"Music Has The Right To Children" was my introduction to Scotlands BOC back in 1998 and has remained one of the more played albums in electronica collection. Written by Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoln this is one of those albums that once you hear you will never stop listening to.
If you are not familar with BOC then imagine I suppose a mix of Brian Eno and Analog keyboard sounds of Richard Barbieri of Japan/Porcupine Tree. The Boards use drum machines, samplers, and an unfathomable collection of analog and digital synths to create their musical landscapes. Unlike Eno I am not sure you would say that these guys have invented anything but its how they do things that set them apart from the crowd.
This is a concept album based on those carefree days of being a child and actually runs like a film that is sampled to bring us all back to those days. You must remember that their very name is borrowed from the Canadian National Film Board of Canada which was focused on education thru film. I do recall very clearly watching worn out film as a youngster produced by the National film Board of Canada and the crazy thing is that they have sampled sounds here to recreate this memory to perfection. This album is complete with narration and sound samples very reminiscent of the countless and always damaged films with its warbled accompanying music due to age, overuse and playback on on poorly maintained equipment. Growing up I also remember those film board commercials and short films that would fill in any programming gaps with the same lack lustre warbling sound.
It has been suggested that with this album The Boards of Canada have tapped into our very social conscious and have created a sort of musical transcript or vingnette of our very human soundtrack.
This is not a meaningless album of low grade electoronica as it may appear on first listen, but instead I argue a very deliberate attempt to play back a part of our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment