like the music they've made over the past decade has been at the very least--transcendent, but to other people it sounds like music made from two tin cans a twig or something else similarly rudimentary. I used to comment that it sounds like the music of the Martians. That description throws people off and makes them think it's too bizarro for them to get into. But BOC is just difficult to quantify. They're bizarro and completely humanistic in the span of one song and have few contemporaries, at least as far as I've seen. To repeat my opening comment---- Well-said, man. I love the new one. Glorious. One of the few releases I've actually pre-ordered this year (That and Sufjan, but, who didn't?)
-Lauren
Write about something cool already! Like Whiskers! AAwwwww kitty cat! But not just any kitty cat, an intellegent, debonair, fine gentleman of a kitty cat.
David: I avoided describing what they actually sound like deliberately, but if I was held at gunpoint, I'd say "ambient trip hop," or "ambient electronica," or if you're at all familiar with the term, "IDM," although I really hate using that.
Lauren: I've probably used the "music from Mars" description at some point too, and I just had the differing tastes moment with them: they literally put a friend of mine to sleep.
Denise: I already wrote the sappiest post ever about my dog. I think one pet-related post will do for now.
And thanks to all for the comments and such.
Hey, thanks -- that's exactly what I was looking for. Based solely on this post (and your comments), I will be looking ot get the Boards soon. Thanks much.
-- d.a.
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