Boards Of Canada - Hi Scores

Brisk, Apr 18, 2006

This was my first taste of BOC, and to this day it remains my favourite release. It is also quite different to everything else theyve released since. There are three tracks on this EP which are particularly strong, and still move me many years after first hearing them.

"Hi Scores" is really special, and combines beautiful pads with crunchy, distorted beats. It is actually one of the darker tracks on the album, and is quite paradoxical to its title - I would have expected Hi Scores to reprasent something more playful and nostalgic - like the first time the brothers played a video game perhaps. Id really like to the know the history of this track.

"Nlogax" starts with a simplistic yet funky 4/4 rhythm, but really starts to get interesting when it metamorphosises into a twisted, skittering, fractured version of its former self. The incomprehensible vocal cutup effect was also used in "Telephasic Workshop", and is also made popular by label-mates Gescom on their track "Keynell".

"Everything You Do Is A Balloon" is painfully beautiful. The melody in particular is superb, and it remains one of their strongest, and most emotive tracks to date.

All in all, an exceptional EP, and one which transcends time and musical trends.... and will always touch the heart.

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