History Music / BoardsOfCanada

* 2002 - ''Geogaddi''

* ArcNumber: 70. "Sixtyten" is based on how "70" is said in French. ''Geogaddi'' features a song called "The Smallest Weird Number," which happens to be 70. Before being signed to Warp, they were on their own independent label called Music70, which is still co-credited as the label on BOC albums.

* NonappearingTitle: Few of their albums or EPs feature the album title in a song, ''In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country'', ''Twoism'', and ''Boc Maxima'' being exceptions.

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo formed of two Scottish brothers, Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. [[note]] For a while they pulled a move akin to Music/TheWhiteStripes and pretended they were just friends; when asked why they explained that they didn't want to attract needless comparisons to Music/{{Orbital}}, another SiblingTeam electronic band. [[/note]] They are known for their psychedelic, trippy sound constructed by a combination of electronic and normal instrumentation, heavy sound manipulation and processing, trip hop-influenced beats and frequent [[{{Sampling}} samples,]] usually drawn from old [[TheSeventies seventies]] media (their name is a nod to the documentaries produced by the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada, which they were heavily influenced by as their family moved to Canada during their childhood) and field recordings. This gives their music a more pastoral and human character compared to other purely synthetic electronic bands. A frequent metaphor / comparison among reviewers is that their music sounds like "the last sounds of a dying machine from TheSeventies that just got recently excavated," or something along those lines.

Boards of Canada has existed since 1986, when Marcus joined Mike's band, but ever since 1989 the band consists solely of the Sandison brothers. Their early songs were released through self-financed cassette releases on their [=Music70=] label, but ever since 1998 their albums have appeared through Warp Records.

Among their influences, the brothers have cited The Incredible String Band (claiming shared pastoral sensibilities), Music/JoniMitchell, Music/TheBeatles and Music/MyBloodyValentine. They are also professed fans of Music/{{Radiohead}}.

* AlternateRealityGame: Sums up their mysterious trail of clues leading up to the announcement of their most recent 2013 album, ''Tomorrow's Harvest.''

* TheBlank: The cover of ''Music Has The Right To Children'' shows a faceless family, and the persons on the covers of ''Geogaddi'' and ''The Campfire Headphase'' similarly have their facial features obscured or outright blanked out (it's difficult to tell, since unlike the clearer image of ''Children'', those two album covers have the persons standing at angles that already obscure their face, and are also subjected to heavy visual distortion and filtering).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Lots of this in their leaked albums, "A Few Old Tunes" and "Old Tunes Vol. 2". Many of the songs sound nothing at all like what we now know as Boards of Canada, with tracks that sound more like Vaporwave [[note]]decades before the genre even existed[[/note]].

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "The Beach at Redpoint" into "Opening the Mouth."
** "The Devil is in the Details" into "A is to B as B is to C" into "Over the Horizon Radar."
** "Ready Lets Go" into "Music is Math."

* LastNoteNightmare: Inverted in their remix of Slag Boom Van Loon's Poppy Seed, the song beginning with a dark and ominous synth and progressing into a more mellow composition.
* LongTitle: Their debut album, "Music Has The Right to Children", and one of their extended plays, "In a Beautiful Place Out in The Country".

* NonappearingTitle: Few of their albums or EP's feature the album title in a song, ''In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country'', ''Twoism'', and ''Boc Maxima'' being exceptions.

* NumberOfTheBeast: ''Geogaddi'''s last track, "Magic Window", is 1:46 minutes of silence in order to make the final album length 66:06. WordOfGod claims this was done ForTheLulz after a suggestion from Warp Records president Steve Beckett, to troll the stupid listeners who were scared off by their [[SubliminalSeduction reversing]] and sample manipulation. This joke doesn't work on the Japanese version of the album, whose bonus track "From One Source All Things Depend" pushes the length to 68:14.
* RefrainFromAssuming: "Sunshine Recorder" contains the LoopedLyrics "an eagle in your mind... a beautiful place." The band seems to have been deliberately [[{{Troll}} trolling]] here, because this makes the song very easy to confuse with the previous BOC songs "An Eagle in Your Mind" and "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country."
* {{Sampling}}: Heavy use of this, especially from field recordings, movies, ''Series/SesameStreet'' (yes, really) Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada documentaries, NumbersStations (especially on ''Geogaddi'') and lots and lots of children's voices, as well as more "normal" sampling of other songs ("Aquarius", for instance, is driven by a sample from the ''Theatre/{{Hair}}'' soundtrack). Children's voices were deliberately removed from ''Headphase'', with Marcus explaining that it was meant to avoid being pigeonholed:

** They themselves were sampled twice by [[Music/DestinysChild Solange Knowles]], on her tracks "[[CoverVersion Left Side Drive]]" and "This Bird."

** The Branch Davidian cult gets referenced in "Amo Bishop Roden" (she was married to George Roden, who was a rival to David Koresh), "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country" (whose title and main vocal sample is apparently cribbed from a description of their compound in Waco used by Roden to advertise the cult; the EP's cover also contains a small image of Koresh hidden underneath the CD tray) and "1969" (the vocoded sample "Although not a follower of [[SubliminalSeduction hseroK divaD]], she's a devoted Branch Davidian" is also a reference to Roden).
** "Telephasic Workshop", among other things, is suggested by [[http://bocpages.org/wiki/Telephasic_Workshop_(song) the BoCpages fansite]] to be a reference to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, best known for its contributions to ''Series/DoctorWho.''

** "Pete Standing Alone" is a reference to Pete Standing Alone, a First Nation Canadian who appeared in seven Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada documentaries about the Kainai nation, including ''Circle of the Sun.''

* SiameseTwinSongs: Lots, due to Boards of Canada albums often being very conceptual and designed to be played in a certain order: "In the Annexe"/"Julie and Candy," "Energy Warning"/"The Beach at Redpoint," "The Devil is in the Details"/"A is to B as B is to C/"Over the Horizon Radar."

* TitleTrack: "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country," "Twoism," and "Boc Maxima."

* NonIndicativeName : They are from Scotland, not Canada.
** However they did move to Canada at a young age.
* NumberOfTheBeast: ''Geogaddi'''s last track, "Magic Window", is 1:46 minutes of silence in order to make the final album length 66:06. WordOfGod claims this was done ForTheLulz after a suggestion from Warp Records president Steve Beckett, to troll the stupid listeners who were scared off by their [[SubliminalSeduction reversing]] and sample manipulation.
** This joke doesn't work on the Japanese version of the album, whose bonus track "From One Source All Things Depend" pushes the length to 68:14.

* WildMassGuessing: Possibly one of the most guessed-about bands ever, especially since they love using cryptic song titles, obscure and distorted samples, and references to [[NumerologicalMotif numbers]] and cults.

* {{Sampling}}: Heavy use of this, especially from field recordings, movies, ''Series/SesameStreet'' (yes, really) NationalFilmBoardOfCanada documentaries, NumbersStations (especially on ''Geogaddi'') and lots and lots of children's voices, as well as more "normal" sampling of other songs ("Aquarius", for instance, is driven by a sample from the ''Theatre/{{Hair}}'' soundtrack). Children's voices were deliberately removed from ''Headphase'', with Marcus explaining that it was meant to avoid being pigeonholed:

* ShoutOut: The group name is a reference to the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada. Their titles and samples can be pretty heavy on this as well:

** "Pete Standing Alone" is a reference to Pete Standing Alone, a First Nation Canadian who appeared in seven NationalFilmBoardOfCanada documentaries about the Kainai nation, including ''Circle of the Sun.''

* DownerEnding: "Semena Mertvykh" gives vibes of this in ''Tomorrow's Harvest.''
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Lots of this in their leaked albums, "A Few Old Tunes" and "Old Tunes Vol. 2". Many of the songs sound nothing at all like what we now know as Boards of Canada, with tracks that sound more like Vaporwave [[note]] decades before the genre even existed [[/note]]

* {{Zeerust}}: Boards of Canada was directly influenced by the National Board of Canada's old 1970s music, so this is no surprise.

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo formed of two Scottish brothers, Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. [[note]] For a while they pulled a move akin to Music/TheWhiteStripes and pretended they were just friends; when asked why they explained that they didn't want to attract needless comparisons to Music/{{Orbital}}, another SiblingTeam electronic band. [[/note]] They are known for their psychedelic, trippy sound constructed by a combination of electronic and normal instrumentation, heavy sound manipulation and processing, trip hop-influenced beats and frequent [[{{Sampling}} samples,]] usually drawn from old [[TheSeventies seventies]] media (their name is a nod to the documentaries produced by the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada, which they were heavily influenced by as their family moved to Canada during their childhood) and field recordings. This gives their music a more pastoral and human character compared to other purely synthetic electronic bands. A frequent metaphor / comparison among reviewers is that their music sounds like "the last sounds of a dying machine from TheSeventies that just got recently excavated," or something along those lines.

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo formed of two Scottish brothers, Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. [[note]] For a while they pulled Music/TheWhiteStripes and pretended they were just friends; when asked why they explained that they didn't want to attract needless comparisons to Music/{{Orbital}}, another SiblingTeam electronic band. [[/note]] They are known for their psychedelic, trippy sound constructed by a combination of electronic and normal instrumentation, heavy sound manipulation and processing, trip hop-influenced beats and frequent [[{{Sampling}} samples,]] usually drawn from old [[TheSeventies seventies]] media (their name is a nod to the documentaries produced by the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada, which they were heavily influenced by as their family moved to Canada during their childhood) and field recordings. This gives their music a more pastoral and human character compared to other purely synthetic electronic bands. A frequent metaphor / comparison among reviewers is that their music sounds like "the last sounds of a dying machine from TheSeventies that just got recently excavated," or something along those lines.

[[SaladFingers David Firth]] loves them. [[Music/{{Autechre}} Sean Booth]] is also a fan, as he signed them to his label Skam Records and had them open for a few Autechre shows.

** For example: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD7iigP5u74 "Peace-Tony-Devil"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq0jAhAo9jY "Nine-Rubber Wisdom"]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Lots of this in their leaked albums, "A Few Old Tunes" and "Old Tunes Vol. 2". Many of the songs sound nothing at all like what we now know as Boards of Canada, with tracks that sound more like Vaporwave (decades before the genre even existed).

* LongTitle: Their debut album, "Music Has The Right to Children", and one of their EPs, "In a Beautiful Place Out in The Country".
** "Music is Math" and "Alpha And Omega" from Geogaddi both have this.

* WordSaladTitle: They have a penchant for these, sometimes overlapping with WordPureeTitle (mainly on ''Tomorrow's Harvest'').

* HiddenTrack: All of their full-length studio albums have one. ''Music Has the Right to Children'' features "Happy Cycling," the Japanese release of ''Geogaddi'' features "From One Source All Things Depend," and the Japanese release of ''The Campfire Headphase'' features "Macquarie Ridge."

* LastNotenightmare: Inverted in Poppy Seed, the song beginning with a dark and ominous synth and progressing into a more mellow composition.

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo formed of two Scottish brothers, Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin.[[note]]For a while they pulled a WhiteStripes and pretended they were just friends; when asked why they explained that they didn't want to attract needless comparisons to Music/{{Orbital}}, another SiblingTeam electronic band.[[/note]] They are known for their psychedelic, trippy sound constructed by a combination of electronic and normal instrumentation, heavy sound manipulation and processing, trip hop-influenced beats and frequent [[{{Sampling}} samples]], usually drawn from old [[TheSeventies seventies]] media (their name is a nod to the documentaries produced by the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada, which they were heavily influenced by as their family moved to Canada during their childhood) and field recordings. This gives their music a more pastoral and human character compared to other purely synthetic electronic bands. A frequent metaphor/comparison among reviewers is that their music sounds like "the last sounds of a dying machine from TheSeventies that just got recently excavated," or something along those lines.

Among their influences, the brothers have cited The Incredible String Band (claiming shared pastoral sensibilities), Music/JoniMitchell, Music/TheBeatles and Music/MyBloodyValentine. They are also professed fans of {{Radiohead}}.

* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:Tomorrow's Harvest]] is (probably) about this and the events directly preceding it.

* {{Children Are Innocent}}: A recurring theme often either played straight or averted.

* {{Electronic Music}}

* {{Ghibli Hills}}: Boards of Canada is arguably the aural equivalent of this. When they're not being terrifying, that is.

* {{New Sound Album}}: ''The Campfire Headphase'' shifted Boards of Canada's sound into a more guitar, pastoral sound driven direction, mainly to avoid pigeonholing. Fans and critics are divided on whether or not this is for the better.
* {{Nonappearing Title}}: Few of their albums or [=EPs=] feature the album title in a song, ''In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country'', ''Twoism'', and ''Boc Maxima'' being exceptions.

* {{Shout Out}}: The group name is a reference to the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada. Their titles and samples can be pretty heavy on this as well:

* SubliminalSeduction: All of their albums employ heavy use of reversing, which sometimes has landed them in hot water. Notably, some of their shorter songs like "Dandelion" and "Over the Horizon Radar" are made almost entirely of this.[[note]]If re-reversed to hear the original, "Dandelion" turns out to sound a bit like a {{Chiptune}} and "Over the Horizon Radar" is... well, still hauntingly beautiful, but it becomes clearer that its melody is played on a Rhodes keyboard.[[/note]]
* TeenGenius: Considering the fact that Mike was born in 1971 and Marcus in 1973, they technically started Boards of Canada when they were still teenagers, like their Warp labelmate Music/{{Aphex Twin}}. (And much like Aphex, it took them a while to find their trademark style.)

->''Come out and live with a religious community in a beautiful place out in the country''.

Despite the generally sunny, optimistic and vaguely nostalgic character of their music, the brothers have been known to dip into the NightmareFuel well every now and then, especially on ''Geogaddi'' and ''Tomorrow's Harvest''.

!!!Discography:

Major releases:

!!Examples:

* AlternateRealityGame: Sums up their mysterious trail of clues leading up to the announcement of their most recent 2013 album, ''Tomorrow's Harvest''.
* AnAesop: "One Very Important Thought".

* AuthorAppeal: Mike and Marcus are very interested in subliminal messaging, numbers, and cults. Expect references to these, especially on ''Geogaddi''.

* BreatherEpisode: ''The Campfire Headphase'' is a joyful, happy little album sandwiched between the nightmarish ''Geogaddi'' and the eerie ''Tomorrow's Harvest''.

* DownerEnding: "Semena Mertvykh" gives vibes of this in ''Tomorrow's Harvest''

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: supposedly what "Tomorrow's Harvest" is about.

* NonIndicativeName : They are from Scotland, not Canada

** "One Very Important Thought" samples the ending of the 1982 adult film ''A Brief Affair'' on the ''Boc Maxima'' version. For ''Music Has the Right to Children'', the sample was slightly re-recorded, [[http://bocpages.org/wiki/One_Very_Important_Thought replacing "would stop you from viewing an adult film" with "would stop you from listening to Boards of Canada"]].
** They themselves were sampled twice by [[Music/DestinysChild Solange Knowles]], on her tracks "[[CoverVersion Left Side Drive]]" and "This Bird".

** "Telephasic Workshop", among other things, is suggested by [[http://bocpages.org/wiki/Telephasic_Workshop_(song) the BoCpages fansite]] to be a reference to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, best known for its contributions to ''Series/DoctorWho''.

** "Olson" and "Smokes Quantity" are references to the band's friends Melissa Olson (who directed the "Dayvan Cowboy" video) and an unnamed friend who was nicknamed "Smokes Quantity".
** "Pete Standing Alone" is a reference to Pete Standing Alone, a First Nation Canadian who appeared in seven NationalFilmBoardOfCanada documentaries about the Kainai nation, including ''Circle of the Sun''.
** ''Geogaddi'''s title is usually considered to be a {{Portmanteau}} of "Geo-" (Greek for "earth") and "Gaddi", the name of a pacifist, nomadic Hindu tribe from Himachal Pradesh in northwestern India. Its references lean more towards religious symbolism and mathematics ("A Is To B As B Is To C", "The Smallest Weird Number", "Music Is Math").

* SingerNamedrop: "Telephasic Workshop" has a sneaky reference to the band's name, through a vocal sample at 4:39 and 5:17 which says "bordering Canada".

Despite the generally sunny, optimistic and vaguely nostalgic character of their music, the brothers have been known to dip into the NightmareFuel well every now and then, especially on ''Geogaddi''.

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo formed of two Scottish brothers, Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin.[[note]]For a while they pulled a WhiteStripes and pretended they were just friends; when asked why they explained that they didn't want to attract needless comparisons to {{Orbital}}, another SiblingTeam electronic band.[[/note]] They are known for their psychedelic, trippy sound constructed by a combination of electronic and normal instrumentation, heavy sound manipulation and processing, trip hop-influenced beats and frequent [[{{Sampling}} samples]], usually drawn from old [[TheSeventies seventies]] media (their name is a nod to the documentaries produced by the NationalFilmBoardOfCanada, which they were heavily influenced by as their family moved to Canada during their childhood) and field recordings. This gives their music a more pastoral and human character compared to other purely synthetic electronic bands. A frequent metaphor/comparison among reviewers is that their music sounds like "the last sounds of a dying machine from TheSeventies that just got recently excavated," or something along those lines.

* 1998 - ''Music Has the Right to Children''

* ArcNumber: 70. "Sixtyten" is based on how "70" is said in French. ''Geogaddi'' features a song called "The Smallest Weird Number," which happens to be 70. Before being signed to Warp, they were on their own independent label called Music70, which is still co-credited as the label on BoC albums.

* ArcNumber: 70. "Sixtyten" is based on how "70" is said in French. ''Geogaddi'' features a song called "The Smallest Weird Number," which happens to be 70. Before being signed to Warp, they were on their own independent label called Music70.