Difference between revisions of "The Cosmic Crofter" - bocpages

Latest revision as of 14:54, 18 June 2020

The Cosmic Crofter was the webmaster of the EHX website, home to the earliest Boards of Canada web page. He is the founder and curator of the Benbecula label in Edinburgh, Scotland.

A native of Edinburgh, Crofter appears to have had a close connection with many of the bands featured on EHX, including Boards of Canada. He posted exclusive content, such as clips of the band's famous Super 8 footage shown during their concerts and audio clips of pre-Twoism work that have still, to this day, not surfaced in any other form.

He was also privy to knowledge about BoC's legendary pre-Twoism catalog, some snippets of which he posted to an early version of the official Boards of Canada website. However, despite having access to this information, he stated that even he himself had not heard much of this material. Many still contest its existence.

He was also a frequent contributor to the IDM mailing list. He was responsible for the dissemination of many of the original copies of Twoism, which he mailed to interested mailing list members. It was also on this list that the controversy over the pre-Twoism catalog arose, eventually prompting its removal from the Boards of Canada site (see: EHX Boards of Canada web pages announcement for Crofter's reaction to the increased scrutiny by fans on the pre-Twoism catalog inclusion on the website). [1]

Always a mysterious figure, the Cosmic Crofter never revealed his real name (though in personal affairs, he goes by Steven) and deflected questions about himself. When asked if he himself was involved in any musical projects, he replied:

"I exist only within a Cosmic Zone, formed by incantations spoken by the Crofters during the Clearances, to safeguard the future cultures, whatever they may be, in Scotland."

He did, however, provide an email address (crofter AT ehx.ednet.co.uk) and a phone/fax number (0131 220 1205)

After running the Boards of Canada site, Crofter moved on to form Benbecula Records, and is now the driving force behind the label. He is thanked on the credits section of Benbecula's page, possibly to deflect the true scope of his involvement with the label. Benbecula has pressed a label CD of his own field recordings. The CD was never publically released, and Crofter is reported to have the only copy. He recently penned obituraries for Ivor Cutler and John Peel for the website.

He is now reported to be living pleasantly in the country in a small cottage. However, this information could be merely a play on his alias, Crofter (link directed to definition of word).

Releases[edit]

BEN 003: The Cosmic Crofter - Clear This (CD)

External links[edit]

The Cosmic Crofter (interview) by GrafiK, Inner Space Magazine, 1997
Cosmic Crofter - Google Groups profile
Benbecula Records

**People Overview** | view • talk • edit
Current Members	Marcus Eoin • Michael Sandison
Hexagon Sun/Prior Members	Peter Iain Campbell • Frazer Clarke • S. Goderich • Mdg • Christopher Horne • Simon Yuill • Melissa Olson
Mythology	NFBOC • Smokes Quantity • David Koresh • Amo Bishop Roden
Other	The Cosmic Crofter • Autechre • Prince Murat • Helios

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''The Cosmic Crofter''' was the webmaster of the [[EHX]] website, home to the earliest [[Boards of Canada]] web page.  He is the founder and curator of the [http://www.benbecula.com/ Benbecula] label in Edinburgh, Scotland.
-A native of Edinburgh, Crofter appears to have had a close connection with many of the bands featured on EHX, including Boards of Canada.  He posted exclusive content, such clips of the band's famous super8 footage shown during their concerts and audio clips of pre-Twoism work that has still, to this day, not surfaced in any other form.
+A native of Edinburgh, Crofter appears to have had a close connection with many of the bands featured on EHX, including Boards of Canada.  He posted exclusive content, such as clips of the band's famous Super 8 footage shown during their concerts and audio clips of pre-Twoism work that have still, to this day, not surfaced in any other form.
-He was also privy to knowledge about [[Boards of Canada|BoC]]'s legendary [[pre-Twoism catalog]], which he posted to an early version of the official Boards of Canada website.  However, despite having acccess to this information, he stated that even he himself had not heard this material.  Many still contest its existence.
+He was also privy to knowledge about [[Boards of Canada|BoC]]'s legendary pre-Twoism catalog, some snippets of which he posted to an early version of the official Boards of Canada website.  However, despite having access to this information, he stated that even he himself had not heard much of this material.  Many still contest its existence.
-He was also a frequent contributor to the [[IDM mailing list]].  He was responsible for the dissemination of many of the original copies of [[Twoism (release)|Twoism]], which he mailed to interested mailing list members.  It was also on this list that the controversy over the pre-Twoism catelog arose, eventually prompting its removal from the Boards of Canada site. [http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1999/09/489818/]
+He was also a frequent contributor to the [[IDM mailing list]].  He was responsible for the dissemination of many of the original copies of [[Twoism (release)|Twoism]], which he mailed to interested mailing list members.  It was also on this list that the controversy over the pre-Twoism catalog arose, eventually prompting its removal from the Boards of Canada site (see: [[EHX Boards of Canada web pages announcement]] for Crofter's reaction to the increased scrutiny by fans on the pre-Twoism catalog inclusion on the website). [http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1999/09/489818/]
 Always a mysterious figure, the Cosmic Crofter never revealed his real name (though in personal affairs, he goes by Steven) and deflected questions about himself.  When asked if he himself was involved in any musical projects, he replied:
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 He did, however, provide an email address (crofter AT ehx.ednet.co.uk) and a phone/fax number (0131 220 1205)
-After running the Boards of Canada site, Crofter moved on to form Benbecula Records, and is now the driving force behind the label.  He is thanked on the [http://www.benbecula.com/credits.shtml credits section] of Benbecula's page, possibly to deflect the true scope of his involvement with the label.  Benbecula has pressed a label CD of his own field recordings.  The CD was never publically released, and Crofter is reported to have the only copy.  He recently penned obituraries for [http://www.benbecula.com/archive/ivor_cutler.shtml Ivor Cutler] and [http://www.benbecula.com/archive/john_peel.shtml John Peel] for the website
+After running the Boards of Canada site, Crofter moved on to form Benbecula Records, and is now the driving force behind the label.  He is thanked on the [http://www.benbecula.com/credits.shtml credits section] of Benbecula's page, possibly to deflect the true scope of his involvement with the label.  Benbecula has pressed a label CD of his own field recordings.  The CD was never publically released, and Crofter is reported to have the only copy.  He recently penned obituraries for [http://www.benbecula.com/archive/ivor_cutler.shtml Ivor Cutler] and [http://www.benbecula.com/archive/john_peel.shtml John Peel] for the website.
-He is now reported to be living pleasantly in the country in a small cottage. However, this information could be a play on his alias, [http://dictionary.die.net/crofter Crofter] (link directed to definition of word).
+He is now reported to be living pleasantly in the country in a small cottage. However, this information could be merely a play on his alias, [https://www.thefreedictionary.com/crofter Crofter] (link directed to definition of word).
 == Releases ==