This is the question posed by Simon Emmerson and Leigh Landy in their book Expanding the Horizon of Electroacoustic Music Analysis. The landscape of electronic music has changed drastically and rapidly over the last half century, and this piece will aim to overview this change through the lens of artists such as Boards of Canada, Autechre, and Aphex Twin, paying especially close attention to the Boards of Canada record Music has the Right to Children.

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These artists all belong to a subgenre of electronic music that is colloquially known as intelligent dance music. However, the more favored term among artists and fans of this genre is electronica. Electronica is a broad term and encompasses all music that has ever used electronics. Despite this, Music has the Right to Children still proves itself as a seminal work in the genre. Boards of Canada is comprised of Scottish brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Amazingly, despite their massive success, they have kept extremely low profiles. It seems that other than releasing music and participating in infrequent, brief interviews, nobody knows what the brothers actually do. Their enigmatic relationship with the public has only heightened interest in them, and kept the focus on their music. 

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Boards of Canada can be put into a number of different musical categories. Most commonly, they are classified as ambient, drone, downtempo, and of course, electronic. Their success was in great part due to their technological savvy and ability to stay at the forefront of electronic experimentation. It is clear upon listening to their music that they use their recording implements both as a tool and an instrument itself. In addition to their digital audio workstation, they would often implement tape recording, using tape hiss to their advantage and manipulating sounds through the tape. They are also known for using specific keyboards and keyboard sounds to achieve a warm, melancholic sound. Their music is also full of audio samples, sound effects, and strange instruments, all of which are additionally altered through digital audio workstations. 

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Some of this haunting melancholy can be heard on Music has the Right to Children’s 7th track: “Turquoise Hexagon Sun.” The refined keyboard followed by a drumbeat with a sine wave melody and subtle background noise work to create a familiar mood. This can also be found in the 13th track: “Olson.” Despite its simplicity, (the song is only composed of keyboard sounds) the strong melody is nostalgic and tasteful. However, the most quintessential song on the album is “Aquarius.” It starts with a distinct keyboard wash, and is followed by a simple drum beat and bassline. What comes after is key: it drones. Much of what makes Boards of Canada and electronic music so unique is that it often will stay in one sonic place for a while. In “Aquarius,” this is done perfectly. The drum and bass combine with the keyboards to create a hypnotic piece. What also makes this piece so unique is its use of sampling. 

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Boards of Canada were known for their ability to find and record audio samples and field recordings. In “Aquarius,” behind the drone of the instrumentation, are three voices. The first is a child’s voice saying: “Yeah, that’s right.” Then a man saying “Orange,” and a woman comes in later, saying numbers chronologically, then at random. The voices of the child and man are both sampled from an old episode of Sesame Street. Listening through the album in its entirety, it becomes clear that these samples are often layered on top of droning instrumentals to add texture. 

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While Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin have kept to themselves for most of their career, there was an interview they did for The Guardian in 2013 that helps address the question of the listener and when their experience becomes meaningful. The interview was following the release of their fifth studio album. When the reporter asked Michael Sandison about the contents of the album, specifically hidden messages that were rumored to exist in certain tracks, he said:

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“Yes, it's loaded with patterns and messages. There are various tricks embedded throughout the whole body of this album, so it'll be interesting to see whether people pick up on these things. Some things are just simple structural things. For instance, Come To Dust, the second-to-last track, is a musical reprise of Reach for the Dead, which comes in as the second track. There's a palindromic structure centered around the track Collapse in the middle. There's actually more use of subliminals on this record than on any previous album we've done, so we're interested to see what people will pick up on.”

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While this is about a separate album, the idea remains true throughout their discography. In “Aquarius,” for example, the aforementioned woman counting numbers starts by counting chronologically, but then stops when she reaches 36. From that point on, the numbers are randomly counted. It is thought that this is because the numbers 1 through 36 added together make 666, exemplifying their interest in mathematical patterns in music. This is one of the key reasons why listeners of Boards of Canada are able to find such enjoyment in it. Hidden patterns and references add to the mystery and intrigue of music like this, and are a testament to the technology that made them possible. 

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It is also worth noting that their ability to mix and master is on full display on Music has the Right to Children. Within the community of electronica, it is agreed upon that this album is one that requires a close listen with headphones for the full effect. There are countless nuances that can only be detected at this level of focus. 

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Overall, Boards of Canada’s Music has the Right to Children is a crucial work in the timeline of electronic music, and is an example of how technology can be used to create unique sounds and music. 
 

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Emmerson, S., & Landy, L. (2016). Expanding the Horizon of Electroacoustic Music Analysis (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316339633

 

Sandison, M., & Eoin m. Interview by Louis Pattison. June 6, 2013.

 

Sesame Street. Originally aired on PBS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjOzmDqoKyM. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAtrnbu8ts. 

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Alwakeel, Ramzy. IDM as a “Minor” Literature: The Treatment of Cultural and Musical Norms by “Intelligent Dance Music.” Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture, 1 (2009).