The Campfire Headphase - Revision history

Fredd-E: /* Comments and Trivia */

2026-04-30T16:42:57Z

‎Comments and Trivia

Aris: Repurposed older removed writing into a Themes section

2026-04-29T21:40:57Z

Repurposed older removed writing into a Themes section

Aris: Formatting edits (missing references section!)

2026-04-29T20:58:31Z

Formatting edits (missing references section!)

Mr udders: Changed "17th October 2005" in opening paragraph to "October of 2005" to reflect the multiple release dates

2025-07-17T19:12:49Z

Changed "17th October 2005" in opening paragraph to "October of 2005" to reflect the multiple release dates

Mr udders: More errors fixed

2025-07-17T19:09:06Z

More errors fixed

Mr udders: Fixed minor error

2025-07-17T19:04:12Z

Fixed minor error

Mr udders: Completely rewritten main body of article

2025-07-17T19:02:10Z

Completely rewritten main body of article

Mr udders: Updated release dates based on info from music70.com

2025-07-17T13:02:59Z

Updated release dates based on info from music70.com

Fredd-E at 15:24, 18 March 2025

2025-03-18T15:24:20Z

162.158.78.27 at 10:26, 17 November 2017

2017-11-17T10:26:53Z

@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 *When asked if the record (and especially its artwork) was a throw back to ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'', Marcus replied that:<blockquote>"it's deliberately reminiscent of ''MHTRTC''. Musically it's like an echo of that record, all bleached-out blue skies and so on. In some ways it sounds older than ''MHTRTC'' because of the choice of instruments and the sheer amount of damage we've done to the sound." <ref name="losingtoday" /></blockquote>
 *The bottom left corner of the front cover (and onto the spine of the digipak) has a smudge that strongly resembles the hexagonal Geogaddi cover.  The front and back covers are repeated in the smaller pictures inside the digipak. The smaller pictures are less distorted than the covers.
 *Playing the vinyl release at 45rpm evokes a completely different listening experience.
 *When inverting the colors on the back cover art, the child's expression changes into a ghostly, almost horrified, stare.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | name=The Campfire Headphase
 | image=thecampfireheadphase.jpg
-| release_date=12th October 2005 (Japan)<br>17th October 2005 (Europe)<br>18th October 2005 (USA)<ref> https://web.archive.org/web/20050717021647/http://www.music70.com:80/boc_discog.html </ref>
+| release_date=12th October 2005 (Japan)<br>17th October 2005 (Europe)<br>18th October 2005 (USA)<ref name="music70">https://web.archive.org/web/20050717021647/http://www.music70.com:80/boc_discog.html </ref>
 | format=Gatefold 2xLP<br>CD (Jewel Case)<br>CD (Digipak)
 | label=Warp Records
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 }}
-[[The Campfire Headphase]] is the third studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], which was released in October of 2005 via [[Warp Records]]. The album marked a departure from [[Geogaddi]]'s dark, claustrophobic atmosphere to a lighter, more organic tone, with guitars taking a much more prominent role than in the band's previous works.
+'''''The Campfire Headphase''''' is the third studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], which was released in October of 2005 via [[Warp Records]]. The album marked a departure from [[Geogaddi]]'s dark, claustrophobic atmosphere to a lighter, more organic tone, with guitars taking a much more prominent role than in the band's previous works.
 __TOC__
 == Recording ==
-Work on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album began in 2002, with [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] creating demos for tracks such as "[['84 Pontiac Dream]]" in early 2003.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Emotional_Abuse </ref><ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>. The band intentionally took a more relaxed approach to recording their third album compared to their previous album ''[[Geogaddi]]'', aiming to "switch everything off at six o'clock", as opposed to the "hellish" approach of working "until 4am every day" like they did on ''[[Geogaddi]]''.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Two_for_the_No-Show </ref> Over the course of approximately a year the band continued to work on new music, and in February 2004 they had a completed album. Following this album's completion, [[Boards of Canada]] undertook a new project of moving their studio.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/La_Part_du_Feu </ref>
+Work on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album began in 2002, with [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] creating demos for tracks such as "[['84 Pontiac Dream]]" in early 2003.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Emotional_Abuse </ref><ref name="snoozer"> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>. The band intentionally took a more relaxed approach to recording their third album compared to their previous album ''[[Geogaddi]]'', aiming to "switch everything off at six o'clock", as opposed to the "hellish" approach of working "until 4am every day" like they did on ''[[Geogaddi]]''.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Two_for_the_No-Show </ref> Over the course of approximately a year the band continued to work on new music, and in February 2004 they had a completed album. Following this album's completion, [[Boards of Canada]] undertook a new project of moving their studio.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/La_Part_du_Feu </ref>
-By the time the studio move was complete, [[Boards of Canada]] had become dissatisfied with the album they had recorded, and decided to scrap it and start over with a new approach. This new approach was to create an album with a "simpler, more positive" tone and prominent guitars, described by the band as "like the acoustic counterpart of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]''". The band continued to work on this new album until mid-2005, with the last track to be started being "[[Slow This Bird Down]]", which originated in June of 2005<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>. [[The Campfire Headphase]] was completed around July of 2005.
+By the time the studio move was complete, [[Boards of Canada]] had become dissatisfied with the album they had recorded, and decided to scrap it and start over with a new approach. This new approach was to create an album with a "simpler, more positive" tone and prominent guitars, described by the band as "like the acoustic counterpart of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]''". The band continued to work on this new album until mid-2005, with the last track to be started being "[[Slow This Bird Down]]", which originated in June of 2005.<ref name="snoozer" /> ''The Campfire Headphase'' was completed around July of 2005.
 == Release and Reception ==
-The first official word on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album appeared in [[Warp Records]]' newsletter for July 2005, revealing that the album was finished and mastered, and would be released in October.<ref> https://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90&p=724#p724 </ref> Around the same time, [[music70.com]] revealed the album's title to be [[The Campfire Headphase]], and also revealed the exact release dates for the album.<ref> https://web.archive.org/web/20050717021647/http://www.music70.com:80/boc_discog.html </ref>
+The first official word on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album appeared in [[Warp Records]]' newsletter for July 2005, revealing that the album was finished and mastered, and would be released in October.<ref> https://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90&p=724#p724 </ref> Around the same time, [[music70.com]] revealed the album's title to be ''The Campfire Headphase'', and also revealed the exact release dates for the album.<ref name="music70" />
-The first interview by the band to promote [[The Campfire Headphase]], "[[The Downtempo Duo]]" by [[Wikipedia:Pitchfork_(website)|Pitchfork]], was published on September 26th, 2005. It was in this interview that [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] first revealed themselves to be brothers. More interviews with various publications followed in October, and interviews with the band regarding [[The Campfire Headphase]] continued to be published until early-2006.
+The first interview by the band to promote ''The Campfire Headphase'', "[[The Downtempo Duo]]" by [[Wikipedia:Pitchfork_(website)|Pitchfork]], was published on September 26th, 2005. It was in this interview that [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] first revealed themselves to be brothers. More interviews with various publications followed in October, and interviews with the band regarding ''The Campfire Headphase'' continued to be published until early-2006.
-[[The Campfire Headphase]] was first released in Japan on October 12th, 2005, and was released in Europe and the US on the 17th and 18th of October, respectively. The album was generally received positively, but divided fans and critics, with some being disappointed with the change in direction away from the band's electronic sound to a more acoustic one.
+''The Campfire Headphase'' was first released in Japan on October 12th, 2005, and was released in Europe and the US on the 17th and 18th of October, respectively. The album was generally received positively, but divided fans and critics, with some being disappointed with the change in direction away from the band's electronic sound to a more acoustic one. Pitchfork's Mark Richardson remarked that: <blockquote>"Campfire is a sluggish record, weary, pointed edges dulled as if by the march of time. Boards could previously be counted on to offer a display of crisp, forceful drum programming to jar you out of your narcotic haze ("[[Telephasic Workshop]]" and "[[Gyroscope]]"). ''The Campfire Headphase'' is all midrange, the mid-tempo shuffles putting the mind-boggling array of instrumental processing front and center." <ref>https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/839-the-campfire-headphase/</ref></blockquote>
 == Tracklist ==
-# "[[Into the Rainbow Vein]]" &ndash; 0:44 ([http://www.bleep.com/player/?/WARP123/33198/midi/D3F9D3/575757/00D126 Bleep preview])
+# "[[Into the Rainbow Vein]]" &ndash; 0:44
 # "[[Chromakey Dreamcoat]]" &ndash; 5:47
 # "[[Satellite Anthem Icarus]]" &ndash; 6:04
@@ Line 54: / Line 64: @@
 == Comments and Trivia==
-*When asked if the record (and especially its artwork) was a throw back to ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'', Marcus replied that:<blockquote>"it's deliberately reminiscent of ''MHTRTC''. Musically it's like an echo of that record, all bleached-out blue skies and so on. In some ways it sounds older than ''MHTRTC'' because of the choice of instruments and the sheer amount of damage we've done to the sound."<ref>https://bocpages.org/wiki/We_Are_The_(Folk)_Robots</ref></blockquote>
+*When asked if the record (and especially its artwork) was a throw back to ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'', Marcus replied that:<blockquote>"it's deliberately reminiscent of ''MHTRTC''. Musically it's like an echo of that record, all bleached-out blue skies and so on. In some ways it sounds older than ''MHTRTC'' because of the choice of instruments and the sheer amount of damage we've done to the sound." <ref name="losingtoday" /></blockquote>
 *The bottom left corner of the front cover (and onto the spine of the digipak) has a smudge that strongly resembles the hexagonal Geogaddi cover.  The front and back covers are repeated in the smaller pictures inside the digipak. The smaller pictures are less distorted than the covers.
 *On the vinyl release, a bird's chirp can be heard in the runout grooves, typically sides C and D.
@@ Line 72: / Line 82: @@
 == External links ==
 * ''[http://bleep.com/?bleep=WARP123 The Campfire Headphase]'' at Bleep.com

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Infobox Release|
 | cover=The Campfire Headphase album cover.jpg
@@ Line 6: / Line 4: @@
 | image=thecampfireheadphase.jpg
 | release_date=12th October 2005 (Japan)<br>17th October 2005 (Europe)<br>18th October 2005 (USA)<ref> https://web.archive.org/web/20050717021647/http://www.music70.com:80/boc_discog.html </ref>
-| format=gatefold 2xlp<br>cd (jewel case)<br>cd (digipak)
+| format=Gatefold 2xLP<br>CD (Jewel Case)<br>CD (Digipak)
-| label=warp
+| label=Warp Records
-| catno=warplp123<br>warpcd123
+| catno=WARPLP123<br>WARPCD123
-| runtime=62:05 (standard)<br>67:02 (japanese)
+| runtime=62:05 (Standard release)<br>67:02 (Japanese release)
 }}
 [[The Campfire Headphase]] is the third studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], which was released in October of 2005 via [[Warp Records]]. The album marked a departure from [[Geogaddi]]'s dark, claustrophobic atmosphere to a lighter, more organic tone, with guitars taking a much more prominent role than in the band's previous works.
 == Recording ==
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 [[The Campfire Headphase]] was first released in Japan on October 12th, 2005, and was released in Europe and the US on the 17th and 18th of October, respectively. The album was generally received positively, but divided fans and critics, with some being disappointed with the change in direction away from the band's electronic sound to a more acoustic one.
 == Themes ==
@@ Line 55: / Line 54: @@
 == Comments and Trivia==
+*When asked if the record (and especially its artwork) was a throw back to ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'', Marcus replied that:<blockquote>"it's deliberately reminiscent of ''MHTRTC''. Musically it's like an echo of that record, all bleached-out blue skies and so on. In some ways it sounds older than ''MHTRTC'' because of the choice of instruments and the sheer amount of damage we've done to the sound."<ref>https://bocpages.org/wiki/We_Are_The_(Folk)_Robots</ref></blockquote>
 *The bottom left corner of the front cover (and onto the spine of the digipak) has a smudge that strongly resembles the hexagonal Geogaddi cover.  The front and back covers are repeated in the smaller pictures inside the digipak. The smaller pictures are less distorted than the covers.
 *On the vinyl release, a bird's chirp can be heard in the runout grooves, typically sides C and D.
 *Playing the vinyl release at 45rpm evokes a completely different listening experience.
 *When inverting the colors on the back cover art, the child's expression changes into a ghostly, almost horrified, stare.
@@ Line 80: / Line 74: @@
 * ''[http://www.warprecords.com/mart/music/release.php?cat=WARP123 The Campfire Headphase]'' at WarpMart
 * ''[http://bleep.com/?bleep=WARP123 The Campfire Headphase]'' at Bleep.com
 == Artwork ==

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 }}
-[[The Campfire Headphase]] is the third studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], which was released on October 17th, 2005 via [[Warp Records]]. The album marked a departure from [[Geogaddi]]'s dark, claustrophobic atmosphere to a lighter, more organic tone, with guitars taking a much more prominent role than in the band's previous works.
+[[The Campfire Headphase]] is the third studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], which was released in October of 2005 via [[Warp Records]]. The album marked a departure from [[Geogaddi]]'s dark, claustrophobic atmosphere to a lighter, more organic tone, with guitars taking a much more prominent role than in the band's previous works.
 == Recording ==

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 Work on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album began in 2002, with [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] creating demos for tracks such as "[['84 Pontiac Dream]]" in early 2003.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Emotional_Abuse </ref><ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>. The band intentionally took a more relaxed approach to recording their third album compared to their previous album ''[[Geogaddi]]'', aiming to "switch everything off at six o'clock", as opposed to the "hellish" approach of working "until 4am every day" like they did on ''[[Geogaddi]]''.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Two_for_the_No-Show </ref> Over the course of approximately a year the band continued to work on new music, and in February 2004 they had a completed album. Following this album's completion, [[Boards of Canada]] undertook a new project of moving their studio.<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/La_Part_du_Feu </ref>
-By the time the studio move was complete, [[Boards of Canada]] had become dissatisfied with the album they had recorded, and decided to scrap it and start over with a new approach. This new approach was to create an album with a "simpler, more positive" tone and prominent guitars, described by the band as "like the acoustic counterpart of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]''". The band continued to work on this new album until mid-2005, with the last track to be started being "[[Slow This Bird Down]]", which originated in June of 2005<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>, and [[The Campfire Headphase]] was completed around July of 2005.
+By the time the studio move was complete, [[Boards of Canada]] had become dissatisfied with the album they had recorded, and decided to scrap it and start over with a new approach. This new approach was to create an album with a "simpler, more positive" tone and prominent guitars, described by the band as "like the acoustic counterpart of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]''". The band continued to work on this new album until mid-2005, with the last track to be started being "[[Slow This Bird Down]]", which originated in June of 2005<ref> https://bocpages.org/wiki/Music_of_Struggle </ref>. [[The Campfire Headphase]] was completed around July of 2005.
 == Release and Reception ==
 The first official word on [[Boards of Canada]]'s third album appeared in [[Warp Records]]' newsletter for July 2005, revealing that the album was finished and mastered, and would be released in October.<ref> https://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90&p=724#p724 </ref> Around the same time, [[music70.com]] revealed the album's title to be [[The Campfire Headphase]], and also revealed the exact release dates for the album.<ref> https://web.archive.org/web/20050717021647/http://www.music70.com:80/boc_discog.html </ref>
-The first interview by the band to promote [[The Campfire Headphase]], "[[The Downtempo Duo]]" by [[Wikipedia:Pitchfork_(website) Pitchfork]], was published on September 26th, 2005. It was in this interview that [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] first revealed themselves to be brothers. More interviews with various publications followed in October, and interviews with the band regarding [[The Campfire Headphase]] continued to be published until early-2006.
+The first interview by the band to promote [[The Campfire Headphase]], "[[The Downtempo Duo]]" by [[Wikipedia:Pitchfork_(website)|Pitchfork]], was published on September 26th, 2005. It was in this interview that [[Mike]] and [[Marcus]] first revealed themselves to be brothers. More interviews with various publications followed in October, and interviews with the band regarding [[The Campfire Headphase]] continued to be published until early-2006.
 [[The Campfire Headphase]] was first released in Japan on October 12th, 2005, and was released in Europe and the US on the 17th and 18th of October, respectively. The album was generally received positively, but divided fans and critics, with some being disappointed with the change in direction away from the band's electronic sound to a more acoustic one.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 }}
-In 2005, Boards of Canada released their third studio album, titled '''The Campfire Headphase'''. Perhaps the most organic of their publicly available output, The Campfire Headphase represents a significant departure both in mood and timbre from its predecessor, Geogaddi. "We decided to make an escapist soundtrack," Michael Sandison said in a 2005 Playlouder [[interview]], "like a kind of sanctuary; a day-glo vista you can visit by putting the record on."
+In 2005, Boards of Canada released their third studio album, titled ''[[The Campfire Headphase]]''. Perhaps the most organic of their publicly available output, ''[[The Campfire Headphase]]'' represents a significant departure both in mood and timbre from its predecessor, ''[[Geogaddi]]''. "We decided to make an escapist soundtrack," [[Michael Sandison]] said in a 2005 [[Above Board!|Playlouder interview]], "like a kind of sanctuary; a day-glo vista you can visit by putting the record on."
-The most obvious of these acoustic sources is the frequent (and recognizable) use of guitar on TCHP. "With the new album," Marcus explains,"we deliberately went for a lo-fi guitar sound on a few of the tracks because we were going for a sun-bleached, Californian summer kind of sound, it's almost reminiscent of a Joni Mitchell sound in places."
+In place of the dense and highly electronic nature of ''[[Geogaddi]]'', ''[[The Campfire Headphase]]'' favors a more stripped-down, acoustic approach, with a significantly reduced use of synthesizers. As [[Marcus]] pointed out to Playlouder magazine: "There's less use of synths on this record. We've leaned heavily towards a whole 'played, taped and sampled' backdrop this time. I guess sampling for us is different from a lot of other bands, because we routinely sample ourselves rather than other records, so most of the sound generation is coming from real instruments that we played ourselves, mostly recorded with microphones, and a lot of location recording. What you hear on the record is kind of a wall of sound created by sampling as many gnarled acoustic sources [as] we could find."
-But whatever the synthetic undercurrent,  [[The Campfire Headphase]] is noticeably lacking in one of [[Boards of Canada]]'s signature sounds: children's voices. "That was a deliberate thing," Marcus explained to Earplug magazine. "We got fed up with people saying that we're a formulaic band that you could kind of describe in a couple of sentences...I think it can become really dangerous for a band if you don't have a certain level of self-consciousness about these things. You always have to stay a few steps in front of your audience. We always have people putting fakes on the Internet before a new record is released, and the fakes are always really electronic with little kids' voices and things like that. Probably next time around all the fakes will include wobbly guitars like the ones we use on the new album [[The Campfire Headphase]] (laughs)."
+The most obvious of these acoustic sources is the frequent (and recognizable) use of guitar on ''[[The Campfire Headphase|TCHP]]''. "With the new album," [[Marcus]] explains,"we deliberately went for a lo-fi guitar sound on a few of the tracks because we were going for a sun-bleached, Californian summer kind of sound, it's almost reminiscent of a Joni Mitchell sound in places."
 This sort of self-conscious reaction, however, may account in part for why opinion on this record has been so divided. When asked by Pitchfork about whether or not the brothers feared being pigeonholed, Michael responded that "[t]he new record is probably the slowest record that we've done. And it's got guitars on it as well. This is something that we've done slightly deliberately. We knew that we had to break away from this thing [being pigeonholed]. It bothered us that if you go into the big stores our stuff is always sitting in the dance music section. We never made a dance record in our entire career but our stuff still gets thrown in there. Our drive with this record is to try and get us out of the dance section and into the main section with all the other bands, like ABBA and A-Ha. We're just a band. Not an IDM band, not an electronic band, and not a dance band."
 This conscious break with the conventions of the so-called IDM/Dance aesthetic (which so informed their previous work) have lead many to describe the record as boring or watered down. Pitchfork's Mark Richardson complained that "Campfire is a sluggish record, weary, pointed edges dulled as if by the march of time. Boards could previously be counted on to offer a display of crisp, forceful drum programming to jar you out of your narcotic haze ("Telephasic Workshop" and "Gyroscope"). The Campfire Headphase is all midrange, the mid-tempo shuffles putting the mind-boggling array of instrumental processing front and center."
 Yet for some, the very same departure yields the record its charm, even garnering some textural comparison to My Bloody Valentine's classic "Loveless." Differences of opinion aside, the record continues to be a favorite among many fans, and in any case, probably our best indicator of what is yet to come.