2026 Promo Campaign

In early April 2026, a handful of Boards of Canada fans received mysterious VHS tapes marked with a logo consisting of seven tessellated hexagons, immediately leading to speculation that Boards of Canada were signalling their long-awaited return following 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest. The VHS tapes were allegedly sent through distribution channels linked to Warp Records and its retail arm Bleep, reinforcing speculation that the tapes are connected to Boards of Canada.^[1]

Since April 10, mysterious posters containing the same hexagon logo as the VHS tapes have appeared in Soho, London, UK and Hollywood, California, USA. These posters were later acknowledged by Warp Records on social media,^[2]^[3] confirming their connection to the duo.

Boards of Canada formally returned on April 16th with a video entitled "Tape 05", which was uploaded to their YouTube channel and other social media. It contains a previously unreleased 3-minute ambient track and higher quality visuals previously seen in the VHS tapes. This culminated in the formal announcement of Inferno on April 22nd, to be released by Warp the following month.

In the lead-up to the May 29th release of Inferno, the album was promoted with a set of listening parties called "Inferno Sessions" to be held on May 22nd, and a promotional single / video for the first two tracks, "Introit" and "Prophecy At 1420 MHz", released on May 7th.

VHS Tape Mailings[edit]

Description[edit]

Possible official Promo - NTSC/PAL Cassette Tapes with Black Matte paper casing. 7 Hexagons screened in white on top of VHS tape with white NTSC/PAL sticker. No other markings.^[4] It should be noted that on the mailing label, Ochre, in the sender's name, Ochre Logistics Limited, is a type of orange coloring. Orange is a well-known color reference in Boards of Canada's discography. However, Ochre is also the name of the platform Bleep.com runs on, and it is likely the tapes come from Bleep. It has been speculated that the 2025 BoC merch on Bleep was used to collect the postal addresses of the best people to send the tapes to.

There's a gallery available with some additional tape photos.

Received Tapes[edit]

April 6, 2026[edit]

The first known VHS tapes were received on this date, all in NTSC format.

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings
1	ntsc	dremstat	discogs
2	ntsc	geraldine_ferrari	reddit	proton drive	reddit
3	ntsc	tomistomorrow	reddit		youtube
4	ntsc	dandelion1969	reddit	proton drive	youtube

April 7, 2026[edit]

A large wave of tapes arrived, including the first PAL format tapes.

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
5	pal	mpstewart	reddit	youtube
6	pal	Lone	instagram
7	pal	nalaknip	twitter
8	ntsc	Stagliaf	reddit	youtube	reddit
9	pal	subtopia_north	reddit	archive.org	youtube	longer tape
10	ntsc	zazen23	reddit	proton drive	youtube
11	ntsc	erkston	reddit	proton drive	youtube
12	ntsc	Hexagon_sun33	reddit
13	ntsc	plastiq	tmw
14	ntsc	errorsinspace	n/a				n/a
15	pal	simon lamb	facebook group			longer tape
16	pal	jonathan stephens	instagram
17	ntsc	Skyraider	twoism forum	rareboc
26	?	decolocc	reddit

April 8, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	notes
18	ntsc	ecassell	reddit		longer tape, will be digitised soon
19	pal	auldgoggie	reddit
20	ntsc	Ace January	facebook group
27	ntsc	Lphovercraft	personal mail	archive.org

April 9, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
21	ntsc	saintsantiago6010	reddit
22	pal	Chapelier Fou	youtube		youtube	first pal tape recording	n/a
23	ntsc	meshugganner	reddit
24	pal	Greg Rouyer	facebook group
25	ntsc	fromtelegraphlines7	reddit	proton drive
38	ntsc	AdministrativeDelay2	reddit				n/a
39	pal	Level_Composer_3803	reddit		youtube	first dutch sighting

April 10, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	notes
28	pal	KillerFerkl	reddit
29	ntsc	icewax	discogs	longer tape, first canada sighting
30	ntsc	Vincent Brinker	instagram
31	ntsc	Sad_Pomegranate_1539	reddit	longer tape
32	ntsc	fernbrain	instagram
33	pal	Stan Rosen	instagram story
36	ntsc	Slapdick McGee	reddit

April 11, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post
34	ntsc	echoglyphs' friend	reddit
35	ntsc	Robby Russell	bluesky
37	ntsc	degrees-of-certainty	reddit
43	pal	Roler Schnapz	personal message

April 14, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
40	ntsc	LeNordique	reddit

April 16, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
41	ntsc	sjkanteriii	reddit
42	pal	dagoberti.ducki	ebay

April 20, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
45	ntsc	biz	discord

April 21, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
44	pal	ZosoCon	twoism forum		youtube

April 22, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
46	pal	jeromefaria	discord

April 23, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
47	ntsc	raymondobrien	raymondobrien		youtube	Puerto Rico

April 24, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
48	pal	verlindendavid6	instagram			Belgium

April 27, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
49	pal	Epsilons World	bluesky

April 30, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
50	pal	neric	bluesky

May 6, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
51	pal	dragos dulea	facebook group			Romania

May 19, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
52	pal	Brynjar Leó Hreiðarsson	personal message			Iceland

Jun 11, 2026[edit]

tape	region	owner	original post	direct rip	recordings	notes	photo
53	pal	Christophe Pierre	facebook group			Belgium

VHS Audio Analysis[edit]

The VHS audio track consists of unidentified spoken-word recordings resembling commercial or promotional material, interference, tape artefacts, and analog noise.

A reversed and significantly slowed-down version of "Little Star" by The Elegants. The same track previously appeared in the Societas x Tape 2019 mixtape.

Signal Decoding[edit]

The final 10 seconds of the video were initially interpreted as a possible FSK signal. Attempts to decode the segment using FSK, DTMF, and other decoding methods did not reveal any hidden messages, SSTV images, RTTY transmissions, or other decodable protocols.

The segment was later identified as a sample of the Russian shortwave radio station UVB-76, recorded on February 21st, 2006.^[5]
Attempts to identify hidden teletext data did not reveal any hidden messages.

Vocal Transcription[edit]

Due to the poor audio quality, no consensus transcription exists. Several independent transcription attempts have been produced by members of the communities. Words and phrases appearing in multiple versions have been highlighted in bold.

Comparison of VHS transcriptions
	Twoism version by TorrentialTrain and Qualia	Keendrops' version	Reddit's version by PaperOpening4413 (possibly AI-assisted)
1	Beckon forth	That's important!	—
2	new light, with the monthly magazine for seekers everywhere.	New Life with a monthly magic report serve everywhere.	In every new issue of the monthly magazine for seekers everywhere.
3	Each issue arrives with the exclusive hexa-sonic flexi-disc	The issue arrives with the exclusive hexa-sonic flexi disc.	Devotees arrive with exclusive supersonic flexi-disks
4	carrying voices into your speaker ______ ______ ______. Subscribe now!	Telling what is in the ______ ______. Subscribe now!	Bearing voices and music that strike the heart. Subscribe now!
5	Every month, ______ ______ ______ ______ signal. Bound to each cover,	Every month ______ ______ with voices ______ boundless coverage.	Every month find a record with devotion with a hexagonal sound disc.
6	the exclusive Hexi-Disc. Six-sided, flexible, carrying P. Primer trigger recordings from the MBI Institute.	Use the hexidisc. Six-sided flexible carrying private triple recording from the MBI Institute.	Discover the new issue: six-sided flexible carrying high-fidelity recordings from the MBI Institute.
7	Hear the patterns, follow the shapes.	Hear the pattern of ownership / __ shape .	Hear the patterns, follow the shapes.
8	This March, supply is low. _______ triggers and reflections and stories of light.	This march/patch/month ______ ______ reflection and source of light.	This marks the first low of a strange dessert, reflections and source of life
9	And with your first issue, you'll receive the exclusive 'flexi-hexi-disc', a hexagon of sound filled with voices and music keeping you on the path.	Now with your first issue, you'll receive the exclusive flexi hexi disc on hexagon of sound ______ past ______ ______.	Now with your first issue, you'll receive the exclusive flexi-hexidisc, a hexagon of sound ______ ______ ______ ______.
10	Subscribe today, discover the new monthly purity.	Discover the new path of journey.	Subscribe today, discover the New Month's journey.
11	Each issue brings insights, devotion, and a unique hexa-disc of voices and music to guide your path.	She brings insights the functionally unique exodus before the voice and music to guide your path.	Each issue brings insight into devotion and a unique exodus of voices and music to guide your path.
12	The guide to the light that calls us!	The guide to the light that calls us.	The guide is the light that calls them.
13	Music and spoken word ______ the way clear.	Music and spoken word_ the way its clear.	Music and spoken words to make way clear.
14	The first disc is free.	The first _ is free.	The first issue is free.
15	From the first light, to the last word, the message is clear.	From the first line to the last word, the message is clear	From the first line to the last word, the message is clear.
16	Each month: Devotion, revelation and the exclusive hexasong flexi-disc.	Each box, devotion, revelation, and the exclusive hexasong exodus .	It's monthly devotion, revelation, and the exclusive hexasong from the desk.
17	All for only $2.95. Call now!	All for only $2.95. Call now!	All for only 2.95, call now!

Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker[edit]

Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker in VHS footage (2026-04-08) (reddit)

American televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker with her husband Jim Bakker. They were prominent figures in the 1980s, building the religious television empire known as "The PTL Club" (Praise the Lord). The couple's public image and empire collapsed following scandals related to financial fraud and sexual misconduct in 1987.

MBI Institute[edit]

The first reference to “MBI Institute” appeared in the audio recording featured on the VHS tape and became one of the earliest investigation clues. The meaning of “MBI” remains uncertain. Early research focused on a possible connection to Moody Bible Institute — a private evangelical Christian college based in Chicago which published Moody Monthly magazine until 1991. Further investigation uncovered additional details that appeared to support this connection:

u/PeteStandingAlone: (reddit)

I looked for copies of Moody Monthly on EBay and from 1989-91, the magazine cost...$2.95! You can find most of the issues from those years on Ebay but none of the few photos that I saw mention a special flexi disc.
The school has a pretty vast archive library, so I called them today to see if they might know about the flexi disc in the magazine. The person I spoke with didn't but mentioned the head archivist was out today. If you happen to live in Chicago, you can schedule an appointment to visit the library and check!
Moody has a radio station that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. I'm guessing the audio is from an ad for the magazine that aired on the radio station at some point between 1989 and 91.

Following the announcement of Inferno, it was noted that the album's release date of 29 May 2026 corresponded numerically with the “$2.95”. The figure came to be viewed not only as a possible reference to "Moody Monthly Magazine", but also as an early clue pointing toward the album's release date.

The second reference to MBI Institute appeared in the introductory audio at the first Inferno Sessions on Friday May 22, 2026. At that time, a second interpretation of the acronym MBI emerged: “Mass Behavioral Initiative”:

Welcome to the MBI institute.
You have been selected to participate in our ongoing mass behavioral initiative.
The waiver you have signed confirms your understanding of the process, and any potential side effects.
During the session you will hear specially designed audio triggers.
What we call a 'hex' recordings.

The abbreviation "MBI" later reappears in the liner notes accompanying Vol.4 - P. Primers - 177 Giraud's Mirror, where "P. Primers" are also mentioned. The recurrence of the phrase in both the VHS material and the album packaging has led some researchers to speculate that the recording may be connected to a wider narrative element within the campaign.

VHS Observations Spreadsheet[edit]

Spreadsheet for VHS Observations (2026-04-09) (reddit)

This sheet segregates every frame into "scenes", which is anytime the visual changes substantially (whether its 1 frame or 100 frames). Descriptions are kept as objective and abstract as possible unless we can reasonably confirm whats being shown. Notes are reflexive first impressions. Origin will ideally be urls of source material. Shoutout to the person here who zipped every frame into jpegs.

Recordings[edit]

Deconstruction[edit]

Playlist[edit]

Posters[edit]

Shortly after the VHS tape mailings, various posters started appearing containing the same logo seen on the VHS tape. This list should be treated as incomplete, as new posters are currently being discovered. These locations are added to a Google My Maps.

date	address	country
2026-04-10	15F St. Anne's Ct, Soho, London	UK
2026-04-11	Exit 6B, Hollywood Freeway, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California	USA
2026-04-11	149 Oxford Street, Soho, London	UK
2026-04-12	239-243 Mare St, Hackney, London	UK
2026-04-12	Ponsford St, Hackney, London	UK
2026-04-12	34 Acre Ln, Brixton, London	UK
2026-04-12	Hollywood Western II, 5450 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California	USA
2026-04-13	10 Rutgers St., Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York	USA
2026-04-13	3 Ludlow St., Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York	USA
2026-04-13	38 Allen St., Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York	USA
2026-04-14	1500 North Western Avenue, East Hollywood, Los Angeles	USA
2026-04-14	6445 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California	USA
2026-04-14	Kimlau Square, Chinatown, New York	USA
2026-04-14	LIQUIDROOM, 3-16-6, Higashi, Shibuya	JP
2026-04-20	Nigel Road (Stop EA), Rye Lane, Peckham, London	UK