Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children – Warp Records 55x/skold1, 1.1 hours [warprecords.com] ****:
We haven’t reviewed many electronica albums. I’m not even sure if this one qualifies as electronica. It’s here because it was listed as one of the main influences on Timothy Andres’ recent piano album Shy and Mighty. Frankly, I can’t stand most pop electric stuff of the sampler, loops, drums & bass ilk, and usually those that mix in hip-hop are even more anathema to my ears. This electric duo – who are Scottish, not Canadian at all – I find quite listenable and highly emotional. This album won all sorts of awards when it came out in 1998 and is probably their best-known effort – considered as a sort of masterpiece of the genre.
The duo – Mike and Marcus – differs from most electronic/ambient groups in their not using the latest digital electronic effects and gimmicks, but instead creating their sonic environments from processed bits of TV theme music, reversed speech on tape, and a variety of collected abstract “found sounds.” They use mostly old analog equipment, and even create tracks to imitate the warbling, compromised fidelity of the soundtracks of the 16mm educational film documentaries created by the National Film Board of Canada – hence the duo’s name. They started about the age of ten, making recordings on old worn-out cassettes, influenced by the sci-fi movies and flawed TV soundtracks of that era.
The patented “damaged sound” of Boards of Canada brings the listener to this album some moody ambient sounds, a few striking melodies, some fragmented speech that I suppose you’re not intended to understand, and some weirdly-pitched synth sounds. Sometimes the emphasis on the percussive “beat” loops get on my nerves like early Phillip Glass can do, but there is likely a change to a different short track coming up among the 18 on the disc. Some of the tracks are downright scary – like the one with the little girl’s voice repeating “I love you.” Like many ambient albums, running the two-channel material thru Pro Logic II or DTS Neo-6 produces some fascinating surround sounds. I find it so much more involving and listenable than straight two-channel reproduction. The album concludes with a female voice reading a very tongue-in-cheek anti-censorship message, which I guess would be a prime cause for anyone creating their recordings out of samplings of others’ recordings. The use of “legacy” technology to create their sounds struck a similarity for me with the early musique concrete composers, who created some amazingly powerful, emotional works using only early tape recorders and natural sounds – some even earlier ones restricted to turntables and acetate recordings, prior to the introduction of recording on tape. Yet some of these early works still speak to me, whereas contemporary “classical” electronic music of today leaves me cold.
Some authorities feel this is a very creative concept album built around the idea of nostalgia for childhood; that would explain the title. I frankly didn’t get that but do find it a most interesting sonic experience nevertheless. It would probably appeal to others who don’t really like the electronic music genre. The disc came with a Boards of Canada EP CD with two short selections, titled Trans Canada Highway. I think it’s a separate release. Both move at a slower pace than Music Has the Right, and total only a bit under 11 minutes. The provided notes speak of the first Boards of Canada video on the disc – a dreamlike journey into space – but I was unable to find the video file on the disc.
– John Henry
