Boards of Canada

I'm not generally a fan of electronic music, but Boards of Canada sits near the top of my all time favorite artists. I've read that BoC use analog and electronic equipment to make songs inspired by analog soundtracks to mid-20th century documentaries, particularly those created by the Film Board of Canada. I grew up in the 80's on a viewing diet of primarily documentaries, so it makes sense that I identify with their sound; there's probably some a substantial region of my subconscious dedicated to auditory memories their music taps into.

A couple years ago when I was teaching myself how to use Photoshop, I created a serious of pictures inspired by Boards of Canada and 126 cartridge film -I wanted to use modern software to recreate older images. 126 was the type of film that went into those thin, rectangular cameras with the cubic flash bulbs on top. More accomplished Photoshoppers than me will undoubtedly find these photos amateurish, but I think they're kind neat, at least in concept. Here's a few a samples. More at my Flickr set. I've linked the titles to Youtube videos for the songs. A lot people are doing neat videos with BoC stuff on Youtube.

"A Moment of Clarity" - Willow Spring Lake on the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona.

"84 Pontiac Dream" - Beeline Highway, Route 87 heading Northeast from Phoenix Arizona. August 2007.

"Constants are Changing" Trail 535, Willow Springs Area Trail, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona. August 2007.

"Triangles and Rhombuses" Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

"Turquoise Hexagon Sun" Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona, March 2008.