AFOT & Boc Maxima tapes in Ypsilanti

Two users on Twoism have corroborated that Todd Osborne has original cassette copies of A Few Old Tunes & Boc Maxima in his Ypsilanti record store 'Technical Equipment Supply'! Did anyone here who went there see them also? Here are pics the OP of the Twoism topic took:

 

 

The Twoism topic which contains some additional info/anecdotes:

http://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13775

Whatever. I'm so tired of material fetishism. Don't get me wrong: boards of canada is my favorite band in the whole wide world and all my friends make jokes about how many BOC shirts I have in my rotation, posters on my while, etc., but I just can't get excited because some dude a couple hours away from me has one of thirty of those tapes. It's not like there's unheard material on there. It's not like the actual existing BOC official catalogue isn't amazing in itself. I mean, for fuck's sake, I just want for them to move forward at this point. I'm excited about their latest prophesy, as "Tomorrow's Harvest" appears to be right on track for setting the soundtrack for a future we might be living in. Where are they going? That's an exciting question to me. "Oh, some dude touched another dude's old copy of a tape that my favorite band really isn't happy about being passed around?" Far less exciting. 

 

I might just be a contrary cunt, but I'm not very excited about people bragging about touching physical things any more. Sorry. 

i agree with you

  On 7/6/2017 at 12:27 AM, apriorion said:

Whatever. I'm so tired of material fetishism. Don't get me wrong: boards of canada is my favorite band in the whole wide world and all my friends make jokes about how many BOC shirts I have in my rotation, posters on my while, etc., but I just can't get excited because some dude a couple hours away from me has one of thirty of those tapes. It's not like there's unheard material on there. It's not like the actual existing BOC official catalogue isn't amazing in itself. I mean, for fuck's sake, I just want for them to move forward at this point. I'm excited about their latest prophesy, as "Tomorrow's Harvest" appears to be right on track for setting the soundtrack for a future we might be living in. Where are they going? That's an exciting question to me. "Oh, some dude touched another dude's old copy of a tape that my favorite band really isn't happy about being passed around?" Far less exciting. 

 

I might just be a contrary cunt, but I'm not very excited about people bragging about touching physical things any more. Sorry. 

I pheel yah. Considering the reams of text expended about these things online it seemed interesting that there is now a stable, public location to view some. At the end of the day though they are just C90ies and we've all heard 'em.

  On 7/6/2017 at 12:27 AM, apriorion said:

Whatever. I'm so tired of material fetishism. Don't get me wrong: boards of canada is my favorite band in the whole wide world and all my friends make jokes about how many BOC shirts I have in my rotation, posters on my while, etc., but I just can't get excited because some dude a couple hours away from me has one of thirty of those tapes. It's not like there's unheard material on there. It's not like the actual existing BOC official catalogue isn't amazing in itself. I mean, for fuck's sake, I just want for them to move forward at this point. I'm excited about their latest prophesy, as "Tomorrow's Harvest" appears to be right on track for setting the soundtrack for a future we might be living in. Where are they going? That's an exciting question to me. "Oh, some dude touched another dude's old copy of a tape that my favorite band really isn't happy about being passed around?" Far less exciting.

 

I might just be a contrary cunt, but I'm not very excited about people bragging about touching physical things any more. Sorry.

I somehow feel we won't be hearing from them for a while...

Still a nice, and most of all, charming bit of music history. Love the self made aspect of it. It's the kind of amateurism which deserves olympic medals.

  On 7/6/2017 at 8:35 AM, goDel said:

Still a nice, and most of all, charming bit of music history. 

 

This more than anything. For archival purposes it'd be nice if someone got a proper cassette deck and digitized the copy. Still can't help but still wander what the much earlier tapes (Play By Numbers, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay, etc) sound like.

love me some boc subforum <3

 

edit:

  On 7/6/2017 at 5:56 PM, joshuatx said:

Still can't help but still wander what the much earlier tapes (Play By Numbers, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay, etc) sound like.

well, you know what they sound like from the snippets no? xD Edited July 6, 2017 by MIXL2

  On 7/6/2017 at 5:56 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 7/6/2017 at 8:35 AM, goDel said:

Still a nice, and most of all, charming bit of music history. 

 

This more than anything. For archival purposes it'd be nice if someone got a proper cassette deck and digitized the copy. Still can't help but still wander what the much earlier tapes (Play By Numbers, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay, etc) sound like.

 

 

 

Yeah, no disagreement from me on this. 

 

As for the self-made aspect, I've been on the periphery of a DIY-type community (mainly as a huge fan, and to be there to support my pals, and to work on my own goofy-ass projects) for a couple years now, and I must say that I've encountered similar hand-made type stuff that deserves more recognition than it gets. I think BOC fans need to get out there and take the lesson that I think BOC was trying to give us since the beginning: be a part of a community, make your own art, support others' art. 

 

Again, don't get me wrong. BOC always is and probably always will be my favorite band. But they often talked about their emergence from a local DIY community and that ethos ought to be absorbed more by the community of BOC fans. Let's not obsess too much here. Let's contribute. That's one thing I like about the "One on Twoism" series, even if I wish they had a slightly more original name for the project, and more various voices and styles. Anyway, I love BOC, I love my fellow BOC fans, and I actually really love the "Old Tunes" collections. (I in fact recently revisited them and introduced an old pal to them for the first time, and he was blown away.) Let's just not get hung up on physical things. Let's play with ideas and art. 

This thread is inspiring. Going back to bang out some beats

  On 7/6/2017 at 5:56 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 7/6/2017 at 8:35 AM, goDel said:

Still a nice, and most of all, charming bit of music history. 

 

This more than anything. For archival purposes it'd be nice if someone got a proper cassette deck and digitized the copy. Still can't help but still wander what the much earlier tapes (Play By Numbers, Acid Memories, Hooper Bay, etc) sound like.

 

Other than the sound clips, these releases do not really exist - they're loose collections of tracks, at best.

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:15 PM, Joyrex said:

Other than the sound clips, these releases do not really exist - they're loose collections of tracks, at best.

Were the track names/durations real do you know - Of all the old things I'm most fascinated with 'Line Two' and 'Visual Drone 12' as I don't think we've ever had >10min BoC tracks have we ?

  On 7/6/2017 at 12:27 AM, apriorion said:

Whatever. I'm so tired of material fetishism. Don't get me wrong: boards of canada is my favorite band in the whole wide world and all my friends make jokes about how many BOC shirts I have in my rotation, posters on my while, etc., but I just can't get excited because some dude a couple hours away from me has one of thirty of those tapes. It's not like there's unheard material on there. It's not like the actual existing BOC official catalogue isn't amazing in itself. I mean, for fuck's sake, I just want for them to move forward at this point. I'm excited about their latest prophesy, as "Tomorrow's Harvest" appears to be right on track for setting the soundtrack for a future we might be living in. Where are they going? That's an exciting question to me. "Oh, some dude touched another dude's old copy of a tape that my favorite band really isn't happy about being passed around?" Far less exciting. 

 

I might just be a contrary cunt, but I'm not very excited about people bragging about touching physical things any more. Sorry. 

 

This post is perfection personified in why some of twoism can't stand watmm! Fucking brilliant lol (as I like a bit of argy-bargy)

 

There are a lot of BoC fans who get wet over these, and I guess each to their own but I agree I think the whole hero-worship of Stuff Like This is a bit past it's sell by date. Imo.

 

Still as goDel says they are little charming relics of music history.

Edited July 7, 2017 by beerwolf

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:48 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:15 PM, Joyrex said:

Other than the sound clips, these releases do not really exist - they're loose collections of tracks, at best.

Were the track names/durations real do you know - Of all the old things I'm most fascinated with 'Line Two' and 'Visual Drone 12' as I don't think we've ever had >10min BoC tracks have we ?

 

From what I understand, these are actual tracks that were 'compiled' into these pseudo-releases, so unless the track times were as fictitious as the release, there's no reason to doubt their accuracy.

 

So in short, the tracks exist, but not as the actual releases - in other words, there's no actual 'Catalog 3' CD, cassette, or vinyl as far as I understand. Just tracks BOC did that someone decided to compile into these 'releases' for purposes of giving the appearance of a back catalogue or some organisation to their loose collection of tracks.

 

Funny how the AFOT is much more DIY than say BOC Maxima is, and certainly when compared to the pseudo-releases.

 

I think that's why in the end they erased all mention of these releases - they just simply don't exist in the forms originally presented.

 

There's far more than that, too - I suppose someone with access to all of their recorded material could have a field day compiling them into releases like this.

 

The only thing I find a bit odd is why go through the trouble of making album art (and somewhat decent art at that) for releases that were never intended on being released? Of course, it could all have been about building a mythos... 

Well if I was a very rich man and I fancied building myself a mythos, I know exactly who I would employ. Boards of Canada.

  On 7/7/2017 at 6:25 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:48 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:15 PM, Joyrex said:

Other than the sound clips, these releases do not really exist - they're loose collections of tracks, at best.

Were the track names/durations real do you know - Of all the old things I'm most fascinated with 'Line Two' and 'Visual Drone 12' as I don't think we've ever had >10min BoC tracks have we ?

 

From what I understand, these are actual tracks that were 'compiled' into these pseudo-releases, so unless the track times were as fictitious as the release, there's no reason to doubt their accuracy.

 

So in short, the tracks exist, but not as the actual releases - in other words, there's no actual 'Catalog 3' CD, cassette, or vinyl as far as I understand. Just tracks BOC did that someone decided to compile into these 'releases' for purposes of giving the appearance of a back catalogue or some organisation to their loose collection of tracks.

 

Funny how the AFOT is much more DIY than say BOC Maxima is, and certainly when compared to the pseudo-releases.

 

I think that's why in the end they erased all mention of these releases - they just simply don't exist in the forms originally presented.

 

There's far more than that, too - I suppose someone with access to all of their recorded material could have a field day compiling them into releases like this.

 

The only thing I find a bit odd is why go through the trouble of making album art (and somewhat decent art at that) for releases that were never intended on being released? Of course, it could all have been about building a mythos... 

 

 

Damn, this puts things in perspective.

 

So essentially the claims of physical releases are dubious? Are these like remnants of Music70 or Hexagon Sun art or even fan art that became cited as physical releases? I've noticed only Play By Numbers in on discogs whereas Hooper Bat, Acid Memories and Catalog 3 are not.

...that is if a discogs page means anything - I feel like that might confirm someone actually has a copy though versus a late 90s webpage mention

  On 7/7/2017 at 10:25 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 6:25 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:48 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 7/7/2017 at 5:15 PM, Joyrex said:

Other than the sound clips, these releases do not really exist - they're loose collections of tracks, at best.

Were the track names/durations real do you know - Of all the old things I'm most fascinated with 'Line Two' and 'Visual Drone 12' as I don't think we've ever had >10min BoC tracks have we ?

 

From what I understand, these are actual tracks that were 'compiled' into these pseudo-releases, so unless the track times were as fictitious as the release, there's no reason to doubt their accuracy.

 

So in short, the tracks exist, but not as the actual releases - in other words, there's no actual 'Catalog 3' CD, cassette, or vinyl as far as I understand. Just tracks BOC did that someone decided to compile into these 'releases' for purposes of giving the appearance of a back catalogue or some organisation to their loose collection of tracks.

 

Funny how the AFOT is much more DIY than say BOC Maxima is, and certainly when compared to the pseudo-releases.

 

I think that's why in the end they erased all mention of these releases - they just simply don't exist in the forms originally presented.

 

There's far more than that, too - I suppose someone with access to all of their recorded material could have a field day compiling them into releases like this.

 

The only thing I find a bit odd is why go through the trouble of making album art (and somewhat decent art at that) for releases that were never intended on being released? Of course, it could all have been about building a mythos... 

 

 

Damn, this puts things in perspective.

 

So essentially the claims of physical releases are dubious? Are these like remnants of Music70 or Hexagon Sun art or even fan art that became cited as physical releases? I've noticed only Play By Numbers in on discogs whereas Hooper Bat, Acid Memories and Catalog 3 are not.

...that is if a discogs page means anything - I feel like that might confirm someone actually has a copy though versus a late 90s webpage mention

 

Interesting - the cover image on Discogs for Play by Numbers is much larger than the other pre-Twoism releases, which said images came from the old BOC EHX fansite page by The Cosmic Crofter. It doesn't apparently look upsized, although the cover imagery is blurry enough that I could upsize, then reset/blur the type at the top easily in Photoshop.

 

Most compellingly, the back sides of any of these releases have NEVER been seen to this day, although it did take some time for BOC Maxima's J-card art beyond the cover to finally be shown in full.

 

That being said, it doesn't mean the release exists - especially being on CD - in 1994, CDrs weren't cheap (nor common), and pressing a CD in those days in such a low run would have been prohibitively expensive. Additionally, Twoism (the original) was pressed to vinyl (100 copies) and hand-labeled with stickers on the sleeve.

 

It is interesting also that Hooper Bay's artwork was stretched on the BOC EHX site to fit the "CD" cover format, whereas it is actually cassette artwork:

 

I'm inclined to believe that Hooper Bay may actually exist (as a "release") since the artwork is similar to the AFOT in that it's a xerox copy versus full colour (although BOC Maxima features a colour laser copy).

 

Considering Hexagon Sun is/was supposedly a collective of artists and musicians, it is very likely some of these pre-Twoism releases are in fact physical, and others are more "aspirational" in giving weight to BOC's mythical back catalogue, and created for that sole purpose.

In fact, in looking at the Play By Numbers cover closely, it appears this is a scanned CD booklet - note the staple mark on the left edge, and the pinching due to said staples. Now, a good fake would include details like this, but they are very well done if indeed a fake. These details do not show up in the original, smaller EHX web page captures.

BTW, I posted this over at Twoism (related discussion about the tapes at Ypsianti) - more pre-Twoism history has come to light:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/1lbq8e/does_anybody_have_the_first_ever_production_from/

 

Make sure you expand the thread to see the additional comments about BOC's early days and what they were called before they were called BOC...

  On 7/11/2017 at 4:48 PM, Joyrex said:

BTW, I posted this over at Twoism (related discussion about the tapes at Ypsianti) - more pre-Twoism history has come to light:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/1lbq8e/does_anybody_have_the_first_ever_production_from/

 

Make sure you expand the thread to see the additional comments about BOC's early days and what they were called before they were called BOC...

 

damn joyrex nice digging

 

Wheeltower

Edited July 11, 2017 by joshuatx

Hell yeah ! Definitely more of a fan of BoC archaeology than BoC mythology :)

First time I've ever read about of their original 'Wheeltower' alias

It kinda explains why BOC has distanced themselves from anything pre-Twoism - it's highly likely that stuff wasn't produced under the BOC moniker to begin with!

 

Of course, this is just speculation, but it makes me wonder why they'd go and (initially) reveal these releases as BOC releases, but yet contradict the claims that they didn't start using the name Boards of Canada until 1994/5 by putting release dates of 1987 (Catalog 3) and going as far as producing artwork with "Boards of Canada" written on them.

 

Granted, it is THEIR music and their works, so they can call it whatever they want...

^ The most simple thing is a very controlled and retroactive classification of older material made with a different mindset, context, maturity, etc. That's part of why the RDJ soundcloud dumps (and Mike P's as well) were so cool - they shed so much light on the music he made in the late 80s/early 90s that hasn't been part of his canon nor legendary emergence in the genre. Very raw, messy, but cathartic. Also they both had a plethora of different aliases. Not saying it's a better choice artistically than BoC but def different.

 

Back to the idea of keeping a lid on stuff, there's likely just a lot of retroactive indifference, perhaps even embarrassment, to their old stuff. Hell, I know so many people who are musicians now that literally lump all of their early stuff as "stupid shit I did as a kid" or don't even bother to mention all the bands they played in while they were in high school. A lot of interviews with musicians, especially ones active before the internet, often have this vibe too. With so much mythos around BoC they are probably very, very cautious about this. 

 

In the digital age I can only imagine there's so much more of a footprint to discard and/or producers might be wary of putting up everything right away. I think of that thread on a chiptune forum where Skrillex was asking how to get VSTs working on pirated software. I recall a couple years ago figuring out a well-known vaporwave producer had a bunch of other stuff as another alias but kept it real quiet on purpose, perhaps to maintain a mystique.

 

Then again others might flat out embrace it... a way of tracking their progress and interacting with fans. Even if they don't put out it's so much easier to save and store compared to the past when things could easily be dubbed over on tape or flat out discarded. I'm sure for many artists there's a much more direct realization of what they deem "worthy" music versus earlier efforts, if they have that mindset.

Edited July 11, 2017 by joshuatx

man what a juicy thread.. lovely to feel the good ol boc fanboyism on watmm again

 

edit:

 

 

  On 7/11/2017 at 4:48 PM, Joyrex said:

BTW, I posted this over at Twoism (related discussion about the tapes at Ypsianti) - more pre-Twoism history has come to light:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/1lbq8e/does_anybody_have_the_first_ever_production_from/

 

Make sure you expand the thread to see the additional comments about BOC's early days and what they were called before they were called BOC...

the posts by that person feel so sincere.. I guess one does forget that famous people are people too. very nice read for my sleepy eyes Edited July 11, 2017 by MIXL2