Boards Of Canada - The Campfire Headphase

I think that the title can be seen as summing up this album aptly - judge this book by it's cover...

It has taken much criticism on the chin, mainly from their die-hard fans. I think the mildly analogue-warmed, fuzzy guitar's and chilled trip-hop suit a chilled campfire session with your good friends. Just don't forget to bring the bifta's, as BoC build a calming fire on the hill, looking back over their decidedly trippy, moody past and looking over the brow towards their next album, which no-one will know what to expect from.

A clever move I think - the right thing for them to have released in 2005...

In my not so humble opinion, this album severely disappoints when you compare it to their older work. Too many guitars, too many playful silly loops, and a general flat sounding and repetitive production. Where is the trademark nostalgic and slightly disturbing BoC mood? Sadly only on 'Oscar see through red eye', which is (because of its mood?) such an incredibly beautiful tune it sticks out immediately. It might as well have been a lost track from the geogaddi era.

It hurts to write this, being a massive fan, but this is their least challenging and least gratifying album to date.

This album is very far from dark and sinister sounds of Geogaddi. It returns to the MHTRTC ambience. This album is an ode to pop music ("Satellite Anthem Icarus", "Hey Saturday Sun", "'84 Pontiac Dream"). This album is a mix between post-rock melodies of "Davyan Cowboy" and new-age-like tracks like "Peacock Tail". This album is a BoC album, with usual 1 minute long interludes...

This album is a return to Music Has The Right To Children but it is also an album with new sounds.

This album is magic.

For my money, THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE is a completely different animal from their early classic MUSIC HAS A RIGHT TO CHILDREN, and that's to its credit. "Chromakey Dreamcoat" has a folksy lo-fi quality to it that remains haunting even as the beats and fuzzy layers kick in. "Satellite Anthem Icarus" is like driving down Pacific Highway 101 with the top down, while "Peacock Tail" stumbles along lazily. The bucolic quality of their work is undiminished, but also gone is the icy quality that marked tracks such as "Blue Hexagon Sun." Instead, "Dayvan Cowboy" is all dreamy pastels, while "'84 Pontiac Dream" piles on the layers in watercolor psychedelia. "Hey Saturday Sun" returns to the post-rock lo-fi feel before blossoming forth, and "Slow This Bird Down" has such a sedate beat that it verges on ambient. A change of direction for the Boards of Canada boys, and a beautiful one at that.

This is the album I was hoping for when Geogaddi came out! Although the instrumentation is a bit different and they're using more straight guitar sounds, the overall feel is closer to Music Has The Right To Children than Geogaddi.

For those of you who felt cheated by the bonus track on the Geogaddi Japanese edition, and you're wondering if it's worth the extra cash for this bonus track edition, it most certainly is! 'Macquarie Ridge' is a fully realized track, and fits easily among the best tracks on the album. It probably even could have been a great single along with 'Oscar See Through Red Eye' and 'Dayvan Cowboy.'

I'll admit, I was disappointed with this album when I first picked it up (and still am) since the sound here is a major departure from everything I loved about their earlier albums. Several factors came together with the early BoC material that I thought were great: the experimentation, the cryptic nostalgia (or whatever it was exactly I'm still having trouble figuring out), the odd samples and melodies, etc. all juxtaposed against downtempo breaks.

The one thing that really took me by surprise with this album is that the fuzzy, nostalgic warmth is completely missing from each and every track. The sounds and melodies that make you feel like you're surrounded by a thick blanket of fog during sunrise in the cold north just vanished and I guess, like many others, I just wasn't ready to see these things disappear. Still, I can't say that I hate Boards of Canada for putting this cd out, since rarely do you come across any artist(s) capable of releasing as many fine albums as they have for so many years now.

This CD is my first exposure to BOC, and it is amazing. The short but very sweet intro brings you into the well used guitar of "Chromakey Dreamcoat", which goes to "Satellite Anthem Icarus", which sounds like being swept away on the wind across an ocean or something. "Peacock Tail" Is a beautiful track as well, where melody is strongly utilized. The whole album is a masterpiece, I love every moment of it... I am looking forward to my next BOC purchase.

Lots of lovely warm clicks pops and long drawn sounds, a lot of similarities to autechre from their 1997-1999 era but much warmer and less clean cut.

"Farewell fire" is the best track here for me... almost sounds like BOC became as obsessed with Autechre's "Drane" (not Drane 2) as i did, and then reworked the concept into a distinctly original and equally brilliant piece of music.

Take the phone off the hook, turn the other one off, sit back in a comfy chair, do a sound check, brew a pot of Oolong and drift away for an hour and a half.

BoC has always been the center of topic when a new album is approaching, and as Geogaddi came and many criticized it for its extreme diversity from their previous album, over time it grew on many of those 'nay-sayers' and now everyone has another album to bag on.

'The Campfire Headphase' which was leaked onto the internet as many different version (only one being by the BoC duo)...finally arrived in October and many people enjoyed it and many did not. The two biggest problems people had with this album were the Acoustic Guitar that they implemented in almost every song, along with the simplistic vibe that the album seemed to give off. In fact many people claim that BoC have sold out and have let the recent boom of twangy guitar samples, and IDM fuzz get to them.

'The Campfire Headphase' is my favorite album by far as far as enjoyment...as far as skill it doesn't quite surpass their previous album Geogaddi. The album seems to incorporate a very mellow and 'soft on the ears' approach, which is not common for BoC release. Tracks like 'Peacock Tail' and 'Dayvan Cowboy' obstain from their typical haunting melodic approach's and dwelve into a more Downtempo, Accoustic approach...while still retainng there slightly strange backings of ambient sounds/samples/synths. Tracks like '84 Pontiac Dream' and 'Oscar See Through The Redeye' seem to touch base with aspects that fade between 'MHtRtC and Geogaddi'. Pretty much the rest of their tracks stick with the downtempo/accoustic approach that they seem to enjoy right now.

This album by no means is a cop-out album or an attempt to please the avg fans...in fact it's done quite the opposite obviously...anyways you angsty nay-sayers wait till in about 6 months you realize how much better this album is than most of the electronic releases in the past year or so.

P.S. favorite track is 'Constants Are Changing' --- Enjoi ;D

I remember Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher) once said in an interview that he was so impressed with Boards of Canada because it seemed like they didnt pay attention to what was going on in modern electronic music. Well it seems that Boc is paying attention now with this release. The sound is pushed straight into the current post rock electronic trend going 'round. Guitars gallore and more acousting drum kits with simpler programming. They can only go up from here.