Thirty years on from the emergence of Chicago house and Detroit techno, electronic dance music has been pretty well integrated into the mainstream entertainment industry. Now we don’t just have superstar types like Skrillex and Steve Aoki, but also a whole tier of underground stars DJing and playing live regularly to massive club and festival crowds. For many who’ve been involved in aspects of the genre for a while, both the star system and the lack of innovation in the consumed canon can get a bit distressing. 

Thankfully, some EDM artists have managed to scrupulously avoid the limelight—eschewing most live opportunities and even interviews—and let their music speak for themselves. Along with Burial, Warp label duo Boards of Canada—comprising Edinburgh musicians and siblings Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin—has worked almost facelessly in a scene filled with fame-hungry clowns. BoC’s blend of substantive synth sounds, emotive ambience, and electro- and hip-hop-referencing beats has enchanted a fan-base that’s only grown since they released their debut EP Twoism in 1995.

Now their new album Tomorrow’s Harvest—their fourth studio set and first release in eight years—has become one of the more anticipated album releases of the year. So it’s as good a time as any to note the recent posting on Mixcloud of this 2002 mix that BoC did for the Helter Skelter radio show on Paris-based community station Aligre FM. Broadcast just as the band released their claustrophobic second album Geogaddi, the mix features lots of rare bits from their early-‘90s era, along with remixes of electronica peers like Meat Beat Manifesto, and R&B stalwarts Colonel Abrams and Midnight Star. Although it’s been dispersed via MP3 amongst BoC fanatics, it’s good to see this excellent broadcast finally on stream.

Here’s the tracklist:

PART1
01:20 - 05:30 - “1969” (Geogaddi)
05:30 - 09:30 - “Chinook” [Extended] (Aquarius) [WITH CHAT]
09:30 - 13:11 - “M9” (Boc Maxima)
13:11 - 18:45 - “Korona” (Mask100)
18:53 - 21:55 - “Smokes Quantity” (Twoism / MHTRTC)
21:55 - 24:59 - “Soylent Night” [Hell Interface] (Whine & Missingtoe)
24:45 - 29:28 - Colonel Abrams “Trapped” [Hell Interface Remix] (Mask200)
29:25 - 32:50 - “Music Is Math” (Geogaddi) [WITH CHAT]

PART 2
32:46 - 37:52 - “Turquoise Hexagon Sun” (Hi Scores / MHTRTC)
37:52 - 44:28 - “Chinook” [Extended] (Aquarius)
44:28 - 49:45 - “Sixtyten” (MHTRTC)
49:45 - 54:22 - “Orange Romeda” (WAP100 - We Are Reasonable People)
54:22 - 58:00 - “Music Is Math” (Geogaddi) [WITH CHAT]

PART 3
57:58 - 65:00 - “XYZ” (Peel Session - not on CD)
64:42 - 69:18 - Midnight Star “Midas Touch” [Hell Interface Remix] (Mask500)
69:18 - 70:22 - “A is to B as B is to C” (Geogaddi)
70:22 - 74:20 - Bubbah’s Tum “Dirty Great Mable” [BOC MIX] (Dirty Great Mable) [WITH CHAT]
74:20 - 76:13 - “Music Is Math” (Geogaddi) [WITH CHAT]
76:36 - 82:25 - Michael Fakesch “Surfaise” (Trade Winds Mix by BOC) [PLAYED TOO SLOWLY]
82:15 - 85:43 - Meat Beat Manifesto “Prime Audio Soup” [Vegetarian Soup by BOC] (Prime Audio Soup) [PLAYED TOO SLOWLY]
85:13 - 86:41 - “From One Source All Things Depend” (Geogaddi - Japanese Bonus Track)
86:40 - END - “Poppy Seed” [BOC Remix] (Slag Boom Van Loon - So Soon) [WITH CHAT]
 

Boards of Canada the legendary Helter Skelter Radio Show 2002 by Abstractmovies on Mixcloud

BOC fan art by Fel1x

Daft Punk aren’t the only stars of 90s electronica making a comeback this year. As you may have heard, Boards of Canada are set to return after an 8 year hiatus, with new album Tomorrow’s Harvest due to drop next month.

Billboard reports:

The influential electronic duo, comprising Scottish sibling producers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, announced their Warp Records effort will land this June—their first full length album since 2005’s critically-acclaimed Campfire Headphase and their first set of new works since 2006’s Trans Canada Highway EP.

Tomorrow’s Harvest will arrive June 7 in Australia (through Inertia), June 10 in the U.K. and Europe, and June 11 in North America.

Boards of Canada are the most enigmatic of acts. They’ve never dominated any charts—of their three previous studio albums, their sophomore set Geogaddi has the highest U.K. chart peak at No. 21. And they’re not road-hogs. In fact, they’ve only played publicly on a handful of occasions, and never in the past 10 years.

But their recordings-to-date have set the tone for low-key electronic music. Their return to the music world will be rejoiced by a global cult of followers.

Anticipation is very high indeed.

So high, in fact, that some enterprising tyke is currently selling a BOC promotional 12” on Ebay for a staggering four and a half grand (down from five grand yesterday).

When I found this record I was anticipating some sort of unreleased track, which excited me in an almost frightening way (its just music.. right?). So when I first played the record, needless to say, I was mystified, and in some ways disappointed, but that disappointment would soon disappear. What I got instead, the experience of calling out to the web and watching the internet and its many niche-communities rally to pick apart this puzzle, was something I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around, but I am at any rate incredibly thankful to have been a part of this ...thing. Now, as much as this record means to me, I’m just a college kid getting ready to graduate and move abroad and am in serious need of money, thus, as hard as it is to let this record go nothing will erase the experience of pursuing the answer this record made me ask, and moreover the satisfaction of having that question answered by the hard work of my fellow nerds (new album, yay!). My thanks to the highest bidder for helping me start out on my own, and to the web community at large for making these last two weeks so incredibly memorable. new album June 10!!! hurray!

If you have the dosh, you can be the talk of all your EDM friends.

EDIT: As it turns out, this record isn’t even the new album, it contains less than a minute’s worth of music and a string of numbers. Even better! Apparently there have only been two copies of this record pressed up, hence the high price (though I am suspicious of that claim, unless the record is actually an acetate?)

Of course, this may all be part of the current viral “mystery” marketing campaign for Tomorrow’s Harvest‘s upcoming release (edit: looks like it is) which has seen cryptic clues being left all over the web for fans to decipher and follow. I prefer to think of it as more proof the the Illuminati run music, but if you’re in a Scooby Doo-mood for solving mysteries with a groovy soundtrack, then hop on over to the Cosecha Transmisiones website and get stuck in.

In the meantime, here’s a teaser video for the upcoming album, somewhat reminiscent of Prince Of Darkness on very heavy downers:
 

 
Over a decade ago, Travis Stewart, aka Machinedrum, stumbled on a bootleg of Boards of Canada performing at the Warp Records 10th Birthday Party in 1999. The last unnamed track BOC played that night was a mystery to Travis, who thought it:

‘quite possibly one of my favorite things they have done and really is a shame it never came out’

Fast forward to 2012, and Travis/Machinedrum has now made his own version of this unknown Boards of Canada track, as he explains:

I decided to take this bootleg recording and re-produce it for fun. Using the recording I laid new drums over the existing drum patterns (almost 100% accurate to original), replayed some synth parts and the bassline. The only thing I didn’t try to re-create was the original vocoder parts and some random samples so I used the original bootleg recording for that. I was tempted to make a shorter 4-5 minute version but I figured I should preserve the original piece in its intended length.

This is the finished result and it is quite incredible.
 

 
Original bootleg of BOC performing at Warp party, after the jump…
 
With thanks to John Kowalski and Glenn McQuaid
 

 
A beautiful video made by qrotozoa productions (aka Espen Hagejordet) from 7500 images shot over 12 hours, at Sør-Fron, Norway, using a Nikon D5000. The marriage between the music of the Boards of Canada (“In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country”) and qrotozoa’s images is near perfection.  Put on headphones, click full screen, enjoy.

More of qrotozoa’s exquisite work here.
 

 
This seems like a nice way to end a Wednesday. Enjoy.

From DJ Oscar: “Here are 25 tracks in little over 30 minutes, celebrating those wonderful small pieces of sound and music that piece together the much loved Boards of Canada albums and early tapes.”
 

 
(via KFMW)