|
|
|
| Artist | Boards of Canada |
| Title | Music Has the Right to Children |
| Type | Album |
| Released | 20.04.1998 |
| Genre | Electronic, Ambient |
| Style | IDM, Downtempo |
| My rating | (9/10) |
|
Tracklist:
|
Credits:
|
This record was among my introductory albums when I was beginnig my journey with electronic music. I was instantly intrigued by it, and by the BOC as musical entity, although I've heard about their 2001 effort "Geogaddi" first. The vibe was what got me the most, but the music itself was a grower. It took a while for me to appreciate the record as a whole...
The album is structured very typically - there's a set of proper songs that is shuffeled with some interlude-type shorter tracks, that are usually less percussive and rhytmic, and more ambient and mellow in nature. I've always thought of this formula as very correct way of curating albums. I love albums structured this way - it makes the album flow smoothly and just works well. The record utilises it for the enforcement of it's dreamy, mysterious and psychedelic atmosphere. Though I generally prefer the more peculiar, beat-driven tracks, I do come back to these interludes very often.
Yesterday I went for a long walk in the nature and I thought revisiting this album could be a nice way to enhance this already quite relaxing experience. I reached a conclusion that this is the way of experiencing this record. Alothough full of IDM conventions, electronic synth sounds and abundance of creepy samples, the music here sounds quite organic, lively and exceptionally nostalgic. Every one of these aspects is seldom in the zone of interest when it comes to electronic music. BOC are the pioneers of this retro-esque nostalgia-filled IDM style.
It all starts with the weird mysterious melody of the opening track "Wildlife Analysis" that meanders to nowhere, gradually fading away... Really nice intro, straight away introducing the organic, natural vibe of the record. "An Eagle in Your Mind" takes this further, but adds the key quirks of IDM music - the distinctively rhytmic percussion. I love the way it blends with the samples, especially during the "...i love you!-" drop. It's so sick!
"The Color of the Fire" has to be one of the creepiest "songs" (if you can even call it that...) that I know! The children samples are the key motif of this record and of BOC music overall. They fit the atmosphere immensely, but provide a certain either anxious or nostalgic/relaxing vibe (no in-between!). I like how this ringing synth part sounds like one of this music box lullaby players that are often used to lull children to sleep.
I've read somewhere, that allegedly "Telephasic Workshop"'s jagged vocal samples were assembled from one of the brothers' phone call conversation with his girlfriend. If this is true, it's downright insane how much work is put into these songs! Almost every one of them has something significant going on. "Workshop", being more an IDM type of track here is naturally followed by "Triangles & Rhombuses" - a sequencer-based interlude track that features a classic BOC trope - mathematical/geometric titles. It show around their discography a lot, even this album has quite a lof of these refferences.
"Sixtyten" is a song that I don't really enjoy that much... It's uneasy dissonance and odd, distorted samples suit the vibe, but are not a pleasant listen. Although the outro is pretty neat! The next song however, "Hexagon Sun" is so much better. Imo it's one of BOC's best! It's kinda regarded as a BOC "title track of sorts, if that makes sense. I like everything about it! The melodies, the beat, the samples... It's just a true IDM classic. "Kaini Industries" (I love that title!) and "Bocuma" follow as the interludes. Again, they sprinkle some weirdness with their uncertain, meddling tunes.
What follows is "Roygibv" - BOC's most popular song to date! The title really is on point, as the track's unwinding swells of synth keys really sound like the colors of the rainbow being projected into the music. In that regard, it reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Any Colour You Like". The children's voices saying unintelligible things make it sound joyful and happy! The real hero there tho, is this awesome, driving bassline! For me it makes this song. It's so cool and sounds really fun to play.
"Rue the Whirl" introduces some sick, dark trip-hop elements to the album. Try not to tap your toe to this one! After it we have "Aquarius" which currently may be my favourite here. The bassline is fantastic and the counting voice sample sounds so trippy, psychdelic and mysterious, that I instantly loved the song. Not to mention the "OOORANGE."... I've learned too late that the intro samples "Age of Aquarius" from "Hair: musical. And one more thing... the amount of easter-eggs/hidden secrets in this song (especially within the countdown part) is just baffling and simply unbeliveable! My head was blown when I've found out what's going on there. I recommend reading about it on Bocpages forum if you're interested. They were crazy! I don't even want to know how much time they've spent writing and coming up with all of this...
Anyway, "Olson" is nice but I'm tired of it, since it made it's way into all of my ambient music playlists and for some reason it plays dispropotionately more frequently that the rest of the songs. "Pete" and "Smokes" then follow with more of IDM bangers, the former being more reflective/calm and the latter more dark, moody and trip-hopish. "Open The Light" is what charmed me recently! I've never paid much attention to this track, but now, for some reason I started to really enjoy it's eerie synth motif. It almost sounds wistful and meditative... I feel I'll start coming back to this song a lot in the coming days, it really grew on me!
"One Very Important Thought" serves as a last intermission (in some releases, a one before the final track)... It tries to deliver mysterious message with it's vocal sample but as much as I like both the idea and the execution (there's a very pleasant sequencer tune in the back!), I don't really know what's going on there. "Happy Cycling" is the last track on streaming and some other versions of this album, but I don't really like it a a closer. At this point in the album, I think we've really heard everything and another sample-filled long trip-hop song is not really needed. The album should end as intented, with the spoken weirness of "Very Important Thought". But the track itself is fine I guess.
Long story short, the album is just awesome. Just a very big chunk of good and meticulously crafted electronic IDM. For me, it's like a giant entity. Some of the song blend for me into the one singular being, but to the some of them I come back as a standalone tracks. It's kinda too long too, if I could, I'd cut some of the tracks from here, since the length of about 70mins may scare off some seasoned music fans from this epic jounrey. Anyway, I really recommend it. It's just a neat breath of fresh air - there really aren't so much IDM albums that feel so natural and nostalgic. It's a haunting experience that is worth everybody's listen.