|
|
Music CD - Boards of Canada: Geogaddi
|
Music CD: Geogaddi
Artist: Boards of Canada
List Price: $17.98
Our Price: $12.10
Your Save: $ 5.88 ( 33% )
Availability: Usually ships in 5 to 7 days
Manufacturer: Warp Records
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Tracks:
|
1. Ready Lets Go
2. Music Is Math
3. Beware the Friendly Stranger
4. Gyroscope
5. Dandelion
6. Sunshine Recorder
7. In the Annexe
8. Julie and Candy
9. The Smallest Weird Number
10. 1969
11. Energy Warning
12. The Beach at Redpoint
13. Opening the Mouth
14. Alpha and Omega
15. I Saw Drones
16. The Devil Is in the Details
17. A Is to B as B Is to C
18. Over the Horizon Radar
19. Dawn Chorus
20. Diving Station
21. You Could Feel the Sky
22. Corsair
23. Magic Window
|
|
|
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0801061010126
Label: Warp Records
Manufacturer: Warp Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Warp Records
Release Date: 2002-02-19
Studio: Warp Records
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Warning: Not like the last album, not like the next one, either.
Comment: I've been belaying this review for a long time. Since the album has been around for six years, I'm already late, but I've only been listening to it for three, so I'm only half as late as some.
I've read some of the lowest rated reviews, and some of them have good points: "This is not Music Has a Right to Children," "It's weird," "It's evil," and "It's garbage." Respectively, my opinion on those four matters are as follows; yes, sometimes, wrong, and that's your opinion.
For those of you expecting the flutey melody lines of Music Has a Right to Children, expect to be surprised. Or disappointed. Whichever you choose. Boards of Canada has yet to duplicate the same techniques in a subsequent album (since the release of The Campfire Headphase, this is almost an understatement). For those of you looking for upbeat lyrics and pop hooks, stop reading this and look up something you could listen to on hit radio.
An octopus would rather solve a puzzle than eat food, and may even starve itself to death trying. For me, this album is a labyrinthian puzzle, with unheard of angles and tortuous progressions. I have listened to it to the point where I wonder why I like it (since my wife definitely does not), and I begin to question what, specifically, creates some of the disturbing atmosphere. I never think of listening to this album as "just" anything. I don't listen to it when I'm cleaning, I pause it if I'm on the phone, and I don't sing along to it in the shower, and I always play it loud, just to submerse myself into it, rather than let it drift up from behind me.
Geogaddi is a deviation from the ethereal, floating space that welcomed the listener in Music Has a Right to Children. In it's place is a distressed and warped journey from Ready Let's Go to Secret Window. It could be mistaken for a destroyed vinyl LP soundtrack from a 1970s horror film.
When I first started listening to Boards of Canada, I remember thinking that Geogaddi had the property of making the listener feel isolated and alone (a contrast to The Campfire Headphase, incidentally). I remember also thinking that the musical movements had a quality of consumption, and not the sweet, slow consumption one might experience while drinking a milkshake. No, this was to be compared with swallowing a teaspoon of hydrochloric acid, feeling your insides burn as they were being eaten away. Of course, this is only a feeling brought on by listening. A graphic example, but I really had nothing else in mind.
I became a fan of electronica in the late nineties, specifically styles branched from the House style, but eventually I started listening to Trance, Rave, and Techno. All of which lose their shine very quickly, and become repititous. What I appreciate about Boards of Canada is that they base themselves in electronica without making it sound like electronica.
If I was to sum up the entire album, I would have to use the word, "Fire." The sound is dry, often crackling, and makes one feel as if they are being consumed. An interesting feeling, considering that this is a musical recording, but these boys have done it. Once I began to think of it in that vein, each track seemed to lose it's individuality, and the album seemed more whole and less of the "all over the board with weird." If you want something interesting, here it is. If you want to listen to something without having to think about it, you should have already looked up hit radio.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Darker Than You Think
Comment: Boards of Canada are interesting in that they have a tendency both to fulfill and confound expectations. In crafting their follow-up to what many consider their landmark album, Music Has The Right To Children, a typical BoC follower would have expected one of two things: either a continuation in the tradition of MHTRTC, or some sort of evolution that would take the Boards style to entirely new territory. Instead of committing to either fan, the Brothers Sandison did a little of both.
You can make a checklist of similarities between albums: obscure vocal samples, featuring child's voices? Yep. Fuzzy, warbling modulated analog synths? There. Downtempo bass and beats? Uh-huh. But just as the seasoned BoC listener starts to get comfortable, something starts to feel... off. A track filled with helium-light synths over the sound of crackling vinyl seems cheerful enough until you notice the track name is "Beware the Friendly Stranger". The child's voice on "Gyroscope" seems less playful than neutered, disintegrating, trapped in some horrible alternate dimension barely hidden behind rolls of aggressive tabla-ish percussion.
The more you pay attention to Geogaddi, the more disturbing details can pop out from behind odd corners, only to fade back into deceptive calm, leading to a very unnerving but equally involving experience. This feeling reaches its climax at the very end of the album, on one of the standout tracks, "You Could Feel The Sky". A chorus of halting, gurgling "ahs" provides the backdrop for a simple, propulsive beat as the song clouds over with layers of atmosphere. Towards the middle of the track, this gives way to a peaceful melody on what sounds like a pan flute. Immediately following this is the sound of a man screaming, pitch-manipulated into a surreal, primal two-note melody. It's uniquely disturbing.
Of course, Geogaddi has its flaws. The album could have used some trimming: some tracks such as "Alpha and Omega" and "The Beach at Redpoint" are short on ideas and fail to stand out, but these pale in comparison to two tracks which threaten to give the entire game away, "The Devil Is In The Details" and "A is to B as B is to C". The former features a repetitive synth pattern treated with delay, combined with a repeated sample of an infant wailing and a granulized monologue which could best be described as New Age medicine going demonic. The latter is a mess of goofy vocal sampling and filter sweeps without any real structure. The subliminal messages were probably intended as a joke, but combined with the 66:06 running time those tracks are too blatantly obvious to be either creepy or funny.
Of course, it's hard to argue with value. Anyone with iTunes can pick out the tracks that don't work for them, and anything that can be considered filler is easily balanced out by the highlights, such as the magnificently warped "Dawn Chorus". A wave of warm static merges with pitch-bent, ever-so-slightly out of tune chirps and a manipulated sample of a woman crying out to create an indescribable mix of elation and uncertainty. When off-kilter strings enter the picture is complete; the song is the cracked-mirror image of mainstream electronica songs like "Porcelain" by Moby.
If, as BoC have said, Geogaddi is a journey, it's something akin to a voluntary bad acid trip, disturbing and thrilling in equal measure. Set in the background it could make bizarre easy listening music. Listen to it closely and it might devour your soul. It may not be for everyone, but for me it's more effective than either MHTRTC or The Campfire Headphase, striking a perfect balance between pretty and sinister. A defining album for the artists.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of Boards
Comment: I found Boards of Canada on pandora.com, when creating a song list based on the music of Brian Eno.
I was immediately astonished by 'Satellite Anthem Icarus', one of many superb tracks off of the Boards' latest LP, 'The Campfire Headphase.' Campfire is a milestone for modern music, featuring layered samples, synths, reverb, acoustic and electric guitars. 'Dayvan Cowboy' from Campfire is one of the greatest single pieces of electronic music ever recorded (and the video found for this track found on the band's website).
After some months of plumbing the pleasures of Campfire, I delved into Board's first LP, 'Music has the Right to Children.' No complaints here - this is another tasty set of electronic delights. At times, though, Children drifts a little too far in the direction of house, a tad too meaty on the beat and bass, with the sublime complexity one craves from Boards to be somewhat lacking, especially with the latter tracks.
As luck would have it, my Volvo CD Changer ate Children, and I had to ship the whole unit (w/ the CD in there) to the manufacturer. The dealer promised I would eventually get the CD back but, in the meantime, my brain was bugging me to get on with more Boards.
Really having no choice, Geogaddi found its way into my neural net and - sans doute - this is the Board's consistent best LP to date. The shear creativity that went into creating Geogaddi inspires awe. And, no, this is not machine music. It has warmth, and weirdness - including bizarre samples (including Leslie Nielsen's (?) voice on the track 'Dandelions'), and infant voices.
'Sunshine Recorder' features a shuffling beat, recorded loops, and multiplying synthesizers which culminate in a child's voice, insisting that the listener "give us the place." The context of this sample makes one's skin crawl. It is utterly weird, yet tuneful and, somehow (after a few listens), accessible.
Other reviewers have noted other standout tracks, such as 'Julie and Candy', '1969', 'Beach at Redpoint', 'Alpha & Omega.'
'The Devil is in the Details' features a distorted sample of some sort of self-help guru, whose voice seems to bubble up through mud, juxtaposed against an infant's plaintive wailing. Another oddly compelling, totally original, composition.
There are 23 tracks here but the odd numbered tracks, for the most part, are little bridge songs. Most of these are decent. There are a few throwaways ('Dandelion' being among them). But the shear number of great tracks makes this CD a 'must have' for anyone who digs electronic music.
After just a few years, Boards of Canada has established a catalogue of some of the best produced electronic music ever made.
Geogaddi stands as their current masterpiece.
5 Stars all the way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Album
Comment: Geogaddi is a great album but pales in comparison to the glorious "Music has the Right to Children." Maybe it's the indie kids who gave bad reviews with statements about how they didn't evolve enough, or possibly the fact that it's predecessor meant so much to me, but I think I just expected more from this album. It has some great moments like "Julie and Candy," "1969," and "Alpha and Omega," packaged with some dark imagery with backmasking, subliminal sounds, and references to David Koresh (weird). Overall this album, though darker, is a warm album. The colors aren't as vivid as "Music has the Right to Children," but they're still utterly beautiful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: good, i think
Comment: I actually like this album better than the other ones, some say it's dark but i like it , it's ok.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Geogaddi, like Boards of Canada's 1998 debut album, Music Has the Right to Children, drifts its way into consciousness, rolling a fog of dark-hued psychedelia over slow-burning, lullaby melodies. Having led a reclusive existence in their Hexagon Sun studio, shunning interviews and live shows in an effort to escape the shrill, loud praise that accompanied Children's release, the enigmatic Scottish duo has stayed focused, creating another tour de force in the process. Geogaddi opens with no fanfare, with the bare hum of "Ready Lets Go" blossoming into the soporific, hypnotic chimes of "Music Is Math". But for the next 65 minutes, it's clear that while BOC move slow, they do so with the power of shifting glaciers. All their old influences--the noise-as-melody drone of My Bloody Valentine, the brave futuristic synths of Neu!--remain, but more than anything, Geogaddi is about the vivid sense of warm melancholy that lingers when the music fades out. It's another slow-burner, but Geogaddi is as utterly essential as its predecessor. --Louis Pattison
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
