Author Topic: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape  (Read 3506 times)

sixty

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Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« on: December 10, 2019, 11:11:03 AM »
Hi there,

I'm interested to know if any members here are able to identify a few unidentified tracks from a mixtape curated by electronic music duo Boards of Canada.

https://mega.nz/#F!bKYU2IaQ!GTiZ4NiAyzXQR1fc5MMEHQ

Track #1 - piano, drums, synth and choir
Track #2 - bass, synth, drum machine and piano
Track #3 - ambient piece with only synths
Track #4 - fretless bass, piano and synth
Track #5 - ambient piece with only synths
Track #6 - strings

If anyone's heard these before even a label or artist would help greatly! Thank you.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2019, 11:12:58 AM by sixty »

effinRipper

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2023, 01:47:55 AM »
Long time no bump. Some of these have been found:

Track #2 is an unknown instrumental version of Non Passa Piú by Ernesto Bonino. No clue where does it come from tho.
Track #3 Carl Matthews - Gura Ma
Track #4 Brian Chatton - Mood In Motion (drum roll intro is Soul City Orchestra - Hot Day In Pimba, both released on DeWolfe)

Still on the lookout for #1, #2 (exact version, or its elements, possibly uses samples), #5, #6. Any ideas welcome!

Fuzi

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2023, 11:04:45 AM »
Good job. These are hard to dig out

@effinRipper Do you happen to have a FLAC of Carl Matthews ‎– East/West [Mirage M606]?
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effinRipper

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2023, 10:15:28 PM »
Good job. These are hard to dig out

@effinRipper Do you happen to have a FLAC of Carl Matthews ‎– East/West [Mirage M606]?

Unfortunately no. It was repressed in 2019 as a very limited CD so that might be your best chance to track it down.

Some speculation about the other ones:
#1 seems to be using Fairlight CMI samples, my guess is it samples something that was using Fairlight. Check Terminator 2 soundtrack, T1000 theme for reference. Intro looks like a radar screen on oscilloscope (stereo field rotation). Has high pitched TV whine at places (check Peter Gabriel demonstrates Fairlight on youtube).
#2 real head scratcher. Sources of sounds are all over the place but out of all versions of that song I could dig out I still have to hear anything used in this version so if anyone here has it please upload the rip so we can cross that out https://www.discogs.com/release/18437908-Giovanni-Fenati-At-Piano-Per-Voi-Giovani
#5 seems to be composed in the vein of Music of The Spheres which loops over itself a couple of times. Cassette release. Possibly samples a Nasa recording (my wild speculation according to some findings).
#6 short track but mysterious. Vinyl. No idea where to place it really, could be a weird interlude on some ECM LP or even a library record.

There is always a chance any of these is an original BOC track but this being SxT, a mixtape of their influences in which every track sounds like them is unlikely. Any ideas are welcome!

Fuzi

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2023, 03:38:56 PM »
Very mysterious indeed… #5 could very well be library music or experimental

Maybe @Retronic and his neural network can give these a try?


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Retronic

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2023, 03:48:57 PM »
I had a listen this morning but nothing jumped out.  If you get any leads give me a shout as I might have records you want to check. 

effinRipper

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2023, 09:53:34 PM »
An Italian who told me that #2 is a cover of Non Passa Piú also said that such odd instrumental covers used to play during nighttime radio broadcasts in Italy. The LP I put a discogs link to in the previous post was done by Giovanni Fenati, some of you might know him as Mirageman. Name of the LP is "Giovani per voi" which was an Italian radio programme in the 70s, kinda like John Peel but with focus on prog. It is very possible that is our record, and judging by his other stuff it is not that far off.


There are two more unidentified tracks from the mixtape which are not included in the link:

Sounds like My Bloody Valentine but it is nothing publicly available.

Reminds me of some TV show theme. Vinyl. Searching for lyrics brings up nothing.

Fuzi

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Re: Unidentified tracks from a Boards of Canada mixtape
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2023, 07:11:32 AM »
Thank you Retronic for looking into it!

The guitar track definitely sounds like Kevin Shields. I read somewhere it could be the last section of "To Here Knows When" played backward.
The key and melody do match, but not quite the exact grain tho.
This album took 3 years to finish and about a dozen engineers worked on it. Bits of tape possibly are still floating around so the track may be an outtake from the studio sessions.
?
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