Campfire Headphase

Campfire Headphase, by Boards of Canada

I don't stay up late much anymore but, when I do, I am usually listening to this CD. It's electronic music... but with a heart.In place of the usual digital coldness and frantic beats that plague most electronic music, the Boards of Canada gives us more ambiance with an obsessive attention to detail. Listen closely and you'll hear all sorts of sounds and instruments bubbling just under the mix. At times it sounds like transmissions from a distant planet, coming through on a staticky radio station. At other times the productions evoke the image of a reel-to-reel machine's 1/4 inch magnetic tape steadily disintegrating as it plays for the last time...but in a good way. And finally, there are moments of pure transcendence and joy. Just listen to the album's closer "farewell Fire" to see what I mean. Even if I can't make it until dawn, the beauty of that songs distant synthesizer melody makes me feel like I made it anyway.
-Stephen