Dauphin

The second in our series of guest posts by other music writers & bloggers. Tonight’s piece was written by Stu, who edits the Tidal Wave Of Indifference blog and contributes to Radar. It’s about the album Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada.

When I first heard Music Has the Right to Children, it truly was like nothing else I’d ever encountered.

The reviews suggested something that an indie fan who had been dabbling in electronica (mostly Orbital and the Chems) might enjoy and I had tasted Roygbiv on a Matador compilation a few months before I picked up the album. But the opening synths on Wildlife Analysis, before it warps into An Eagle In Your Mind still transports me to another world entirely.

It also reminds me of a very specific few months of my life when I had just started the job I’m still in to this day (albeit now a few rungs higher on the ladder) and was bedding down at a friend’s parents house.

I was also coming out of a short-lived but fairly tempestuous relationship and stumbling into another one, which everyone around me assumed was going to be little more than a rebound hook-up (in short I married her – take that, doubters!).

Anyway, I’m digressing… a chaotic time in my life – and I’ve not even mentioned the drinking, narcotics and fighting yet – but right at the heart of it was just over an hour of calm created by two Scottish brothers.

Eleven years ago this album played softly in the background was helping me sleep in my makeshift digs with the swirl of synths and samples providing the perfect state of mind in which thoughts of the wider world could be banished and blessed sleep could finally catch up with me.

Turned up too, it works a charm. The aforementioned Roygbiv (video above) is a thumping tune, marred only by its shortness. Telephasic Workshop and Rue the Whirl benefit from some hammering bass sounds.

So almost twelve years later this is probably still my most played record. Whether as a sleep aid or something stronger, its unique sounds still intrigue and beguile to this day.

Many have tried to copy the Boards of Canada template with a 100% fail rate. Even if the duo never resurface they’ve left their mark on the world and this one music fiend in particular.

@stu_lewis