Hooper Bay Tracks?

[EnforcedNo]

https://archive.org/details/@lafin386

Came across this guy on the internet archive claiming he's uploaded the B sides of Hooper Bay. Normally I'd discount this outright but
- If B1 (https://archive.org/details/b1_20260607) is a faked extension of the "Circle" clip from the old BOC website it's certainly a good one.
- Track B2/Noatak (https://archive.org/details/b2_20260607) is absolutely part of track 7 from the All Tomorrow's Parties set. Again, if it's a fake it's certainly a good one.
- B3/Point Hope (https://archive.org/details/b3_20260607) at least _sounds_ like the other two tracks above and the little melody that comes in at the very end gives me pause.

Thoughts?

[momatt]

I hope it's real, maybe we'll get the rest of the album soon.
Incredible stuff happening this year.

[Waterbagel]

haven't listened to it, likely won't, but i assume it's fake

[EnforcedNo]

Thought I had: this at least jives with the idea that the voice in APT-07 is saying "Noatak"

[noveltywave]

I really want to believe but the songs just sound so flat, simplistic, and not really evolving or going anywhere, like an amateur.

[Samplehunter]

haven't listened to it, likely won't, but i assume it's fake

We gotta admit that track lengths seem to match, but I'm as suspicious as you are.

And it would be frustrating to have only this one but not the other ones, especially Play by Numbers.

[Wildfire]

He could have at least spelled it right.

[qualia]

The Archive.org description says this, so likely fake.

Przy radości związanej z premierą Inferno przegrzebałem swoje płyty i karty SD i na jednej znalazłem to co pamiętałem że mam, a czego nie mogłem znaleźć w internecie czyli Hopper Bay pobrany wieeele lat temu na jakimś chomiku czy e-mule, nie pamietam dokładnie, nie wiem czy jest prawdziwy, w internecie znalazłem circle który jako jedyny jest ponoć prawdziwy i brzmi tak samo jak ten, niemniej jakość audio bardzo mnie zawiodła, ale może komuś się przyda. Mam tylko stronę B (kasety?) nie jestem pewien, ale znając moje karty SD, pewnie strona A była na poprzedniej karcie (karty wtedy miały po jeden gigabajt) ale poprzedniej nie mogłem znaleźć, jak kiedyś znajdę to wrzucę. A wrzucam tutaj bo odkryłem tą stronkę szukając tego właśnie albumu (była tu jakaś nieprawdziwa prawdopodobnie wersja). Oprócz tego miałem też Few Old Tuns oraz album z jakimiś miksami, ale widzę że to jest dostępne więc nie ma sensu wrzucać tych.

Machine-translated:

Amid the excitement surrounding the release of Inferno, I dug through my discs and SD cards. On one of them, I found something I remembered having but couldn't locate online: Hopper Bay. I had downloaded it ages ago—maybe from Chomikuj or eMule; I don't recall exactly. I’m not sure if it’s the genuine article; online, I found a version called Circle—supposedly the only authentic one—which sounds identical to this one. The audio quality was a huge letdown, but perhaps someone will find it useful. I only have Side B (or is it a cassette rip? I'm not sure). Knowing my SD card habits, Side A was likely on a previous card (back then, cards only held one gigabyte), but I couldn't find that one; if I ever do, I'll upload it. I’m posting this here because I discovered this site while searching for this very album (there was a version here that was likely fake). I also had Few Old Tuns and an album of mixes, but I see those are already available, so there's no point in uploading them.

[EnforcedNo]

The Archive.org description says this, so likely fake.

Przy radości związanej z premierą Inferno przegrzebałem swoje płyty i karty SD i na jednej znalazłem to co pamiętałem że mam, a czego nie mogłem znaleźć w internecie czyli Hopper Bay pobrany wieeele lat temu na jakimś chomiku czy e-mule, nie pamietam dokładnie, nie wiem czy jest prawdziwy, w internecie znalazłem circle który jako jedyny jest ponoć prawdziwy i brzmi tak samo jak ten, niemniej jakość audio bardzo mnie zawiodła, ale może komuś się przyda. Mam tylko stronę B (kasety?) nie jestem pewien, ale znając moje karty SD, pewnie strona A była na poprzedniej karcie (karty wtedy miały po jeden gigabajt) ale poprzedniej nie mogłem znaleźć, jak kiedyś znajdę to wrzucę. A wrzucam tutaj bo odkryłem tą stronkę szukając tego właśnie albumu (była tu jakaś nieprawdziwa prawdopodobnie wersja). Oprócz tego miałem też Few Old Tuns oraz album z jakimiś miksami, ale widzę że to jest dostępne więc nie ma sensu wrzucać tych.

Machine-translated:

Amid the excitement surrounding the release of Inferno, I dug through my discs and SD cards. On one of them, I found something I remembered having but couldn't locate online: Hopper Bay. I had downloaded it ages ago—maybe from Chomikuj or eMule; I don't recall exactly. I’m not sure if it’s the genuine article; online, I found a version called Circle—supposedly the only authentic one—which sounds identical to this one. The audio quality was a huge letdown, but perhaps someone will find it useful. I only have Side B (or is it a cassette rip? I'm not sure). Knowing my SD card habits, Side A was likely on a previous card (back then, cards only held one gigabyte), but I couldn't find that one; if I ever do, I'll upload it. I’m posting this here because I discovered this site while searching for this very album (there was a version here that was likely fake). I also had Few Old Tuns and an album of mixes, but I see those are already available, so there's no point in uploading them.

If he is telling the truth and this file is from some p2p network in 2002 I would be shocked if someone back then managed to rip out an audio sample from the all tomorrow's parties set, remove audience noise, adjust the levels, and turn it into a plausible 8 minute track. If this description is a total lie on his part than I guess that's all moot.

[Omikron]

If he is telling the truth and this file is from some p2p network in 2002 I would be shocked if someone back then managed to rip out an audio sample from the all tomorrow's parties set, remove audience noise, adjust the levels, and turn it into a plausible 8 minute track. If this description is a total lie on his part than I guess that's all moot.

Even more shocking is that no-one else discovered it (or everyone else forgot about it) until now.

[Mexicola]

Sniff sniff.
Cows?
Sheep?

[Negamuse]

Hey I'll keep my mind open until I hear it but I never want to hear the "they have the same lengths as on the sleeve" argument again, after people thought Tape05 was Father and Son

[Samplehunter]

Hey I'll keep my mind open until I hear it but I never want to hear the "they have the same lengths as on the sleeve" argument again, after people thought Tape05 was Father and Son

Sorry but they had the same lengths as on the sleeve.

[Den]

Hey I'll keep my mind open until I hear it but I never want to hear the "they have the same lengths as on the sleeve" argument again, after people thought Tape05 was Father and Son

It is funny how everyone was wrong about this.

[Waterbagel]

Sniff sniff.
Cows?
Sheep?

nah mate, smells like bull to me

[Closing_Logo]

I'm a hoper on this. They were literally amateur at the time they produced Hooper Bay, so if it sounds amateur that's a green flag. It also sounds like something that would be created with the technology at the time and not like the output of software and plugins.

[qualia]

At the very least, if it's a fake, the use of samples from the NFB documentary Circle of the Sun (1960) in Circle is well-placed, and thematically appropriate to the album, which seems to be related to the indigenous people of Alaska and western Canada. Of course, it's known that BoC reference this documentary. Still, well done on whoever did that.

Found by googling some of the lyrics, via this bachelor's thesis:

It the movie, though, there is only a few people. The camps are getting smaller every year. According to Standing Alone (1960), that year, there were twenty tepees, but twenty years ago there were fifty. In the past, there used to be hundreds of men from different tribes as well (Low, 1960). This tradition is fading away but, surprisingly, it is still being conducted until this day.

The Sun Dance used to be a very important ritual, but with each generation, it is losing its significance.

“But old way life is dying and most of the Bloods (=Kainai) don’t even go to the camp now. The children don’t know what it’s about and when they grow up they will forget they were once at the camp. They are the dying echo of its people’s history.”(Low, 1960, 2:28)

Next to the dances, the film also shows smaller ceremonies where they pray and sing religious songs. They celebrate nature and all creations of the Sun; the source of life. They also emphasise the importance of a circle.

“The power of the world works in a circle. The sky is round. The stars and earth are round. The seasons form a great circle. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood.” (Low, 1960, 16:22)

[Redd Panderson]

Along with the very fitting sample source you just cited, qualia, I'd say these are some of the more convincing-sounding maybe-maybe-not-real tracks that claim to be from The Early Albums.

Full agree with Closing_Logo, too. I'd expect these early works to sound amateurish or "experimental" by comparison to even the old tunes tapes given that their provenance may date back to the early-to-mid 80s when they were fairly young. I'm sure that's one reason why they haven't been shared publicly. I can imagine it feeling like being a serious painter with a following of fans that are all clamoring to see the stuff their parents hung on their fridge as a kid. Like "you really want to hear that? No you don't, I promise. I don't want you to hear it." That being said, I'd expect SOME of these early releases to have more polish than what we are hearing on this, given the apparent quality of "Wouldn't You Like To Be Free?"

Who knows, though. Maybe this dubious uploader #496 will upload more and it'll turn out to be legit.

Whatever the case, I'm not confident BOC will ever officially release any of the early albums to the public, though, even if a BOCset materializes. The mystery might always be more important than actually hearing these fabled early sketches. Like the parts of the mirror image that are around the corner, forever out of sight. That feels like it fits with my own ideas around Giraud's Mirror (not to mention the origin of the ostensible Circle quote...)

[mechanismj]

So 2 of the 3 are just rehashed loops of things we have already heard? Not buying it.

I want to BoClieve.

[mechanismj]

Hey I'll keep my mind open until I hear it but I never want to hear the "they have the same lengths as on the sleeve" argument again, after people thought Tape05 was Father and Son

It is funny how everyone was wrong about this.

Judging a track by its length is a bit like judging a book by its cover.