Boards of Canada consists of two Scotsmen, Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Together they create what could only be described as the most beautiful, interesting and aesthetically-pleasing music this side of a waking dream.
Imagine My Bloody Valentine crossed with 70s nature documentaries. Imagine The Incredible String Band on synths. Imagine the soundtrack to your childhood memories, both the happy and the dark ones, hand-crafted to imperfection with flaws in the most flawless of places.
Yes, I think Boards of Canada are quite good. I hope you'll agree.
History
Boards of Canada (or BoC - not to be confused with Blue Öyster Cult) began making music for their own amusement when they were in their early teens. Originally consisting of many members, the band decreased in size to its current roster of two. During these early years they produced demo tapes for friends, and releases on their own label "Music70". The most notable of these releases is Twoism (1995), an EP so elusive that it fetched gigantic sums on eBay before its repressing in 2002. The album Boc Maxima followed, which although currently unavailable (except for illegal copies on file sharing networks) was an important album for BoC, as it attracted the attention of Skam Records, who signed them. With their newly christened studio Hexagon Sun, the pair were now making music professionally.
The band were thrust into the public conciousness in 1998 with their Warp Records debut Music Has The Right To Children (an album containing many of the same tracks as its prototype record Boc Maxima). With this release thousands of obsessive fans were born, all in love with the catchy hip-hop style beats and Sesame Street grooves. This mysterious music created a lot of chatter amongst its fan base, which began formulating theories about the band.
Are they a cult? Do they live in an underground bunker? What are these strange backwards messages and references?
The EP A Beautiful Place Out In The Country (2000) and subsequent album Geogaddi (2002) helped to enforce and extend Boc's aura of mystery. Unabashed references to Satan, "A God With Horns" and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians served as fuel for over-active imaginations. The band responded to this in interviews and posts on message boards, insisting that they only intended to make music incorporating things that they found interesting at the time, aren't part of any cult and don't intend to brainwash their listeners. As their appearance on the late John Peel's radio show proved, they are in fact a rather amiable and down-to-earth pair - they ended the show by congratulating Peel on his OBE and then going down to the pub for a drink.
October 17th, 2005 sees the release of their latest album, The Campfire Headphase. Enchanted fans await with hopeful grins, eager ears and enquiring minds.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boards_of_Canada, http://music70.com/