Boards of Canada

Boards of Canada (commonly abbreviated BoC) are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison (born June 1, 1970) and Marcus Eoin Sandison (born July 21, 1971). They are signed with Warp Records and have released several works on that label with little advertising and few interviews, while also having an elusive and obscure back-catalogue of releases on their self-run Music70 label. They have also recorded a few minor works under the alias Hell Interface.

Boards of Canada's music is reminiscent of the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s media and contains themes of childhood, nostalgia and the natural world. Michael and Marcus have mentioned the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group's name is derived, as a source of inspiration.

BoC's sound is a product of their use of analog equipment, mix of electronic and conventional instrumentation, use of distorted samples as well as live and recorded lyrics, and their layering and blending of these elements. Their avoidance of a purely synthetic sound gives their music a warmer, emotive quality often meant to inspire nostalgia. This is helped by the use of samples sourced from 1970s television shows and other media prevalent in the era of the brothers' shared childhood, especially the nature-inspired documentaries produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

Boards of Canada

Archive - You All LookThe Same To Me

ARCHIVE started off as a trip-hop outfit back in 1994 when Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths got together with female singer Roya Arab and a young rapper named Roski John. They released a few singles on their own Swam label and broke up in 1996 following some dispute. A year later, they reformed with new personnel to record their first official album entitled "Londinium" - purely trip-hop. After a brief split-up once again, Keeler and Griffiths hired yet another couple of musicians and in 1999, released "Take My Head" - strictly a pop album. In 2002, with yet another set of helpers, they finally decided to go prog and gave us "You All Look the Same to Me".

From the very first notes of "You All Look the Same to Me", you can tell the boys all hold their PINK FLOYD collections in high esteem. It incorporates mainly floydian elements with some RADIOHEAD and COLDPLAY, and features some well orchestrated epics that merit its inclusion on this site. However, the fan base is much divided as to its progressive merits: some rave about it while others would much rather have the boys stick to their trip-hop shenanigans. One thing they do agree on is the excellent musicianship displayed throughout.

If you're a true-blue PINK FLOYD affionado, ARCHIVE's latest release won't live up to your standards. If RADIOHEAD or PORCUPINE TREE meet your prog criteria, then there's a fair chance you will appreciate it.



Studio Album, released in 2002

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Again (16:19)
2. Numb (5:47)
3. Meon (5:43)
4. Goodbye (5:38)
5. Now And Then (1:22)
6. Seamless (1:43)
7. Finding It So Hard (15:33)
8. Fool (8:26)
9. Hate (3:41)
10. Need (2:27)
11. Again (Radio Edit) Bonus track (3:30)
12. Men Like You (Exclusive New Track) (3:56)

Archive

BT

Brian Transeau (born Brian Wayne Transeau on October 4, 1971, in Rockville, Maryland) is a musician who records under the stage name BT. Classically trained from the age of 13, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston for one year before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles, California, and then back to Washington, D.C…

Brian Transeau is the father of a young daughter, Kaia. He lives and composes his works in his Los Angeles home/studio in which he has a few Apple G5’s and 8 AMD dual-core Opteron 64-bit desktops which he uses for his techno-wizardry.

BT is known in production circles for his signature technique, the stutter edit, also known as the BT stutter. This technique consists of taking a small sample of a sound and then repeating it in a rhythmic way.

When recording with other artists, BT has used the aliases Kaistar, Libra, Dharma, Prana, Elastic Reality, Elastic Chakra, and GTB.

In February 2009 BT began to use Twitter to update his fans on the progress of his new album, BT has described the album as, "very focused, glitchy beats, lots for a dancefloor, amazing mixes and great guitars." He has also stated that his long awaited software releases will be released along with this new album as a limited edition box set containing remix material for all of the new songs.

This following information could change as the album has not yet been released.

Track names:

Feed The Monster
Metric Convolution
The Unbreakable (Feat. Rob Dickinson)
Suddenly
Rose of Jericho
Every Other Way (feat. Jes)
The Light In Me (feat. Jes)
A Million Stars (Unconfirmed)



BT Albums:

Ima
ESCM
Movement in Still Life
Emotional Technology
This Binary Universe


Remixes
BT has remixed songs from Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Sasha, Diana Ross, and Seal.

BT Network

Ben Watt

Ben Watt (born 6 December 1959, Barnes, London) is a UK musician, DJ, and record producer, best known as one half of the duo, Everything but the Girl. Watt is the son of British bandleader Tommy Watt. He lives with his spouse and creative partner Tracey Thorn in North London. The couple have twin daughters born in 1998 and a son born in 2001.

Ben Watt began recording in the early 1980s with a collection of folk-jazz solo recordings on Malvern, Worcestershire indie label Cherry Red (North Marine Drive). He then joined forces with vocalist Tracey Thorn in 1982 and concentrated for 18 years on writing and recording nine studio albums together as Everything but the Girl, racking up several UK Top 10 singles and albums and a global and U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-two ("Missing") in 1995. The band memorably shifted focus from their alt-pop in the mid 90's to achieve widespread recognition for their hugely successful interpretations of electronica (Walking Wounded, "Protection" with Massive Attack, Temperamental).

He run two independent record labels called Buzzin' Fly (House and Techno flavours) and Strange Feeling (Alt-Indie).

Now a central figure on London's club scene, Watt DJs regularly in the capital as well as all over Europe, Australia and North America with regular sell-out shows in many metropolitan cities. 2005 saw him tour extensively on the festival circuit (Good Vibrations, Homelands, Coachella, Ibiza, Lovebox Weekender, Electric Picnic)

Ben also hosts a weekly radio show, the Buzzin' Fly Radio Show




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Sandra Collins

Sandra Collins (born in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American DJ. She got her start on the West Coast of the U.S. in Phoenix, Arizona and into residencies in Los Angeles, and eventually moved towards trance.

Perhaps more than any other genre, electronic dance music spent the 20th century dominated by male DJs and producers, with only the occasional vocalist such as Björk or Tracey Thorn attaining any sort of notoriety. Consider Sandra Collins the first female DJ to reach superstar status in the late-'90s electronic dance music explosion. By being one of the first American DJs to champion the traditionally Eurocentric sound of trance, she quickly rose to stardom. Her beginnings on the West Coast at rave parties and at clubs led to her eventual entry into the popular Tranceport album series along with a March 2000 cover story for the important New York publication, Mixer.

After an early interest in industrial-flavored techno, it wasn't long before Collins was spinning at the West Coast's infamous desert parties in the early '90s. There her musical style become increasingly melodic and ethereal, influenced by the spiritual desert surroundings. By the mid- to late '90s, she began moving toward the sounds of progressive house and eventually the more epic sounds of trance, much in the style of mid-'90s Sasha and Taylor. By the late '90s, once the elitist class of European trance DJs rose to superstar levels, Collins began moving away from the anthemic sounds that filled the crates of these European DJs and began looking for a more American sound, characterized by West Coast producers such as Deepsky. So on the one hand, she spun trance, a very European sound removed from America, but on the other hand, she favored the handful of American producers in the genre, resulting in a unique sound. This unique sound coupled with Collins' rarity status as a woman garnered her plenty of attention, catapulting her to notoriety seemingly overnight. Many have criticized that she might never have reached such levels of stardom had she been a man. Yet despite this criticism, she was awarded the coveted opportunities to first spin at Woodstock and to mix the third entry in the extremely popular Tranceport series. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

myspace

Bart Van Wissen

What does one need these days in order to succeed in today’s tough world of the music industry? A great deal of determination would be a big answer. Besides the obvious elements such as knowing the right people, managing a fresh outlook towards dance music and possessing a certain level of musical awareness, maybe the most important quality that Dutch producer Bart van Wissen brings to the table is his genuine raw talent.

His dreams began around the tender age of seven, when his grandfather gave him his first keyboard. It didn’t take long before he taught himself to play some basic songs with it. After some time, his parents decided that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if he took some lessons to help develop his musical skills. At age eleven, when most people are listening to bland pop songs on commercial radio, Bart started producing drum’n’bass tracks on his computer. His taste continued to evolve and he absorbed a larger variety of different styles such as house, trip-hop, jazz, funk and a healthy dose of abstract beats, all of which remain a major influence in his present work.

At the age of nineteen, Bart sent his first demo to Deep Records label boss Peter van Hal. After listening to just a few songs, Van Hal quickly decided that Bart was extremely unique. His fresh sound and incredible musical versatility really shined through his work. From that moment, Bart has been releasing music that has been played by the big DJs all over the world, covering a broad range of styles.

Nowadays, he still refuses to limit himself to just one style of music. His dancefloor-oriented work can be described as funky and danceable, yet at the same time very musical. His downtempo music (under his Sideways alias) contains elements from jazz, funk, triphop and even classical music.

Another important aspect of Bart van Wissen is that he has been working behind the decks for several years now. He’s quickly becoming an excellent DJ, capable of working huge crowds with his fresh attitude and tight mixing skills. In the last few years, he has been travelling to countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Greece and many more, to play at clubs and festivals.

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Tyler Stadius

When you think TechHouse, you're sure to think of this Canadian born DJ. Known for his flawless mixing, TYLER STADIUS is one DJ guaranteed to house your socks off. Master of all things house, Tyler finds the groove and goes with it.
Tyler has played alongside some of the industries finest, such as Terry Francis, Lee Burridge and Eddie Richards, James Zabiela, Steve Porter, Craig Richards, Deep Dish, Infusion, Nick Warren, Phil K and Sasha just to name a few.

Tyler gained worldwide recognition after FABRIC enlisted him for their sixth CD release. Since then, he has played around the world including Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Scotland, England, France, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and U.S.A.
Tyler's productions with Jay Tripwire, Terry Francis, Dave Mothersole, Grant Dell, Daniel Poli, Tyler Lewis and The Household Crew have been rippng up dance floors across the globe.

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