| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| | <onlyinclude> | | <onlyinclude> |
| | {{interview | | {{interview |
| − | |title=De var först med | + | |title=Boards of Canada |
| | |author=Billy Rimgard | | |author=Billy Rimgard |
| | |date=2005/10 | | |date=2005/10 |
| Line 9: |
Line 9: |
| | }} | | }} |
| | </onlyinclude> | | </onlyinclude> |
| − | <onlyinclude>
| + | __TOC__ |
| − | "[[De var först med]]" is an interview (in Swedish) by Billy Rimgard originally published October 2005 in Sonic magazine Issue 25 (Fall 2005), pp.40-45
| |
| − | </onlyinclude>
| |
| | | | |
| − | __TOC__
| |
| | | | |
| | == Original Text == | | == Original Text == |
| | <onlyinclude> | | <onlyinclude> |
| | + | '''"Boards of Canada"''' was an interview (in Swedish) by Billy Rimgard originally published October 2005 in Sonic magazine Issue 25 (Fall 2005) pp.40-45 |
| | {{original}} | | {{original}} |
| | + | </onlyinclude> |
| | | | |
| − | '''De var först med'''
| + | <onlyinclude> |
| | + | === Boards of Canada === |
| | | | |
| | '''De var först med det som ibland brukar kallas folktronica. De var också länge ett av världens hemligaste band. Nu har Boards Of Canada brörjat prata. Billy Rimgard hör myter krossas i ett regnigt Edinburgh.''' | | '''De var först med det som ibland brukar kallas folktronica. De var också länge ett av världens hemligaste band. Nu har Boards Of Canada brörjat prata. Billy Rimgard hör myter krossas i ett regnigt Edinburgh.''' |
| Line 63: |
Line 63: |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| − | {{boc|Vi är inte Gandalf, vi vandrar inte runt med varsin stav och rabblar formler och vi är inte några hippies,}} skrattar '''Marcus'''. | + | {{boc|Vi är inte Gandalf, vi vandrar inte runt med varsin stav och rabblar forinter och vi är inte några hippies,}} skrattar '''Marcus'''. |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| Line 164: |
Line 164: |
| | == Translated text == | | == Translated text == |
| | <onlyinclude> | | <onlyinclude> |
| − | Note: translation by twoism.org user "bungler666")
| + | ===TRANSLATED TEXT=== |
| | | | |
| − | '''They were the first to join'''
| + | BODY |
| | | | |
| − |
| |
| − | '''They were the first with what is sometimes called folktronica. For a long time they were also one of the world's most secret bands. Now Boards Of Canada have started talking. Billy Rimgard hears myths being debunked in a rainy Edinburgh.'''
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Text: Billy Rimgard
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | My flight to Edinburgh would leave in less than ten hours but I still didn't know where, when and how I would meet Boards Of Canada. The time was 22:00 and I was crawling on the walls with worry when a text message came. The Museum Of Scotland on Chambers Street, through the swinging doors, up the stairs, through the main exhibition, the cafe area on the right, five o’clock. Signed "X".
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Not until a day later was I sure that this article would actually be written.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Few bands are as shrouded in myth as Boards Of Canada. Their breakthrough, "Music Has the Right to Children", changed the entire map for electronic music when it came out in 1998. The album was special because it did not derive its energy from the future but ratherly, from the past. "Music Has the Right to Children" sounded like the duo had tried to recreate their childhood with samplers and sequencers but hadn’t got everything quite right. Instead, they had built the picture on how they remembered it as adults. The music was forward thinking but the feeling was nostalgic.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | After "Music Has the Right …”, Boards Of Canada retreated to their base in the countryside outside Edinburgh, took four years to release the sequel
| |
| − | "Geogaddi" and thus also lost control of their image. "Geogaddi" was spiced with occultism, mathematical formulas, references to religious cults and geometry. Every time you listened to it something new appeared and every little detail meant something.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | This electronic equivalent to the "Da Vinci Code", together with the band's refusal to do any promotion other than a few interviews by email contributed to the spread of many rumours. It was said that they were Satanists, that they lived under cult-like conditions in a creative collective, that they tried to brainwash people through the music, that they were hippies.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | So what would I believe?
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | If I was surprised when they said yes to an interview, I was almost terrified by that text message. Why would anyone who has not done interviews in eight years suddenly want to meet a confused Swede if there was no purpose for it? I saw myself becoming another brick in the construction of the myth of Boards Of Canada, a fun anecdote to address in future press releases: "Once upon a time they even tricked an unsuspecting Swedish journalist into a museum in Edinburgh to ..."
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The clock is to minutes to five the next day. I walk counter-current among German backpackers and Japanese tourists into the museum but when I arrive, the cafe is empty. At five o’clock sharp, dozens of old church bells start ringing, the staff starts piling chairs on top of each other and a guard steps forward and asks me to leave the room as they are closing. I still don't believe any interview is going to take place. I text the number I got the message from the day before and ask for an update. “In ten minutes outside the main entrance," the answer reads.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | A few moments later I’m sitting in the back seat of a car. In the front seat, Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison are discussing which place is best to do the interview, based on where there are parking spaces. The duo who are Boards Of Canada tell me that most people don't know about it, but about half of Edinburgh's population are meter maids. They are friendly, ask me how the trip was, apologize for the rain hammering down outside and say that I should try to come here again some other time so I can see how beautiful the city is with better weather. They are the very opposite of the abrasive UNA bomber-like eccentrics that I had expected to meet.
| |
| − | {{boc|The fact that we did not do promotion is not because we are shy or withdrawn. We just don't want to be seen that much. We want our audience to discover the music themselves rather than being told to listen to us through advertising,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus''' when we have sat down in a bar.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | They have bought me expensive imported lager and when I want to pay them for it, they wave the money away. They are genuinely surprised that anyone could think of traveling from Sweden just to talk to them and say that the least they can do is buy me a beer.
| |
| − | {{boc|The reason why we do interviews now is that we want journalists to meet us in person,}}
| |
| − | continues '''Michael'''.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | There has been so much strange things written about us that most people think they will come here to meet two druids in caftans who make sacrifices on top of a volcano. Now we really want to meet them to show that we are just two ordinary guys.
| |
| − | {{boc|We are not Gandalf, we do not wander around with staffs rambling formulas and we are not hippies,}}
| |
| − | '''Marcus''' laughs.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | It is noticeable that Boards Of Canada are two people who have known each other since the sandbox. They always talk about "we" or "us". They end each other's sentences. When one gets stuck in reasoning, the other picks up the thread and continues. Marcus comes with spontaneous remarks, are not afraid to say what he thinks and jokes a lot. Michael is a little more restrained and careful. He contemplates before answering and is often caught explaining something Marcus has said with longer explication and more detail. Something
| |
| − | that a more media-savvy artist would probably have seen as unnecessary, since drawn-out theorizing rarely does well in an article.
| |
| − | In an interview with Pitchfork Media, done after my visit in Edinburgh, they claimed to be brothers. Which of course might be true but might just as well not be.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | My interview with Boards Of Canada is their third before the release of the new album "The Campfire Headphase" and thus they have done more interviews in a week than they have in the last eight years. After "Music Has the Right to Children" they got tired of being misinterpreted and therefore started communicating with the outside world only via email. Although not without restrictions. Excluding a mail interview with NME, they chose not to talk to any major magazines but instead gave smaller, more niche music magazines the opportunity to "talk" to them. The band then discovered that even silence and email interviews can be misinterpreted.
| |
| − | {{boc|We are not interested in the whole music industry stuff,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|We refrain from going to all the parties for the simple reason that we would rather be at home with our friends. The problem when you are absent is that people take the matter into their own hands and fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, our decision to not do any interviews coincided with the release of "Geogaddi", so maybe we can blame ourselves a little. I think we underestimated the power of making such a record.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|We added a lot of messages because we thought it was fun. The problem was that not everyone understood it was done in a tongue in cheek sort of way but instead took it very seriously. And the sad thing was that the focus shifted from what we always thought was most important, namely the music. No offense, but we didn't start making music to be in magazines,}}
| |
| − | says '''Michael''' and smiles.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Geogaddi was a dark album. It had a pre-apocalyptic feeling to it, as if Boards Of Canada knew something about the world we others didn't know.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | I loved it. At least after a while. When I reviewed "Geogaddi" in Sonic number six, I hadn't even begun to understand the extent of it. Although the album was not a pronounced concept album, it required dedication from the listener. You had to concentrate to discover the details and get into the music. But once I got there, I actually liked it more than its predecessor.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | "Geogaddi" was not only the result of a band trying to move forward with their music, it was also an album so packed with symbolism that entire pages where the album was analyzed soon began to appear on the internet. If you read there it says, among other things, that a track like "1969" contains a sample with the name "David Koresh" played backwards. The song is 4:19 long, which corresponds to the date, April 19, 1993, when Koresh's cult in Waco, Texas, was stormed by the FBI. The song title "1969" refers to the year when it became illegal for the US Army to use the type of gas that Koresh killed himself and the cult members at the Waco massacre with.
| |
| − | {{boc|About two-thirds of what is said on these internet pages is on the album, the rest they have made up themselves,}}
| |
| − | '''Marcus''' laughs.
| |
| − | {{boc|It's a bit like Kabbalah. You take a page out of the Torah, hold it up and down in front of a mirror and say "Look! I see a letter up here! Everything makes sense now! It's true!".}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|Man is programmed to find patterns,}}
| |
| − | says '''Michael'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Even when we are babies, we learn to recognize faces and voices. If someone believes that our music is built on symbols and starts looking, they will find them too.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|We lost our grip on what Boards Of Canada really is,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Others began to define what the band was instead of us, which is why we are doing interviews now. We want to show who it is driving this bus.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | If “Geogaddi” created the great myth of Boards Of Canada, it was their first major album, "Music Has the Right to Children", that put the band's name on everyone's lips.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Marcus, Michael and their friends had been experimenting with music literally since childhood. Later they became a duo and released their debut album "Twoism" in 1995, but it took another three years before the breakthrough came.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | During the 1990s, it was often the record label Warp that released the most innovative electronic producers. Names such as Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and Squarepusher released records with crazy jungle drums and messed up sounds that made the albums noise-symphonies in some kind of mix of rave culture, fusion jazz and advanced electronic sound processing.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | When Warp released "Music Has the Right to Children", Boards Of Canada's campfire electronica became a contrast to the label’s other, slightly hysterical profile. The duo really didn't sound like anything else. Sure, there had been producers making ambient electronic music since many years back but that music was mostly about mixing in dolphin sounds and making it all sound nice. ”Music Has the Right ..." was harmonious but at the same time quite wacky. There was always something that was "not right". Boards Of Canada played beautiful chords with broken, out of tune sounds. They sampled informational videos and happy little children and played it over ghostly analog synths. In addition, they used hip-hop beats and acoustic instruments that they sampled and then processed to death, giving them their own sound.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Marcus says that the wackiness comes from when one of them asks the other to "do something diagonal".
| |
| − | The call to "do something diagonal" means, in their studio, to add sounds that break off the linear, something that goes directly against how the song is constructed.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | When "Music Has the Right ..." was released it became an awakening for me. At that time, I lived in a world where electronic music was either psychedelic rave madness or comfy ambient. Boards Of Canada landed somewhere in between. In their music, they were also not afraid to capture the feeling of foggy beaches in the autumn or of quiet camping nights in the highlands. The record simply set a standard. Boards Of Canada influenced electronic producers (from lesser known acts such as Ten And Tracer or Faction to bigger names like Four Tet), they were constantly mentioned by Radiohead as inspiration in the recording of "Kid A" and were essentially the first band in a long line to later be doubtfully labeled as "folktronica",
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | I believe that they have been for dreamy electronic music what Ramones were for punk rock, but Boards Of Canada themselves disagree.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|I would never say that someone else sounds like us just because they have listened to us, because that would be pure bullshit,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Some who liked the record might have gotten ideas and moved in that direction with their own music, but so have we when we have heard something good and thought "oh, we should do this”.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|There may also have been others who have done the same things as us since the beginning but who, only after we emerged, discovered that there was an audience for that kind of music,}}
| |
| − | says '''Michael'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Concerning the obvious borrowing, it has mostly been very flattering to hear. The only time it felt awkward was when the track list for "The Campfire Headphase" was released and some people started spreading songs that they had made themselves on the internet under the name Boards Of Canada, with titles taken from the album. They include children's voices, hip hop beats and all of our features.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|It’s good in a way,}}
| |
| − | continues '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Those who make carbon copies of our music in this way show that it is possible to parody our sound. Therefore, these parodies become motivation for us to find new ways of expressing ourselves.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Marcus and Michael themselves think that “Twoism" felt a lot more groundbreaking when they made it and that the album that came to be their first success was just a natural follow-up.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | I ask if they honestly have not really noticed what impact their breakthrough had on electronic music over the years to come. They respond that they cannot see such things from their perspective and that they respect other composers too much to be able to take on any sort of pride. At first I do not know what to believe, but as the hours go on I understand that there is no faked humility and that they have actually just made music they like and in a slightly naive way do not understand how I can sit and make such claims .
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | They admit however that the sound of "Music Has the Right ..." is no longer unique. To someone who has recently became interested in electronic music, the album probably appear as pretty standard electronica, since so much music rooted in the sounds of that album has been released since.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|After "Geogaddi", some reviewers wrote that "this is just ordinary background electronica”,}}
| |
| − | '''Michael''' smiles.
| |
| − | {{boc|But when we did "Music Has the Right to Children" others were doing jungle and then we were not just ordinary background electronica. The problem with "Geogaddi" was that it took us four years to drop the album, so we probably missed the train a little bit.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|It has been a concern for us,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|It is a bit sad when you notice that a sound you once thought felt brand new and fresh is now suddenly widespread. It has made us stop and think "where is there place for us now?”.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | "The Campfire Headphase" is more stripped down and contains more acoustic instruments than before. As usual, it requires time to be understood, but the direct associations are as strong as usual. I sat with the album in my headphones on my way to Edinburgh. The music beautifully and perfectly accompanied the moment when the airplane broke through the clouds and met the sunlight. At the same time it felt like I was sitting on a doomed flight, a plane that soon would lie in ruins on a Scottish field. The contrasts have always been the strength in Boards Of Canada's music.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|With "The Campfire Headphase" we tried to make it as simple as possible,}}
| |
| − | explains '''Michael'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|We wanted to scale everything down to the core and write music that was simple. The album is a road movie about a man who parks his car and pitches his tent. The music is what goes on in the man's head as he sits in front of the campfire before he goes to bed. The album leaked online this week and I read some reactions to it on a discussion forum. Half said "they were a lot better on 'Music Has the Right to Children', why can't they sound like that instead of experimenting?". The other half said "uh, they sound just like they always did". It's simply not possible to win.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|Damned if you don't, damned if you don't,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus''' and shrugs.
| |
| − | {{boc|I still love "Music Has the Right to Children" but we could never make an album that sounds like that now.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Boards Of Canada's frugal release rate has not only contributed to rumors about their supposedly strange life, but has also built up a lot of expectation among the fans before each release.
| |
| − | {{boc|We have always had good reasons for not releasing albums so often,}}
| |
| − | says '''Michael'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|Before "The Campfire Headphase" we moved to a new studio and I became a dad. The way we work also means that it takes us a long time to do things.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|If you look at bands in the seventies and eighties, they didn't release new albums every year,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − | {{boc|The real bands, like Led Zeppelin, sometimes took two to three years for completely natural reasons such as tours, private life and stuff. Today, there are such unreasonable demands that one must be productive. Everything should go fast and the problem with that is that it lowers the quality of the music. We could have released a new record twelve months after "Geogaddi", but it would not have been as good.}}
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|If I lived at home with my parents and had no responsibility, I could sit down at the laptop with a pair of headphones and release a new album every week,}}
| |
| − | says '''Michael'''.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | It still rains when we exit the bar. I am offered a ride home to my hotel and on the way Marcus repeats that it is a prejudice that it always rains in Edinburgh and reminds me that I should come here again some other time to see the city from its right side. I have just said thanks for the ride and started to exit the car when it strikes me that the most important question has not actually been asked. After all, the common thread through Boards Of Canada's records is the campfire. Whether it is there literally or just in the mood, there is always a campfire in their songs. Is it also just a part of the big myth that Michael and Marcus during the recent hours have chopped into pieces in front of my tape recorder?
| |
| − | {{boc|Let me put it this way ... If I have to choose between going to a packed club in London and dance or going out to a deserted beach and camp with some friends and a bottle of wine, I would pick the latter every day of the week,}}
| |
| − | says '''Marcus'''.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | {{boc|But we're not hippies or anything,}}
| |
| − | '''Michael''' quickly adds.
| |
| | </onlyinclude> | | </onlyinclude> |
| − |
| |
| | | | |
| | == Scans == | | == Scans == |
| | <gallery> | | <gallery> |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 Cover.jpg | + | Image: |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg40.jpg | + | Image: |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg41.jpg | + | Image: |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg42.jpg
| |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg43.jpg
| |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg44.jpg
| |
| − | Image:2005 10 Sonic Fall No25 pg45.jpg
| |
| − | Image:BoC Sonic 2005 10.jpg
| |
| − | Image:Mike Sonic 2005 10.jpg
| |
| − | Image:Marcus Sonic 2005 10.jpg
| |
| | </gallery> | | </gallery> |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | == Highlights ==
| |
| − | *
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | == External Links ==
| |
| − | *
| |
| − |
| |
| | | | |
| | == References == | | == References == |
