Okay so I’m gonna start off by saying that Boards of Canada aren’t by any means an underground producer(s), but I feel like they don’t get the level of recognition they deserve so here they are.
Credit where credit’s due, I have listened to their music for a long time but recently re-found my love for trip hop and these guys are still inescapable in the genre. Their style is hard to categorise but they offer a more boom bap/hip hop take on the classic IDM/breakcore sound.
Despite being called ‘Boards of Canada’, the band is based in Scotland and both members are Scottish themselves. You just don’t see that much music coming out of Scotland apart from the occasional Biffy Clyro, Calvin Harris and Lewis Capaldi and say what you want about the aforementioned musicians but they sure broke into the American market, however a band from Scotland breaking into the underground American market? Scenes. I mean it’s probably been done before by some indie band that your weird vegan cousin has heard of, but I can strongly say that it hasn’t been done by a band that doesn’t even have a vocalist.
I find it interesting that their name derives from the National Film Board of Canada which is known for making especially bad movies in the 90’s, and somehow a band managed to incorporate the same vibe into their music and essentially based their whole name and discography on that feel and managed to become one of the nicest listening experiences you’ll hear. I guess nostalgia sells but they were doing it before it was cool and “vintage”. It shows that encapsulating a vintage feel to music goes further than slapping a vinyl crackle track on your beats (guilty).
The influence of Boards of Canada can’t be ignored either I mean take the whole lofi hip hop scene, I also hear influence from famous celebrated producers such as Flying Lotus. Despite the fact I said they’re inescapable from the trip hop genre, I still struggle to actually box them into a specific genre I mean I could easily say that they fit into IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), Ambient, Trip Hop and Downtempo but I’d say mostly IDM. They’re a musical entity that you can’t categorise and in a world where a lot of artists feel the need to fit into a certain genre (guilty again), they serve as a type of artist(s) that can’t and won’t be boxed in, which is a very good place to feel comfortable in. Having said that, being pioneers of that specific 90’s IDM sound I’d say that’s the strongest place to categorise them.
Their 1998 album ‘Music Has a Right to Children’ has to be undeniably their most influential record, which is a real melting pot of sounds and genres with strong IDM emphasis, however their most popular track from that album is a tasty little trip hop track called ‘Roygbiv’, which ironically enough the title fits in with that whole “just press any random letters on the keyboard and Bob’s your uncle” trend that is very reminiscent of the IDM scene.
My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soAH__YofsM
Peace,
Mike
Notes on a Page 