Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi

Welcome to the world of dark ambience: Welcome to Geogaddi. The latest release by the masters of solid rhythm, Boards of Canada, is a collection of deeper and more shadowy works than the previous “A Beautiful Place in the Country” EP, never mind a more dusky approach than the previous Music Has A Right to Children LP. Geogaddi, which boasts 23 tracks, is a more overcast and cloudy day:  Much more complex and atmospheric than any ambient electronic efforts by anyone else to date.  The patterns woven by Boards of Canada here are similar to older efforts, as there are the same gargled voices, the same vocoder samples, the same eerie (or cheery- it depends on how you look at it) children squeals in the background.It’s a thought provoking, intelligent recording, delving further down the iceberg and surfacing with a bare and sometimes frightening approach. To tunnel this far into the electronic medium is something that has been greatly underestimated in the wake of Fatboy Slim, Moby, and their ilk.  Though Boards of Canada is childlike in repose, there are underlying themes of the elements coursing through the veins of this album.  No doubt an excellent piece of music, Geogaddi’s major flaw is that it doesn’t flow as well as some of its previous albums: It’s a skipper, meaning that, after a few listens, you’re more prone to cruise up and down to fully absorb the more standout tracks.  The most stellar of the bunch are the muted and twisted back roads of “julie and candy”, the roaming bass and floating, ethereal “1969”, the poised and nimble steadiness and soaring treble of “alpha and omega”, the haunted coastlines and floating buoyed memories in “the beach at redpoint”, the LSD cartoonism of “the devil is in the details”, and the wispy and feathery exquisiteness of “dawn chorus.”  The rest of the album has its enduring and engaging moments, such as the spooky tribal hum of “gyroscope” and the misshapen carousel of “beware the friendly stranger”. There quiet reflection of “you could feel the sky” and “sunshine recorder” is irrefutably pretty and introspectively sound, while the science lessons in “energy warning” and “dandelion” get a little wearing after a few revolutions.  The most unsettling and remarkable verity of Geogaddi is that, prior to reviewing the album cover and track listing, I sat by the speakers and listed the tracks, writing down my initial reactions to the songs:  It was most uncanny that my opening thoughts were very close to the actual names of the songs, which isn’t significant in itself but more on the thought that maybe, just maybe, I am in tuned with what Boards of Canada is wishing me to think: I am imagining the pictures that they tried to paint for me through their music. Could this be true? Why don’t you purchase this curious and scenic album and see if the sounds paint a picture for you? [www.warprecords.com]