1998 - UK
IDM, Downtempo, Ambient
I’ve been pushing back this day for a while. Because I tried to listen to some songs, but it never felt like something I could understand or appreciate. I always felt a cold matter moving in front of me, mathematical, arbitrary and difficult to connect with. That was my idea of Boards of Canada, that was my IDM for a long time. But now an excuse has found me. This time I told myself well, let’s try it again. But this time, let’s really try it. It’s 6:30 in the morning. A particular kind of mood for a particular kind of albums, and Music Has the Rights to Children perfectly matches.
I wasn’t expecting anything in particular, but I think I was thinking the music I was about to listen would be more complex. But that’s not what happened. An Eagle In Your Mind. That’s the moment when I realized what Boards of Canada really sound like. Influences from trip-hop, hip-hop and downtempo rushed to my ears, places I know well, and immediately took me to this fresh and aerial world of careful crafted sounds that are now instantly recognizable. From Turquoise Hexagon Sun to Roygbiv and Olson, this first journey across a legendary album feels like a beginning, and one of the most pleasant one. It’s like a new goldmine just opened, a land of new possibilities, new but already mastered by their makers, in total control of their art.
Yes it’s quiet, yes it’s soothing, but some of the beats here endlessly echo with a touching strength. Each song has a bass line, and if sometimes it chooses discretion in order to hypnotize you, sometimes you can hear it hit on the front row and the experience feels even more unique. Music Has the Rights to Children definitely is a strange album. Not strange because it’s hard to tell where you’re going, but strange because it’s hard to understand how such a sound with so many different influences could be made. But here it is, unaltered by time.
I wasn’t expecting anything in particular, but I think I was thinking the music I was about to listen would be more complex. But that’s not what happened. An Eagle In Your Mind. That’s the moment when I realized what Boards of Canada really sound like. Influences from trip-hop, hip-hop and downtempo rushed to my ears, places I know well, and immediately took me to this fresh and aerial world of careful crafted sounds that are now instantly recognizable. From Turquoise Hexagon Sun to Roygbiv and Olson, this first journey across a legendary album feels like a beginning, and one of the most pleasant one. It’s like a new goldmine just opened, a land of new possibilities, new but already mastered by their makers, in total control of their art.
Yes it’s quiet, yes it’s soothing, but some of the beats here endlessly echo with a touching strength. Each song has a bass line, and if sometimes it chooses discretion in order to hypnotize you, sometimes you can hear it hit on the front row and the experience feels even more unique. Music Has the Rights to Children definitely is a strange album. Not strange because it’s hard to tell where you’re going, but strange because it’s hard to understand how such a sound with so many different influences could be made. But here it is, unaltered by time.