Zoviet France - Mohnomishe, 1983

[awepittance]

 

 

 

 

Probably one of my favorite if not my my favorite album of all time. Arguably Zoviet's best full length. When I first heard Boards, one of the first things it reminded me of was this album. I'm not sure how many people in here are familiar with it or Zoviet France in general, but if you are a BOC fan I'm sure that you will find something to appreciate here. Zoviet France captured sort of a lofi broken AM radio aesthetic that didn't really come into fashion until fairly recently. BOC was one of the only bands I felt that followed down the same path back when they started putting out music. Anyways, I'm sure there are many other musical linkages you could make to what possibly inspired BOC or what sounded similar that preceded it. Obviously library music and old hip hop played a role. I'm less familiar with that type of stuff, so I thought I'd offer one possible influence to start off the thread.

So instead of this being a thread to hype up Zoviet France some more I thought it could be a good place to post up videos or other artists or albums that (possibly) inspired the music of BOC.


edit: ZF have also been known to do an ambient music/found sound podcast called 'A Duck in a Tree' which has featured BOC several times
http://zovietfrance.podbean.com/2013/02/05/a-duck-in-a-tree-2013-02-02-rotary-waves-formed-from-silence/

 

Edited May 29, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Friendly Foil]

Bibio inspired BOC.

[NorthernFusion]

Bibio wishes he inspired BOC.

Fixt.

[Friendly Foil]

All I know is that Bibio and Marcus Eoin knew each other during the making of Fi. Says so in the inlay for Fi where Bibio thanks him for his support. Don't you think it's just a little curios that BOC suddenly got very interested in old sounding guitar recordings, when both Fi and Campfire came out the same year, (Fi in February, Campfire in October)?

 

Not saying this is a fact, but it doesn't really seem that far-fetched to me. If anyone has some interviews or something that debunks this super amazing theory, feel free to post them.

[NorthernFusion]

"We usually imagine our music to have a visual element while we're writing it, so we were picturing this character losing his mind at the campfire and compressing weeks of events into a few hours, in that time-stretching way that acid fucks with your perception."

 

Confirmed, "this character" = Bibio

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2013 by NorthernFusion

[awepittance]

I guess that counts, but i was thinking musicians from an earlier generation or people that perhaps weren't personally associated with BOC.

[keltoi]

i think boc and bibio have a shared appreciation of the incredible string band.

[funkaholic]

i love zoviet france, don't know how i never saw a connection between them & boc. this suzanne ciani track makes me think of boc:

http://youtu.be/7Gvbj5WD5tE

 

but i also imagine bbc radiophonic workshop was a big influence on them?

[funkaholic]

& this 1

[YangYing]

I just recently started getting into Zoviet France. I'm really, really liking it.

[Guest EleminoP]

Sounds good. I've also recently been getting into Zoviet France but do not yet have this release.

[cichlisuite]

i love zoviet france, don't know how i never saw a connection between them & boc.

 

I don't see the direct connection either. I'm quite sure BOC know about ZF and appreciate their work, but I'd hardly say they have much in common. ZF always had that analogue, DIY pagan-ethno style while BOC is way more accessible in terms of emotions and sound (to the 'average' listener I mean).

[joshuatxuk]

I've seen your mentioning of Zoviet France before (I think in a hauntology thread) and since then I've been very interested in the group, enjoying Shouting At The Ground a lot. A bit overwhelmed by their discography beyond that and Mohnomishe though. I really wonder if BoC is aware of Zoviet France's output - every once in awhile people find remarkably similar music of the same timbres and ethos that were of completely unrelated scenes and genre origins. Sometimes they are parallel developments and sometimes such releases are decades apart. Either way, it's a bit baffling and strange but nonetheless wonderful when such similarities are highlighted.

 

Regarding Boards of Canada, I find ironic that they have such pop-oriented influences they've admitted to: Joni Mitchell, Beatles, My Bloody Valentine (and apparently everyone on this list?) and yet some of the most prominent samples have come from more obscure sources, but ones that they could of easily found in their parents record collection. For instance, "Happy Cycling" has samples from Vangelis, Pink Floyd, and a clip from a ELO interview. In fact, as so often mentioned the bulk of their samples seem to be from less direct influences - tv soundtracks, library music, documentary footage, etc. I think that's why their work was so appealing, it evokes nostalgia for things we can't quite put our finger on, moments of discovery of old things that are new personally. Even as someone who grew up in the 90s mostly I used to spend hours and hours going through old books, magazines, and albums at my grandparents house - things from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Their music seems to go through similar motions. I think that's why artists who've aped their style have been called out, whereas ones who take the same ethos but utilize different sources and techniques are often brilliant imo - VHS Head being a good example.

 

i think boc and bibio have a shared appreciation of the incredible string band.

 

Bibio has mentioned Nick Drake, Tortoise, and Joao Gilberto as influences too in regard to his guitar playing. Well I'm assuming that, someone typed in wikipedia so I hope it's been said interviews, makes sense though.

Edited May 29, 2013 by joshuatx

[kakapo]

zoviet france are from Newcastle and are heavily influenced by the surroundings of Northumberland and the borders, essentially the same landscape as the Pentland hills just to the north.

[Sprillian]

 

i love zoviet france, don't know how i never saw a connection between them & boc.

 

BOC is way more accessible in terms of emotions and sound (to the 'average' listener I mean).

 

Big Zoviet France fan, whereas I only recently dipped my toe into Boards of Canada's discography. The influence is quite apparent now I think about it, although personally I find ZF much more cerebral in terms of process and listening experience. Saying that, I'm a bit of a newb.

[Guest grue]

i suppose Eno and Harmonia are obvious enough influences, but 'When Shade Was Born' seems particularly BoCish

 

[youtubehd]eDHkpHcQ2iA[/youtubehd]

 

 

[keltoi]

zoviet france are from Newcastle and are heavily influenced by the surroundings of Northumberland and the borders, essentially the same landscape as the Pentland hills just to the north.

 

they also have a place name in their title and in some parts of canada people actually speak french.

 

[Guest seeami]

Alain Clavier (and obviously other nfbc composers)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3lFitHsD7Q

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyvjggq3TS4

[Guest fox]

 

 

i love zoviet france, don't know how i never saw a connection between them & boc.

 

BOC is way more accessible in terms of emotions and sound (to the 'average' listener I mean).

 

Big Zoviet France fan, whereas I only recently dipped my toe into Boards of Canada's discography. The influence is quite apparent now I think about it, although personally I find ZF much more cerebral in terms of process and listening experience. Saying that, I'm a bit of a newb.

 

other than shouting and the above mentioned album, where would be a good place to start with ZF, then?

[Sprillian]

 

 

 

i love zoviet france, don't know how i never saw a connection between them & boc.

 

BOC is way more accessible in terms of emotions and sound (to the 'average' listener I mean).

 

Big Zoviet France fan, whereas I only recently dipped my toe into Boards of Canada's discography. The influence is quite apparent now I think about it, although personally I find ZF much more cerebral in terms of process and listening experience. Saying that, I'm a bit of a newb.

 

other than shouting and the above mentioned album, where would be a good place to start with ZF, then?

 

I'm currently enjoying Shadow, Thief of the Sun. Saying that, I don't own their extensive discography.

[awepittance]

if you like Shadow, Shouting and Mohnomishe (which are among their strongest albums)

 

check out:

Loh Land (my personal favorite besides Mohnomishe, probably the perfection of their broken AM radio playing while taking a drive through the Moroccan desert vibe)
Digilogue (much different, more in the style of Mika Vaino, imagine ZF doing really good minimal techno)
Eostre (the album that immediatly followed up Mohnomishe, would make a great soundtrack to a horror film, one of my favorites for sure, i tried writing a screenplay once and for some reason this album ended up taking up half of my imaginary music cues)

and if you like the more Rob Story centric ZF albums (rumor has it and its been more or less confirmed that most of the more famous ZF albums are him solo) check out his official solo project Rapoon. A lot of it is more accessible and purely ambient compared to ZF. Imagine if he did about 15-20 more albums in the style of Shadow but kept making it more palatable until it eventually becomes like Zoviet France meets new age music.

Edited June 2, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Guest WWBJD]

Thanks for the tip on Zoviet France. Never listened before and I really like it!

[Alcofribas]

if you like Shadow, Shouting and Mohnomishe (which are among their strongest albums)

 

check out:

 

Loh Land (my personal favorite besides Mohnomishe, probably the perfection of their broken AM radio playing while taking a drive through the Moroccan desert vibe)

Digilogue (much different, more in the style of Mika Vaino, imagine ZF doing really good minimal techno)

Eostre (the album that immediatly followed up Mohnomishe, would make a great soundtrack to a horror film, one of my favorites for sure, i tried writing a screenplay once and for some reason this album ended up taking up half of my imaginary music cues)

 

and if you like the more Rob Story centric ZF albums (rumor has it and its been more or less confirmed that most of the more famous ZF albums are him solo) check out his official solo project Rapoon. A lot of it is more accessible and purely ambient compared to ZF. Imagine if he did about 15-20 more albums in the style of Shadow but kept making it more palatable until it eventually becomes like Zoviet France meets new age music.

don't meant to hijack this thread but are there rapoon albums to avoid? what are the lushest ones? i've always been curious.

[beerwolf]

Holy fuck

 

Because of this thread I've been youtubing a bit of ZF

 

Check this track out

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XIXmoSYHM

 

insane, sounds like BOC on the creepiest trip. Some of even sounds like Reach for the Dead.

Edited June 3, 2013 by beerwolf

[awepittance]

this give me pretty strong BOC vibes too, otherwise it's just an excellent ambient track, very emotional as far as ambient goes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZD-JLXLAJE