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http://www.formspring.me/josefkenny

A nugget of brilliance from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – as appropriate now as when it was recorded. Thanks to RileyELFuk for posting this to YouTube.

A remix I’ve just finished of the Doctor Who theme tune, inspired by the 1980 Peter Howell theme, and some others. Enjoy. MP3 download.

I’ve been a Boards of Canada fan for a few years. There’s something about their mellow-yet-joyful, nostalgic-yet-timeless, analogue-yet-futuristic form of electronica that’s wonderfully unique – even now, more than 20 years on from their very first recordings they still sound totally apart from everyone else around.

Indeed, I’ve never been ashamed to say I’m inspired by them a lot in my own music. The conciseness of their work (a number of the tracks on their albums are less than a minute long) is mirrored in their succinct approach to music. The simplicity and abstraction apparent in their attitude is interestingly reminiscent of a number of 70s progressive rock bands (Pink Floyd, Genesis, and co spring to mind) as well as the first few years of Art of Noise; although BoC are perhaps even more secretive. Observing their music, it’s easy to draw comparisons with a musician 100 years prior, Claude Debussy.

Both seem shy of publicity, with Debussy famously hating to play piano in public, and allegedly even preferring the company of cats to people. Both were remarkably consistent – a Debussy piece is unmistakably a Debussy piece; Boards of Canada’s albums are so diverse in themselves yet so consistent with each other that it is often hard to remember which track appears on which album. And, crucially, both produced music of great emotional weight that seems to exist effortlessly and organically; a timeless void seeming to take inspiration from both the past and the future (Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, for example, features inspiration from the archaic Passepied, incorporates both Baroque sensibilities and exotic eastern harmonies, and arguably set the tone for much instrumental music in the century it preceded).

By far my favourite Boards of Canada piece is Boc Maxima and Music Has The Right To Children‘s ‘roygbiv’. Whilst the harmonic content in many BoC tracks is fairly experimental, occasionally bordering on the almost atonal, this track has a pure, innocent, assuredness about it. A striking example of their (often overlooked) musical prowess is the way the opening bassline thunders into existence, appearing to want to heed the arrival a downbeat, minor-key piece is counteracted beautifully by the introduction of the rest of the arrangement. And, almost magically, what we thought was an F#minor is in fact B major – BoC have committed an altered root to essentially every chord in the song. And when, later, the bassline drops away, we are left with what sounds like a completely different chord sequence. But on close examination, it hasn’t changed one bit. This is excellent instrumental composition in its purest form. You can listen to it here.

I decided to cover this track last year, and after a number of YouTubers asked for an MP3 download, I’ve put it up on my music site and this weblog:

Enjoy.

My debut EP, released January 1st 2010. Read More »