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Boards of Canada and why you’ll never come close with a iPad.
Ok. It’s 2024 and yes with an iPad we all can come really close to making music that sounds like BOC. We have tape loopers, drum machines, reverbs and delays, lofi cassette emulation and sorts of synths.
I’ve seen numerous videos of BOC tutorials made in Ableton and they all come short of the vibe and nostalgic feel that Boards have.
I’m sure they used reel to reel tape for a lot of their process but they was even more to their sound than this.
I guess we can say the same thing about all different artists that have their own sound, but what is this obsession with BOC?
Were they magicians or just two normal guys from Scotland?
Any of you guys or gals have the chance if ever meeting them or seeing them live?
Do they even exist?
This is a great doc about them if you’re interested.
Comments
Thanks for the doc! The only person who came close to BoC was Christ, in my opinion, and not Jesus H. And he used to be in them!
I dunno what special sauce they have, I’m guessing it’s not equipment, but more some really good acid and a very developed sense of hauntology?
The one thing they have on all of us is their brains, we just can’t replicate that no matter what equipment we have
I love that documentary! Though I think I remember it dragged a bit in the second half.
As for their stuff. They did some of my favourite music ever. But frankly they also did a lot that I find pretty forgettable. The Campfire Headphase was weak. Even Geogaddi only really had a few standout tracks. Music Has the Right is the most consistent release, to my ears! I have a really crap memory for stuff from years ago, but I remember my first experience of listening to that when it came out as though it were yesterday. In fact, I probably remember it better than I do yesterday. And if I could only have one electronic album in my collection, it would have a strong claim to that place. 😂
Like every artist, I think it's just a unique combo of elements that made their good stuff so special. I'm not convinced that you couldn't get close enough on an iPad but who knows. But certainly it always sounded to me like they must have spent an awful lot of time getting those drum parts good, even more than the synths.
Hilarious, I love Campfire Headphase. Which just goes to prove that musical tastes are completely subjective.
The Campfire Headphase was their best album IMO. They got down the reprogramming of the brain perfectly in that one.
Eh, I take all the mystery with a grain of salt on this one. They used an AN1X (aka a virtual analog synth) live.
https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000040901986-5hop8d-t500x500.jpg
Haha, yeah, obviously all my statements above should be assumed to be appended with the 'imvho' protective charm 😂
Here’s a GuitarML AI profile from a Studer 812 I sampled. This one is grungy and a little erroneous, so I just have it free on my store page but I’ll just upload it here. It might help get you there cos I made sure to capture the saturation, the meter was pounding the red pretty hard so it’ll give you the tape sound
If BoC recorded an album with just an iPad it would sound like BoC.
Sometimes I think it's just as valid to sound like ourselves even when trying to emulate someone else's style/genre.
That said, I'm looking forward to watching this documentary during lunch.
I think it was the timing they came out with the record and their analog/lofi focus in '98 as one of the first outside of the Hip Hop genre doubling down on it. If they'd came out with their stuff earlier it would't have been regarded as so special.
Samplers and computers made a big jump in sound fidelity in the mid 90s and this somehow killed the vibe for many early adopters who then came out with their stuff couple of years later. So basically BOC filled in a gap in the market somehow 😅
DJ Krush - Krush ('94) and DJ Shadow - Entroducing ('96) are also great downbeat/instrumental Hip Hop albums, and both also kept their old samplers and recognized their special quality.
Yup 👍
BOC is a good example of the central role of timbre and ambiance in (post-)modern music. If you want to capture elements of their sound in your music, it's a useful and instructive exercise to attempt to replicate it. But this isn't guitar rock, where with practice you can sound exactly like Eric Clapton if you're into that. These are studio albums involving hundreds or thousands of variables.
They didn't arrive at their sound by simply recording to tape and you won't get there by slapping a tape sim on your tracks. But there's a tape vibe happening, so why not see where it'll take you?
Agreed
I do love their stuff, likewise with Amon Tobin. They’re both top notch outfits imo.
This !!!
I'm just here because of the perfect clickbait of a title. 😂
I'll see myself out, i have some stunning BoC emulations to craft on my iPhone while jogging. 😉
We are all unique, BE YOU 💯
Meh. Mood board
I know I’m being harsh. I actually quite like some of it it but a lot of stuff sounds like if I noodle pointlessly when I’ve run out of ideas.
textural weirdness being seen as complexity over really simple compositions is prob my pet irritation at the moment so caught me at a bad time. Ignore, lol
It’s hard to emulate someone falling over. Shrug
Eric Clapton is probably the most generic example of guitar music you could pick. And there’s still a lot more nuance being unappreciated in that notion because he’s a musician
Such a timely post – I was just thinking how artists like BoC and Aphex Twin seem to hold this almost mythical status among the electronica and synth community.
If we were to nominate a "holy trinity" of electronic music artists that universally capture our admiration, who would make the list?
My mind immediately goes to BoC, Aphex Twin, and perhaps Brian Eno. Whaddya think?
Edit: Yes, I'm bored waiting for Nerd Synth to come out 😂
Personally I'd listen to Astral Project all day in favor of 'Bored of Canada'
Can't mention those without adding Autechre.
Gigi Masin (Gaussian Curve) is my favorite when it comes to organic/synth ambient music.
Exactly 🤝
Wow I just saw all these posts and it’s going to be hard to reply to everyone individually.
I would love to hear what BOC could come up with on a iPad surely all the technology is there. Trust me I’m not trying to sound like them I just find them fascinating in some ways and yeah boring sometimes as well. I’m almost 100 percent sure if I played them for anyone in my family and about 50 percent of my friends they would find them a snooze fest.
I loved The Campfire Headphase. Dayvan Cowboy never gets old to me.
Tomorrow’s Harvest I couldn’t stand at first but now I really dig it.
Yes Aphex Twin is another great one but I prefer his Ambient works more than anything.
Like be BOC or not I believe they have had a huge influence on artists like Flying Lotus, Tycho and many others.
I too am bored waiting for that synth lol, as for the artists, I think time and place, and maybe artists like Bjork on the radio, making us all dig a little deeper. It wasn’t how I found Aphex, but he had a remix on a NIN ep, and BOC as soon as I heard Everything you do is a Balloon, that was it. Trinity goes to Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, and Moby
Aphex twin has done amazing music using really basic tracker programs and analog/software synths. When you look into it, he has published comments online on how he made some tracks, it’s really not about the gear/software, but the extreme attention to detail and very deliberate stylistic choices. I would bet Aphex can make some insane tracks using something like Drambo or even just Korg Gadget lol. He did make this:
I don't think there is any controversy regarding how influential they were. They've already been critically acclaimed for decades and their huge influence is well documented.
Dayvan Cowboy was the standout track of Campfire Headphase for me too btw. It's just that I found most of the rest of the album pretty forgettable. I can hardly believe it's the same brilliant band as the one that made Music. Maybe it's better when you're stoned, no clue 😂. I love it when bands try something different, it just didn't work for me with this one. Tomorrow's Harvest I preferred, but it just became one I listened to a few times and then never really thought about much after.
Luke earlier mentioned how subjective musical taste is, and that's very true. One important factor can be when you first heard a track. Hearing a band or an album at the right time, right place, makes all the difference. The order in which you are exposed to albums from a band's catalogue makes a huge difference. Music has the Right was almost a religious experience for me at the time I first heard it. Campfire just didn't remotely have that same vibe, it really seemed like a lesser work to me. Critical reception, even from places like Pitchfork, was relatively poor for that album, so I'm not the only one who regards it as a bit of a low point on their catalogue! I wonder also if Campfire maybe had a bit more appeal in indie circles due to the use of guitar.
Tomorrow's Harvest was so delayed and so anticipated, I probably expected too much. I think critics were far too generous towards it. Maybe because at least it was closer to the old BOC they loved than Campfire? I found Tomorrow's Harvest pretty dull, with a few exceptions, but even those better tracks didn't really come near the earlier stuff for me (and this from someone who will happily lie on their bed listening to a drone track for an hour). Again, all subjective, but it is also interesting to see how closely one's own tastes align with what most critics thought.
@Littlewoodg and why Boards of Canada will never come close (to me) with an iPad.
This should be mandatory to look at before you can become a member here.