A Strange Harvest

[Joyrex]

Think this may have been inspiration for Tomorrow's Harvest?

 

[ulul]

I'll never understand the hate for TH. It's spectacular, front to back.

[Velazquez]

Wow, seems like it. What a strange film.

[Joyrex]

I'll never understand the hate for TH. It's spectacular, front to back.

Agreed - I think the long period between releases is what (for some fans) doomed TH to never be able to meet their (inflated) expectations. It's a spectacular release. Good as MHTRTC? No, but they really can't be compared. They really are vastly different pieces of music.

[ulul]

MHTRTC is the core BOC sound for me. It's undeniably a perfect album and I don't think they ever came close to its highlights again. Everything else is still great though!

[beerwolf]

I might be wrong on this but I think a lot of their fan base who think The Campfire Headphase is BoC best album don’t like Tomorrows Harvest. That’s what I’ve deduced from browsing twoism.

 

Could do with something fresh from them tbh, I’m a little disinterested in BoC for a while now, need a burst of energy from them to reinvigorate me.

[splbt]

I'll never understand the hate for TH. It's spectacular, front to back.

 

people are just disappointed cause the album cover isn't as IDM-looking as the other ones

[Candiru]

I just think it’s significantly less good than all of their other releases because a lot of the tracks aren’t all that great and some are ok.

[bitchroast]

strong disagree. both good. TH more drab. album has less flow. obviously the drab nature of album reflects the themes and mood. 

production on TCH is so lush. i think i prefer TCH over TH just cos track in track out there's more going on. nicer listen :-) obviously preference tho. Tomorrows Harvest has actually a last track and ends properly which is a bonus, compared to the extended petering out last tracks on TCH which admittedly i normally just put on something else instead of listening thru to the end. 

[Candiru]

TCH has a more easy listening kind of vibe, but the tracks are much more layered and interesting. Literally more to listen for. I liked the style they were going for on Tomorrow’s Harvest but the tracks are like demos for a BoC soundalike SoundCloud artist - which is what I actually thought I was listening to when I downloaded it off an mp3 blog site before getting the album in the mail. Blind taste tests are pretty revealing.

[Friendly Stranger]

TCH has a more easy listening kind of vibe, but the tracks are much more layered and interesting. Literally more to listen for. I liked the style they were going for on Tomorrow’s Harvest but the tracks are like demos for a BoC soundalike SoundCloud artist - which is what I actually thought I was listening to when I downloaded it off an mp3 blog site before getting the album in the mail. Blind taste tests are pretty revealing.

 

Gonna disagree with you there, I think the tracks were distinctly BoC off the bat. Reach for the Dead set the tone. Nothing is Real is BoC perfection to me. I think it might've sounded foreign or different to some because we hadn't heard fresh material in 8 years. It was also a pretty different direction after TCH. 

 

Or, you just don't like it as much and that's totally fine! Nothing on THs sounds like an imitation to me but you know, opinions and all. 

[TubularCorporation]

I've had this on VHS since around 2000, maybe early 2001, it's definitely an amazing source of samples if nothing else.

[Joyrex]

I've had this on VHS since around 2000, maybe early 2001, it's definitely an amazing source of samples if nothing else.

Was it a commercial VHS or did you record it off the television?

[joshuatxuk]

 

TCH has a more easy listening kind of vibe, but the tracks are much more layered and interesting. Literally more to listen for. I liked the style they were going for on Tomorrow’s Harvest but the tracks are like demos for a BoC soundalike SoundCloud artist - which is what I actually thought I was listening to when I downloaded it off an mp3 blog site before getting the album in the mail. Blind taste tests are pretty revealing.

Gonna disagree with you there, I think the tracks were distinctly BoC off the bat. Reach for the Dead set the tone. Nothing is Real is BoC perfection to me. I think it might've sounded foreign or different to some because we hadn't heard fresh material in 8 years. It was also a pretty different direction after TCH.

 

Or, you just don't like it as much and that's totally fine! Nothing on THs sounds like an imitation to me but you know, opinions and all.

 

 

Going to pick apart these a bit, these are interesting observations and I think I can bridge them a bit with my own takes.

 

I agree with Candiru that TCH is more layered and "interesting" in terms of composition (it's arguable what is interesting aesthetically). I never thought of it this way partly because it's a more accessible album and, perhaps more notably, a far more influential album. It's the flag-bearer for BoC ripoffs - sure MHTRTC is more overtly referenced but the post-2005 onslaught of chillwave then vaporwave, beat scene stuff out of LA and elsewhere, producers like Bibio, Bonobo, and general tendencies in indie electronic music toward "chill" stuff via the success of Tycho and now artists like HOME, etc. all stems back to the sound and scope of TCH. So for me it's not a more "BoC" sounding album so much as it's closer to what most associate the group for doing in terms of influence.

 

I also agree with Friendly Stranger that Tomorrows Harvest is unquestionally BoC in sound and direction, it's just of the same bent as darker Geogaddi tracks and stuff like ABITC - it's not so much a more simplistic or superficial sound, while Candiru hit on something by mentioning that, I just disagree that sounds more like "demo" level stuff, instead it's a more minimal palette. Instead of working in more layered melodies, rhythms, and movements these tracks are meticulously crafted with labored over samples and archived recordings. They mentioned a single synth stab that was worked on for hours and hours via VHS tape distorting, digging through older sessions from years ago for specific sonic bits. It's more like plunderphonics cut and past assembly versus more layered and loose songwriting.

 

I feel like this also explains why some feel Tomorrow's Harvest isn't track by track as strong as previous albums but as a whole it's thematically on par with MHTRTC or Geogaddi. Likewise TCH seems more akin to not just the stuff mentioned above but also a chillout classic akin to, I dunno, an Orb album or hell even a comp with Moloko and Moby songs from the 90s. It's still very much Boards of Canada, it just seems so much more "light" and less sinister or esoteric. Like TH is X-Files, MHTRTC/Geogaddi are Twin Peaks season 1-2 & 3, and TCH is Northern Exposure.

[Candiru]

I dunno, part of why I backed away from this kind of music is that I don't always think that BoC laboring over a single sample or synth patch for years is something that makes the music more interesting in the end. I don't think that's particularly cool and think something equally inspired or better could be made spontaneously or with little to no method about it. All we hear is the end result no matter how they did it. 

 

They do all that endless tinkering with individual drum sounds, synth stabs, etc for their own satisfaction. It may or may not have to do with making the music sound fresh or inspired. 

[NewSchoolScience]

I dunno, part of why I backed away from this kind of music is that I don't always think that BoC laboring over a single sample or synth patch for years is something that makes the music more interesting in the end. I don't think that's particularly cool and think something equally inspired or better could be made spontaneously or with little to no method about it. All we hear is the end result no matter how they did it. 

 

They do all that endless tinkering with individual drum sounds, synth stabs, etc for their own satisfaction. It may or may not have to do with making the music sound fresh or inspired. 

 

[joshuatxuk]

I dunno, part of why I backed away from this kind of music is that I don't always think that BoC laboring over a single sample or synth patch for years is something that makes the music more interesting in the end. I don't think that's particularly cool and think something equally inspired or better could be made spontaneously or with little to no method about it. All we hear is the end result no matter how they did it. 

 

They do all that endless tinkering with individual drum sounds, synth stabs, etc for their own satisfaction. It may or may not have to do with making the music sound fresh or inspired. 

 

Yeah, with them it seems part of a process of sifting through a lot of recorded material. Good point though., I remember a Kode9 interview where he mentioned working on tracks from up to 2 years and his stuff is pretty cut and dry and minimal. Very OCD with stuff like bass tones. He said he finds a lot of LA Beat Scene stuff fascinating because some of the producers bang out a track in less than an hour, maybe tweak the mixing but then never go back to it. 

 

TBH Is BoC's music wasn't so appealing to me, and if it wasn't coupled with the expansive imagery, concepts, and easter eggs I wouldn't give a shit about their methods. 

[Joyrex]

I think that whole "obsessing over a single synth, etc." is more mythology than fact - I am sure they spend no more/less time on their tracks than any other artist. That being said, I am sure just like any other artist, they are perfectionists to some degree and some tracks/parts get more attention than others.

[beerwolf]

There's so much time between releases folks think BoC are travelling across the planet looking for synths, meditating on mountain tops trying to envision a certain sound , diving down to the bottom of the sea fighting giant squids looking for a shipwrecked piano, exploring old dusty castles for old dusty keyboards, but obviously music isn't their main source of income and as they can afford to be perfectionists so not much get's released. 

 

Pretty sure the well of mystery that has fed the most ardent BoC geek is drying up, there's nothing much left. I don't think they (BoC) are into it (making music) as much as perhaps their hardcore fans believe they are. If they were really bang into the music like Autechre or Aphex there would be far more activity. But there is nothing. 

 

I really wouldn't be surprised if it's another five years until an album. Expect diddly-squat and you wont be disappointed.

[bitchroast]

i want to see the Boc brothers youtube subscription feed. i’m sure they follow some real obscure synth channels.

[Candiru]

There's so much time between releases folks think BoC are travelling across the planet looking for synths, meditating on mountain tops trying to envision a certain sound , diving down to the bottom of the sea fighting giant squids looking for a shipwrecked piano, exploring old dusty castles for old dusty keyboards, but obviously music isn't their main source of income and as they can afford to be perfectionists so not much get's released.

 

Pretty sure the well of mystery that has fed the most ardent BoC geek is drying up, there's nothing much left. I don't think they (BoC) are into it (making music) as much as perhaps their hardcore fans believe they are. If they were really bang into the music like Autechre or Aphex there would be far more activity. But there is nothing.

 

I really wouldn't be surprised if it's another five years until an album. Expect diddly-squat and you wont be disappointed.

Pretty much.

[joshuatxuk]

Lot of great cold war sheped pop culture and obscure media mentioned on this blog, We Are The Mutants, seems fitting reading for BoC fans. Bit more broad in scope than the usual UK-centric hauntology but nonetheless plenty of articles on that as well.