the campfire headphase

i have to admit, this album hasn't improved for me over the last year; if anything, it seems not quite as good as it first did. there are just so many weak tracks, depsite the occasional brilliance

I disagree

this is interesting and quite timely.

 

i was driving into work this morning listening to TCH and thought 'this album is a lot better than my first initial listens'

 

i love how driving 'oscar see through red eye' is... i just want to blast it.

 

i like the subtle use of backwards elements throughout, very Beatlesque qualities.

I think it was difficult for them,because there was a lot of expectation on this album.However,it's a new direction,and i like this novelty.

The Campfire Headphase may be a weak album but at least there is "Slow Thid Bird Down"! Right, playbynumbers? =p

 

Seriously there are not many weak tracks. The only one I could consider boring is "Farewell Fire".

I used to be a BOC fanboi, but I seriously hardly ever feel the urge to play either TCH. They aren't bad, just extremely mediocre. At least there's still the old stuff...

lol, thanks for giving me a non-fanboy reaction

  Enter a new display name said:

Seriously there are not many weak tracks. The only one I could consider boring is "Farewell Fire".

 

agreed, but i felt it was needed to complete the ablum/adventure. i love tch, it feels grounded in it's ways but still carries that magic that boc has.

i agree to disagree

I agree with Playbynumbers' initial post to a degree. When it was released I was buzzing over it, but I reckon now that that was due to the actual excitement of having a new Boards Of Canada album. As time has gone I listen to it less and less. I get the impression at times that they were trying too hard to actually be BoC. The short tracks in particular sound a little contrived and don't work like they did on the previous two albums. Saying all that, it's far from shit and wazzess over most records released in 2005. The album is just somewhat below par by the standards that they've set for themselves.

It's a good album but I don't find myself listening to it that much. It just failed to catch my mind in that indefinable way the previous works have.

I listen to this album with about the same regularity as I do MHTRTC, in that there are quite a few tracks on both that are absolutely brilliant, and a few tracks on both that just meander and add texture to the album as a whole.

 

Favorites one year later:

• Satellite Anthem Icarus: In my opinion, this track holds some of the most beautiful moments BoC have ever acheived...namely the initial break where the beat drops, and then fades into the "B" phrase of the track. The little elegant 3-note synth melody here is one of my favorite things in anything they've ever done. The "C" section of the track is fantastic as well. Thick textures at their best...
• Oscar See Through Red Eye: I had a really special experience when hearing this for the first time, so I'm probably biased. The night it was released on Bleep, I biked through the woods to a little subterranean building out in the forest to access a wireless point with my laptop. I sat out on a hillside in the middle of the night, listening to it with headphones. The details in this track are astounding...prime example of BoC's microtweaking paying off.
• Ataronchronon: One of my favorite short tunes...reminds me of watching a documentary on Native Americans in a little National Park visitor center as a kid.
• Slow This Bird Down: One of the most emotional tracks on the album. Really well placed elements, and great build of elements over time.
• Farewell Fire: I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, but I had a similarly memorable experience to OSTRE with this one. That moment will always come into my head while listening to this tune, so it has a special place for me. I think the slow, slooow fade is actually an excellent way to end the album.

For what it's worth....

 

 

Geogaddi remains on the top of my list...if the Boards could ever top it, I'd be amazed.

this is my favorite BOC album

Oscar kind of leaves me flat. It's too overt, "look at all the cool effects we can do", I acknowledge they are quite skilled at making all sorts of cool sounds but it doesn't really make for a good coherent song. It's just a pile of effects.

Great, just another two (or three) years until something new comes out.

  Moebius said:

Oscar kind of leaves me flat. It's too overt, "look at all the cool effects we can do", I acknowledge they are quite skilled at making all sorts of cool sounds but it doesn't really make for a good coherent song. It's just a pile of effects.

to be honest, i see OSTRE as a new pallete of tools/sounds/effects for future musicians to use in order to tread some extremely interesting ground. it may seem melodically a bit lacking, but there's no doubt to me that it's groundbreaking in its overall texture. this is one of the reasons i have a heavy respect for the track.

The Campfire headphase was my first electronic music album, along with Datach'i's "we are always well thank you" It took me a long time to get into it. After i bought a bunch of Aphex Twin and The Orb, I finally got into it. Oscar See Through Red Eye was the song that got me into the album. I don't think its a pile of effects, i think they all run pretty well together.

 

I think most of the other songs are brilliant too, i didn't think much of Dayvan Cowboy at first, but when they came out with the music vid, it somehow changed my view. Dayvan Cowboy is now one of my favorite BOC songs, tied with many others.

 

Every other song on this album seems really well placed, and it all goes together really well. The only track i can say i dont like that much is A Moment Of Clarity, kind of bores me.

 

Oh yeah, another great track is Macquarie Ridge. If you haven't heard it, it's worth searching for, unlike From One Source All Things Depend from Geogaddi.

 

A bit of trivia, Macquarie is an island south of Australia, i wonder if it had anything to do with the title.

Oscar is definately good, dunno how you think it's not melodic, it works just like an concert peice. We don't have the flute play the melody the whole time, we pass it from instrument to instrument, it's very musical in my opinion, the way it flows from sound to sound is flawless, it's very narative.

  skytree said:

I listen to this album with about the same regularity as I do MHTRTC, in that there are quite a few tracks on both that are absolutely brilliant, and a few tracks on both that just meander and add texture to the album as a whole.

 

Favorites one year later:

[*]Satellite Anthem Icarus: In my opinion, this track holds some of the most beautiful moments BoC have ever acheived...namely the initial break where the beat drops, and then fades into the "B" phrase of the track. The little elegant 3-note synth melody here is one of my favorite things in anything they've ever done. The "C" section of the track is fantastic as well. Thick textures at their best...

 

Yup Satellite Anthem Icarus may be the top track off The Camphire Heahphase alongside '84 Pontiac Dream. I love the distorted choir lines. 2:48 to 3:03 notably.

I think TCH is the weekest of their three LP's, but I still really like the album. There are some songs that I think are throwaways (Hey Saturday Sun, Sherbet Head, Atoronchronon). Other's that I'm indiferent to (Slow This Bird Down, Dayvan Cowboy).

 

However, the rest i think are brilliant. I love:

 

Chromakey Dreamcoat - This is classic boc, the guitar is more overt, but other wise it's a classic boc track.

 

Peacock Tail - possibly one of my favorties of theirs. the beat is simple, but crunchy and crisp. and i love the fuzz on those bass notes. that brilliant.

 

Satellite Anthem Icarus - this song is like a cosmic blowjob. listen to it high and you'll be the happiest stoner on earth.

 

Constants Are Changing - beautiful track

 

Tears From The Compound Eye - beautiful track

 

 

so, yeah. great album. not their best, but it doesn't suck, not even a little.

yeah i would never say that it sucks, but it's just not even close to mhtrtc or geogaddi. mostly i just haven't felt compelled to pull out the TCH vinyl, for months ...

 

the tracks that have held up, for me:

 

sai

peacock tail

dayvan

slow this bird down

 

 

the tracks that i originally felt were just weak throwaway tracks (hey saturday sun, 84 pontiac dream, farewell fire) now seem even worse to me ... over half of TCH is just filler, which is so depressing to me ... the best tracks on TCH are just as good, if not better, than the peaks of previous releases; but as a cohesive album, very disappointing

Yeah, I rarely have the urge to listen to it. Yeah, it's good, but is it anywhere near as good as their previous work? Not even close. There are some brilliant songs: Chromakey Dreamcoat, Satellite Anthem Icarus, Dayvan Cowboy, but the rest of the album is kinda samish and blends together for me. Beyond those tracks, there seems to be very little experimentation that carried their earlier stuff. I don't know; it's just been a let down. I can listen to the entire thing and not think anything is bad, but I just never have the urge to go back to it. Likewise with the EP, except for "Left Side Drive. That's a killer tune.

I like it a lot. It's a "mature" album, which is both good and bad. Nothing that screams musical brilliance as with their earlier work - eg. Everything you do is a balloon, Telephasic workshop, Kid for Today - but very nuanced and flows well. More pop and not as introverted, too, which seems to usually happen when an act get famous.

 

I play it much more than I play Geogaddi. It's the only electronic album by a big name artist that I've enjoyed for years. TCH ep was the dissapointment for me. Very thin, and conservative. Left Side Drive and Heard from Telegraph Lines being the only good tracks imo.

I play it more than the others since it came out, I think its their best album.

 

Not one bad track only really nice ones. It never seems to stop growing, and thats almost scary, not many albums can do that.

a couple of the tracks have grown on me more, but i very rarely listen to this. if i ever decide to listen to BOC it's almost always another release.

  Enter a new display name said:

The only one I could consider boring is "Farewell Fire".

i think that's one of the best ones. along with 84 pontiac dream and dayvan cowboy.

 

and imo skyliner is the best track of the new BOC era.