I'm slightly put out (personally) to see Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin in some kind of parity. Surely only one is making music to listen to and thus the genuine article, the other only making music to actively ignore whilst on. Takes allsorts, I guess.
BOC are, I find, thoroughly unlistenable. Great pretenders, but nice people, I wish them continued success. Several programmers I know, and now more than several here, put BOC on to code to; this is undoubtably because they make background music, and not foreground music.
When I were a lad we referred to this sort of music as "ambient" music. A term coined by Brian Eno for his Ambient 1: Music for Airports album from 1978.
I think the quote was something like "as ignorable as it is interesting".
Both Aphex Twin and BoC are aiming for that space.
Yes it is the point (If indeed we are agreeing on the same point). I like 'ignorable as it is interesting'. I'm just quite astonished people are viewing these two artists in the same ballpark, I find them incongruous - BOC being an always laid back affair.
> Great pretenders ... undoubtably because they make background music
Pretenders to what? The certainty in this comment confuses me, since my perception of Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin seeems to be the opposite of yours :)
Pretenders as in I see them (BOC) as exploiting a genre rather than being anything approaching a band, in the broader sense - not to totally disparage that angle. Yes, I'm rather surprised people see a simpatico here. For example, the BOC's copious use of real and pseudo old sounding recordings and sounds is, I think, never appeared in an Aphex track.
