- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Tomorrow's Harvest · 2013
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- In a Beautiful Place Out In the Country - EP · 2000
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Hi Scores 2014 Edition - EP · 1996
- The Campfire Headphase · 2005
- Geogaddi · 2002
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
- Music Has the Right to Children · 1998
Essential Albums
- Four years after their 1998 breakthrough, Music Has the Right to Children, the Scottish duo pushed even further with Geogaddi. Zigzagging between found-sound sketches, out-of-body ambient floaters, and murky instrumental hip-hop, it’s darker and more adventurous. On “1969” and “Music Is Math,” their trademark breaks are bathed in a vivid swirl, while their synth programming takes the lead on the tabla-laced “Alpha and Omega.” Most impressive is its kaleidoscopic churn: In the spirit of '70s planetarium soundtracks, it’s less an album than a state of mind.
- Despite their electro roots, the Scottish brothers’ sound gradually adapted to their pastoral surroundings. The title of this EP is self-explanatory: The synths drift like wind-kissed groves, and the beats are as lazy as a lakeside summer day. Three tracks highlighting their trademark elements—wistful chord progressions, tape-warped textures, skeletal hip-hop beats—are as immediate as anything in their catalogue, while “Zoetrope” lives up to its namesake with flickering chords and Tungsten glow—a closed-lids movie for the mind.
- Michael and Marcus Eoin Sandison's 1998 debut hit with the force of an idea fully formed—and beamed from a distant galaxy, at that. The sources of their crackling ambient tracks—the boom-bap beats of '80s hip-hop, the eerie synths of '70s nature documentaries—are familiar, but the overall effect is as strange as an out-of-body experience. Melodies warble like warped tape, and disembodied voices dart through the murk like auditory hallucinations. It's a spellbinding balancing act between childlike wonder and grown-up dread.
Albums
- 2013
- 2002
- 1996
- 1995
Music Videos
- 2006
Artist Playlists
- This mysterious duo revolutionised electronic sounds with their haunting melodies.
- The Scottish duo's pastoral sound heads for the outer limits.
Singles & EPs
About Boards of Canada
Utilizing samples, hazy synths and hip-hop beats, the enigmatic Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada (or BoC) specialize in obliquely nostalgic, retro-futuristic music that’s earned them legions of devoted fans. • Brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin first began making music together as children, using tape recorders to sample and layer their musical compositions at home. • Although they primarily grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, they spent a year in Canada from 1979 to 1980. They were inspired by TV films made by the National Film Board of Canada, which explains the band name. • After a series of self-released projects, BoC issued the EP Hi Scores, their first commercial release, in 1996. • Their 1998 debut album, Music Has the Right to Children, is considered a landmark in electronic music. • BoC’s 2002 album Geogaddi narrowly missed the Top 20 on the UK albums chart and peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. • Solange remixed “Left Side Drive”, from BoC’s 2006 Trans Canada Highway EP, adding celestial vocals to the duo’s original production. • In 2013, Tomorrow’s Harvest, their first album in eight years, hit the Top 10 of the UK albums chart and the Top 20 of the Billboard 200.
- ORIGIN
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- FORMED
- 1986
- GENRE
- Electronic