38

Boards of Canada

Music Has The Right To Children

Apr 1998

Made with analogue synths and Grundig tape recorders

Ambient, Abstract, Electronic and Dance

Scots Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin pushed the envelope on this epic swim through uncharted electronic waters.

As Wildlife Analysis noodles into your living room for a brief stay – it’s soon joined by the huge drum sounds of An Eagle In Your Mind and a voice that feels like the narrator of a novel. A child mumbles ‘I love you’ in the short but sweet The Colour Of Fire while more sampled voices and chunky bass patterns enliven Telephasic Workshop. Part One passes with the Kraftwerk phrasing of Triangles & Rhombuses.

The musical shadows of Tangerine Dream are felt in the huge pulsating synths of Sixtyten and the sci-fi landscape of Kaini Industries. Dummy fans will find much to love in Turquoise Hexagon Sun and Violator junkies will double-take at the punchy synth riffs of Roygbiv.

Things lift dramatically on the second disc. Rue The Whirl is a wide open loop of swirling sounds that eventually settle into a hypnotic footstepper. Even better is the deep groove of Aquarius with its samples from the Hair musical. The distorted Olson is short synth mood music – jagged around the edges but pretty.

Waves lap against a shore in Pete Standing Alone as a huge bass line and crackly synth samples repeat and build. Smokes Quantity sounds like its title – a smoke-filled dorm room with a turntable running a little too slow. It finishes on an ambient high – One Very Important Thought and the beautiful Open The Light.