Hi Scores proves that Boards Of Canada were skilled sound designers from the start.
In their debut EP for Skam, Boards Of Canada signaled a new way of arranging sounds. It was simultaneously hip-hop and ambient, half IDM, half trip-hop. Thanks to the new reissue we can enjoy the innovative work that sowed the seeds for Music Has The Right To Children (Warp/Skam, 1998) once again.
There is a magical quality to BoC’s work. This je ne sais quoi excited many bands in the years after. One can easily see BoC’s influence in the aughts’ chill-wave acts. The music was nostalgic, beat-based and almost devoid of human sounds. Hi Scores emphasizes the type of sound that would make BoC one of the defining Warp bands.
Starting with “Hi Scores,” the listener is gently introduced to an atmospheric war-zone. Eerie synths decorate the track all the way to its ending. The evocatively titled “Turquoise Hexagon Sun” is a soft and relatively relaxed track that is peppered with samples of people laughing. Most of BoC’s arrangements recall the broken memories of being a child. “Nlogax” shows BoC’s skills for dancefloor jams. The tracks morphs and moves at its own disjointed pace.
But the real all time classic track here is “Everything You Do Is A Balloon” as it captures their unique sense of being stranded in a dreamlike place. At its best, Boards Of Canada paint a picture of a past that is not quite well remembered. “…Balloon” could easily be cut into two tracks—the second part being so different from the first—but the track’s crescendo is a thing to behold.
Talk of memories is quite common when listening to ambient, but Boards Of Canada manage to paint eerily lived-in pictures. Something is not quite right, yet the past is exploited carefully: good and bad memories are fused together. A feeling is awakened among the images, something that would become the band’s trademark up until now. Hi Scores proves they were skilled sound designers from the start.
Hi Scores is available on Skam.
Additional notes ::
Hi Scores has been re-recorded and re-mastered from the original DAT tapes and will be cut onto heavyweight collectors edition vinyl. The image on the back is now in color. There will be a spot varnish finish on the images and text alongside differing layers of print, alongside a fresh new 12″ double backed poster and Skam’s trademark braille stickers to give the whole package depth and a unique look and feel.
