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{{interview | {{interview | ||
− | |title= Generazione | + | |title= Generazione Laptop |
|author= Rossano Lo Mele | |author= Rossano Lo Mele | ||
|date= 2002/03 | |date= 2002/03 | ||
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}} | }} | ||
</onlyinclude> | </onlyinclude> | ||
+ | <onlyinclude> | ||
+ | [[Generazione Laptop]] is an interview (in Italian) by Rossano Lo Mele originally published Mar. 2002 in Rumore magazine Number 122, pp. 48-50. | ||
+ | </onlyinclude> | ||
+ | |||
__TOC__ | __TOC__ | ||
== Original Text == | == Original Text == | ||
<onlyinclude> | <onlyinclude> | ||
− | |||
{{original}} | {{original}} | ||
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− | + | '''Generazione Laptop''' | |
− | |||
Elusivi e restii a qualsiasi forma di promozione, riaffiorano i Boards Of Canada. Ossia Mike Sandison e Marcus Eoin. Il loro debutto di qualche anno fa ('98) - Music Has the Right to Children - è semplicemente una delle più belle cose accadute alla musica negli ultimi anni: qualcuno lo considera il pioniere di tutta la cosiddetta chili-out "intelligente". Altri - nientemeno - un disco psichedelico. Sia come sia, subito dopo: remix, un ep e l'album Geogaddi - più volte rinviato - finalmente fuori. La presentazione ufficiale tenutasi a Londra hanno preferito disertarla, mandando in loro vece un video. Che sembra un po' come quando gli Aerosmith o chi per loro vincono un qualche grammy per qualche contest di MTV e invece di andarlo a ritirare mandano un filmato dove ringraziano Dio e i fan. La voglia d'invisibilità ormai ce la siamo tolta. Quella di sentire i dischi del duo non ancora: dal Canada al nord della Scozia. Dopo lunghe indagini, ecco infine l'intervista. | Elusivi e restii a qualsiasi forma di promozione, riaffiorano i Boards Of Canada. Ossia Mike Sandison e Marcus Eoin. Il loro debutto di qualche anno fa ('98) - Music Has the Right to Children - è semplicemente una delle più belle cose accadute alla musica negli ultimi anni: qualcuno lo considera il pioniere di tutta la cosiddetta chili-out "intelligente". Altri - nientemeno - un disco psichedelico. Sia come sia, subito dopo: remix, un ep e l'album Geogaddi - più volte rinviato - finalmente fuori. La presentazione ufficiale tenutasi a Londra hanno preferito disertarla, mandando in loro vece un video. Che sembra un po' come quando gli Aerosmith o chi per loro vincono un qualche grammy per qualche contest di MTV e invece di andarlo a ritirare mandano un filmato dove ringraziano Dio e i fan. La voglia d'invisibilità ormai ce la siamo tolta. Quella di sentire i dischi del duo non ancora: dal Canada al nord della Scozia. Dopo lunghe indagini, ecco infine l'intervista. | ||
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</onlyinclude> | </onlyinclude> | ||
+ | == Translated Text == | ||
+ | <onlyinclude> | ||
+ | '''Note''': Translated by ChatGPT-4o | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | '''Generation Laptop''' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Elusive and resistant to any form of promotion, [[Boards Of Canada]] resurface. This refers to [[Mike Sandison]] and [[Marcus Eoin]]. Their debut from a few years ago ('98) - ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'' - is simply one of the most beautiful things that have happened to music in recent years: some consider it the pioneer of all so-called "intelligent" chill-out music. Others, no less, call it a psychedelic album. Be that as it may, shortly after: remixes, an EP, and the much-delayed album ''[[Geogaddi]]'' finally released. They preferred to skip the official presentation held in London, sending a video in their place. It's somewhat like when [[wikipedia:Aerosmith|Aerosmith]] or whoever wins some [[wikipedia:Grammy|Grammy]] for some [[wikipedia:MTV|MTV]] contest and instead of going to receive it, they send a video thanking God and the fans. We've gotten over our desire for invisibility. The desire to listen to the duo's records, however, remains: from Canada to the north of Scotland. After extensive investigations, here is finally the interview. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Less than sixty years between the two of them, legend has it that [[Boards Of Canada]] started producing music together from a very young age: since the late '70s, that is!? Is it possible?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: Yes, we started recording and playing our music as children, but the truth is the first version of the band was formed in 1983. At the time, we only used synthesizers: sequencers were really rare and expensive. Actually, to tell the truth, we didn't even know what a sequencer was. So, like many others, we started with a drum machine. All the changes that have taken place in electronic music over the past two decades are therefore linked to technological developments necessary to make music. Once, people were limited by technology, so they had to make do with what little they had. Now anyone can record whatever they want, the possibilities are endless, which means many producers have become lazy.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Not that you are workaholics, after all...}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: Right after the first album, we did a lot of remixes and returned many favors to a series of friends and musicians. This took up a lot of time. So we decided to stop with the remixes. At the same time, we made a series of changes to our studio: so the truth is we worked hard for two years, recording so much material that we already have several albums ready.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Yes, the studio: but where do [[Boards Of Canada]] work?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: It's a small studio with an open fireplace and glass walls. Everything, even the ceiling, is full of instruments and strange recording gadgets.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|And what kind of gadgets do you use?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: Our equipment consists of devices full of old tubes. One synthesizer we use a lot is a custom synth from 1971. It's called Chrome Larynx and was built by a friend of my father who was a technician in a hospital. It was divided into five sections that were used to better shape the vowels a, e, i, o, u within the sounds the patient had created. Everyone uses their equipment differently, so we might use a tool that others already have, but perhaps we manipulate it uniquely. However, we don't use laptops to compose music.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|What sets you apart from the laptop terrorists?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: Well, melody has always been the core of all our music since we were teenagers. I think it's about the desire to create something eternal. I mean: we are still in love with artists who composed timeless melodies in the '60s and '70s, and I just can't imagine someone in the future wanting to document these days by keeping in mind the glitch and beat-only electronic style that's around now. After all, it's just a transient phase due to fashion.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Any issues with "danceable" electronics?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: I think it's a double-edged sword. The kind of technology available now should mean people are capable of creating really bizarre music. Some are doing it, but in reality, I feel that a lot of dance producers are just trying to sound alike, just to get to perform in a club or something like that. Of course, I can't judge all music because I'm too busy to follow everything that comes out, so I must have missed a lot of great dance music. I know you'd like me to say just that, but we're back to the same point: the thing that disturbs me the most is the lack of melody. Almost everything out there is just rhythm-based music because most producers can't handle a simple midi keyboard. So what do they do? They just use random drum sounds put in series, without any melody. Such music can't provide me with any inspiration: I think hip hop and R&B have been much more adventurous in recent years.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|So where do you get your inspiration from?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: I feel strong connections with those musicians who are also producers. Where rhythmic texture and production are already half of the creative process. Especially people who understand that imperfection is often more beautiful and seductive than "correct and polite" music. [[wikipedia:Kevin Shields|Kevin Shields]] of [[wikipedia:My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]], [[wikipedia:RZA|RZA]] of [[wikipedia:The Wu-Tang Clan|Wu-Tang]], [[wikipedia:Clouddead|Clouddead]], and [[wikipedia:Dose One|Dose One]].}} | ||
− | + | {{question|This brings us to the albums of the year...}} | |
− | + | ||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: Quite simply [[wikipedia:All Is Dream|All Is Dream]] by [[wikipedia:Mercury Rev|Mercury Rev]]. I think it's beautiful, period. It sounds like the soundtrack to an incredible movie. My girlfriend likes it too.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: I'd say the [[wikipedia:Clouddead|Clouddead]] album because it has amazing melodies; and the intelligence and poetry of the rap are a hundred times more appreciable than the lyrics of most other authors. I also liked [[wikipedia:Sugar & Feather|Sugar & Feather]] by [[wikipedia:Aspera|Aspera]].}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|But, in the end, who are [[Boards Of Canada]]? What does the name and the title of the new ''[[Geogaddi]]'' mean?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: The album title has several meanings and we want listeners to choose the one they prefer.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: The band name is a tribute to the [[wikipedia:National Film Board Of Canada|National Film Board Of Canada]] which made hundreds of documentaries and animated films we watched when we were little. We now live in the hills just outside [[wikipedia:Edinburgh|Edinburgh]]. We spend all day writing music and when we're not composing we try to stay away from the studio as much as possible, so we spend time outdoors.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|And at night?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: It's been a few years since we last DJed. We had more fun when there was still a certain innocence in clubs, the willingness to celebrate and appreciate good music. We no longer go to clubs because today they're all the same. We prefer going to concerts. And when we feel like playing records, we do it on our own, in private, maybe at some party.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|So it's true you're also invisible: with this strategy of not circulating promotional copies of the record...}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: We did it for two reasons. 1) We don't want people to be told they must buy [[Geogaddi|our record]], but we prefer they discover it on their own and make their own choices. 2) [[In a Beautiful Place out in the Country (release)|Our previous EP]] was leaked online two months before its release by a journalist who had received a promo copy.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|But after about twenty years of music, what keeps you still tied: have you managed to play the music you really wanted or are you still waiting for your masterpiece?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: I think the most beautiful thing about listening to music is hoping to encounter something new, never heard before. Like a completely new melody or a strange rhythmic texture. The same goes for composition: trying to do something original and surprising, but also beautiful and fascinating.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: As a child, when I played the piano, I realized I had much more fun playing my melodies than those my teacher gave me as homework. And where I lived there wasn't much to do, so you had to create your own fun. In fact, I don't think we've yet recorded what we exactly envisioned, but we're close. We're always working around our elusive masterpiece.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Yet many, in defining your debut as a cornerstone, labeled it a psychedelic album...}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: We like psychedelic art, but not tied to hippie culture. For us, psychedelic is that strange scientific experience one can have by listening to strange music or taking substances that alter or damage the brain's ability to process information. In any case, it's the ability to recognize something fun in its frivolity and peculiarity, but somehow linked to order and mathematics. Humans have had these experiences for thousands of years, it's not just a phenomenon invented by the '60s outcasts.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|Speaking of humanity and evolution: recently pianist [[wikipedia:Brad Mehldau|Brad Meldau]] attacked sequencers and samplers, claiming they - through the infinite iteration of the same sound fragment - distort the idea of human mortality...}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Marcus]]: I agree, yes and no. Computers, without a human in control, are useless. If someone can use them to create unique and special art forms, then it's a great thing. It's a new gadget for an old job, that is composing music. Conversely, criticizing the use of computers to make music is a bit like the caveman painting with his fingers blaming [[wikipedia:Leonardo Da Vinci|Leonardo Da Vinci]] for using a brush and easel.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{question|And where will [[Boards Of Canada]] be in ten years?}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{boc|[[Mike]]: Frozen in silver space suits, on an ark, trying to escape the now-dying planet Earth.}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | </onlyinclude> | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Album Review by Alberto Campo with BoC likes and dislikes (pg.61) == | ||
BOARDS OF CANADA | BOARDS OF CANADA | ||
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"I gadget elettronici che non funzionano. La carne. Napster. " | "I gadget elettronici che non funzionano. La carne. Napster. " | ||
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== Scans == | == Scans == | ||
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Image:2002 03 Rumore No122 pg61.jpg | Image:2002 03 Rumore No122 pg61.jpg | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | == Highlights == | ||
+ | * [[Marcus]] describes a piece of equipment they use called the "chrome larynx" which is a 1971 custom made synthesiser made by a friend of their father who worked as a hospital technician. | ||
+ | * The American record with a "Christian robot singing songs when you press its stomach: Old Testiment stuff" may be referring to [https://www.discogs.com/Various-Make-A-Joyful-Noise-Introducing-Colby/release/4952806 Make A Joyful Noise!: Introducing Colby!] of which was sampled for [[Warp10-06|track 6 Live@Warp10]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == External Links == | ||
+ | * | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
+ | [[Category: Interviews]] | ||
[[Category: Geogaddi era]] | [[Category: Geogaddi era]] |
title | Generazione Laptop |
---|---|
author | Rossano Lo Mele |
publication | Rumore |
date | 2002/03 |
issue | 122 |
pages | 48-50 |
This is an original text copied verbatim from the original source. Do not edit this text to correct errors or misspellings. Aside from added wikilinks, this text is exactly as it originally appeared.
Generazione Laptop
Elusivi e restii a qualsiasi forma di promozione, riaffiorano i Boards Of Canada. Ossia Mike Sandison e Marcus Eoin. Il loro debutto di qualche anno fa ('98) - Music Has the Right to Children - è semplicemente una delle più belle cose accadute alla musica negli ultimi anni: qualcuno lo considera il pioniere di tutta la cosiddetta chili-out "intelligente". Altri - nientemeno - un disco psichedelico. Sia come sia, subito dopo: remix, un ep e l'album Geogaddi - più volte rinviato - finalmente fuori. La presentazione ufficiale tenutasi a Londra hanno preferito disertarla, mandando in loro vece un video. Che sembra un po' come quando gli Aerosmith o chi per loro vincono un qualche grammy per qualche contest di MTV e invece di andarlo a ritirare mandano un filmato dove ringraziano Dio e i fan. La voglia d'invisibilità ormai ce la siamo tolta. Quella di sentire i dischi del duo non ancora: dal Canada al nord della Scozia. Dopo lunghe indagini, ecco infine l'intervista.
Note: Translated by ChatGPT-4o
Generation Laptop
Elusive and resistant to any form of promotion, Boards Of Canada resurface. This refers to Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Their debut from a few years ago ('98) - Music Has the Right to Children - is simply one of the most beautiful things that have happened to music in recent years: some consider it the pioneer of all so-called "intelligent" chill-out music. Others, no less, call it a psychedelic album. Be that as it may, shortly after: remixes, an EP, and the much-delayed album Geogaddi finally released. They preferred to skip the official presentation held in London, sending a video in their place. It's somewhat like when Aerosmith or whoever wins some Grammy for some MTV contest and instead of going to receive it, they send a video thanking God and the fans. We've gotten over our desire for invisibility. The desire to listen to the duo's records, however, remains: from Canada to the north of Scotland. After extensive investigations, here is finally the interview.
BOARDS OF CANADA
GEOGADDI
(WARP)
Potremmo cominciare dalla fine. Traccia numero 23: un minuto e 46 secondi. Di silenzio. Come John Cage (4'33"), ma più concisi. E perché?!? Mancavano quei 106 secondi per fare un'ora, sei minuti e sei secondi. Provate a scrivere: 66' 6". "II diavolo si nasconde nei dettagli", chiosa il cornunicato dei discografici. Un vecchio trucco. E in generale, i "trucchi" impiegati da Marcus Eoin e Michael Sandison nuovi non sono. Tipo: far suonare analogico il digitale e viceversa (Aphex Twin). Creare sottofondi sonori "contro il logorio della vita moderna", diceva Cynar per bocca di Ernesto Calindri all'epoca di Carosello (posticipando: Air primo album). Mettere voci "strane", girate - satanicamente... - a rovescio, o inintelleggibili come fossero di fantasmi. Non esporsi troppo (e niente foto!), evocando chissà quali misteri. Dire che si fa musica ispirandosi ad arzigogoli difficili da spiegare - genere: canzoni elaborate partendo da equazioni matematiche - e più ancora da capire (viene in mente la Gioventù Psichica del reverendo P. Orridge) . E in tema di numeri: elencarli, semplicemente (Aquarius la volta scorsa, e adesso - due volte recidivi - Gyroscope e A is to B as B is to C), alludendo a non si sa bene cosa... E scegliere come nome un'intestazione asettica, roba da documentari: National Board Of Canada (il Consiglio Nazionale del Canada), sottospecie di National Geographic. Se ancora non conoscete i Boards Of Canada, ovviamente scozzesi, avrete capito poco. Ma - consolatevi - è lo stesso per gli edotti. Che cosa fanno costoro? Musica per il nostro tempo. Che significa proiettata verso il futuro (scommettiamo che i Radiohead e Bjork...). Dunque: molta tecnologia e in fuga dalle metropoli. Ciò che architettano Marcus&Michael è esattamente quella cosa II: ciò che non ti aspetti e di cui hai bisogno. E funziona. Del precedente Music Has the Right to Children ("la musica ha diritto ai bimbi") nel mondo sono state vendute 100mila copie. Mica poche, considerando come suona. E quello nuovo è lì, sulla scia. Un po' più avanti. "Scientifica musica psichedelica", la definiscono gli interessati. Mettiamo un po' di ordine, riassumendo: il lato oscuro della psiche, adeguate dotazioni tecnologiche, apparenze enigmatiche, concetti esoterici, senso di spaesamento, neo-naturalismo... Come dei druidi officianti in rete. Perché poi, nonostante certi arcaismi rosacrociani, i Boards Of Canada sono saldamente ancorati all'attualità. E al mercato. Musiche per spot commissionati a Chris Cunninaham (quello dei video di Aphex Twin) da Nissan e Telecom Italia... Li detestate, perché pensate "politico"?! Li adorate, perché siete più-che-post?! Non fa differenza. Perché tanto non potrete farne a meno. Geogaddi - a proposito: che cosa diamine significa?! - è il suono del carillon che avreste sempre voluto avere. Tenero. Amorevole. E insidiosamente sibillino.
ALBERTO CAMPO
Cose che piacciono ai Boards Of Canada...
"La rotazione sfasata di un disco scentrato. II piccolo scroscio sonoro che sta dietro a un logo. Cose che suonano un po' 'scordate': Space Oddity di David Bowie, God Only Knows dei Beach Boys, Wonderful World di Louis Armstrong e Tomorrow Never Knows dei Beatles. I suoni tra le note. Il progressive rock. Il kung fu. Devo, Aphex Twin e Cocteau Twins, Nitzer Ebb, lncredible String Band, Wu Tang Clan. Un disco trovato in America con un robot cristiano che canta canzoni se si preme un pulsante che ha sullo stomaco: roba da Vecchio Testamento. Geno dei Dexy's Midnight Runners. Il suono straniante che a volte si ascolta nei luna park, stando in mezzo a due impianti che diffondono musiche diverse e ne creano così, per addizione, una nuova."
COSE CHE NON PIACCIONO Al BOARDS OF CANADA...
"I gadget elettronici che non funzionano. La carne. Napster. "