For those of you not acquainted with Boards of Canada (or BoC, or Boards), this electronic duo is known for its mystery. Not much is known about these two Scottish brothers. What is known is that they spent part of their childhood in Canada. According to a few of the rare interviews with Boards, they draw a lot of inspiration for their music from National Film Board of Canada films that originated during the culture identity seeking era of the late 60s and 70s. The music reminds you of remote industry outposts, visiting Science North in Sudbury, watching outdated nature documentaries in grade-school, or driving along the Trans Canada Highway (which, incidentally, is the name to one of their EPs).
The brothers have managed to create a powerful and mysterious lore surrounding their music. They have a giant backlog of unreleased music that leaks from time to time sparking much debate about each track's authenticity. Their music contains references to numerology, obsessions with subliminal messaging, and mathematical formulas - all of which feed into the rumours surrounding the duo. Stories surround their personal lives that include rumours of cult involvement and wild Hexagon Sun parties. Very little is verifiable though, as the brothers don't ever really engage with the public.
BoC is nothing short of prolific. The chances of you being a fan of electronic music without being able to identify Board's unique sound are slim. Many electronic music artists point to Boards of Canada as a major influence in the development of their sound. However, the closest anyone has ever gotten to sounding like Boards is an artist named Tycho. Boards were creating music that was unheard of (albeit nostalgic) from the mid 90s to 2006.
And then they stopped.
Profound music, a devoted fan base, an alluring and elusive mythology, and a radio silence that has lasted eight full years has created a lot of desperate fans - and Boards of Canada is milking it.
They recently released a set of six audio snippets containing a track matching their characteristic sound. Each track is followed by a series of numbers. A couple of these tracks came from records released on Record Store Day, another was a radio clip on BBC, and still more were from mysterious youtube clips.
The series of numbers has formed a code which as of now is:
------ / 628315 / 717228 / 936557 / 699742 / 519225
Speculation as to what the code means has created a cult following that is both fascinating and frustrating. Does it indicate the release date of a new album? Does the code represent a new album name? Is it all just one big hoax? (Not according to Warp Records, but who said we can trust them?)
As a lover of puzzles, I'm tickled. As a lover of Boards, I'm tormented.
Either way, Boards of Canada - or whoever is behind this - are either incredibly brilliant when it comes to hype, or incredibly cruel when it comes to toying with the hearts of fans that have waited so long to hear from their beloved.
I'm going to come out and call Boards of Canada the biggest tease I know. Now excuse me while I go listen to Geogaddi for the millionth time.
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