Guitars Outside of TCH & Early Demos?

[dl_gd]

If I'm not mistaken, they've mentioned it in a couple of interviews, but I always come back to this answer regarding the band's use of guitars, from https://bocpages.org/wiki/Boards_of_Canada:_We_Are_The_(Folk)_Robots

The first thing which stroke me while listening to “The Campfire Headphase” was the wide use of guitars. What brought you to this choice?

Marcus – Using guitars wasn't new to us. We've used all kinds of real instruments since the beginning of the band in the early 1980s. And even since we became more electronic as a band ourselves, we've always listened to guitar music, especially going back to 60s and 70s styles of music, which is what we're hinting at on this record. On the previous Boards of Canada records, there are guitars, but they're so processed that you could easily miss them, thinking they were synths. With the new album, we deliberately went for a lo-fi guitar sound on a few of the tracks because we were going for a sun-bleached, Californian summer kind of sound, it's almost reminiscent of a Joni Mitchell sound in places.

Can any of you name any tracks, outside of TCH & guitar based tracks on pre-Warp things like R35TT, where you are even vaguely sure that there is a guitar? I'm mostly curious about the "previous Boards of Canada records" that Marcus mentions, assuming he means Music Has the Right, In a Beautiful Place EP & Geogaddi.

Even after a couple of years of combing through the sonic details in their works, I can't identify a single guitar layer in these studio releases. Any links to similar discussion/speculation are gladly welcome.

[mechanismj]

There is definitely guitar in XYZ.

[Echelon]

I think buried somewhere deep in the thousands of layers of Geogaddi there are some heavily processed guitar lines merged with the buzzy droney sounds. But like they say, it's just so completely fucked with it that you don't notice.

On a side note, I'm a fan of the trick they do on Geogaddi and Headphase where they play some live music and then heavily fuck with it or loop it in order to get that distinctive sound. That live drum fill on 1969 before the chorus is so badass

[ParticleGhost]

There's some reversed acoustic guitar (maybe 12 string?) at the end of Gyroscope.

[Valotonin]

There's some reversed acoustic guitar (maybe 12 string?) at the end of Gyroscope.

Yes it is a lute or something similar. I am not sure if one could class it as a guitar, but certainly worth a mention.

[dl_gd]

Appreciate the input so far, had no idea about the reversed guitar/lute on Gyroscope. But listening back, the way those reverse notes have that abrupt cut off at the end would suggest a reversed string pluck for sure...if I'm even correctly identifying the same sound you guys are lol. Hard to be sure about a lot of the layers in Geogaddi sometimes.

I think buried somewhere deep in the thousands of layers of Geogaddi there are some heavily processed guitar lines merged with the buzzy droney sounds. But like they say, it's just so completely fucked with it that you don't notice.

On a side note, I'm a fan of the trick they do on Geogaddi and Headphase where they play some live music and then heavily fuck with it or loop it in order to get that distinctive sound. That live drum fill on 1969 before the chorus is so badass

Yes, the way they resample, loop and edit their own music is especially cool to me. Techniques like this blow me away because it allows them to approach electronic music making from an organic / human angle without making the live elements clash with or even stick out from the "electronic-ness" of the whole production. Kind of hard to explain well but it's part of what makes MHTRTC and Geogaddi so special to me. Especially as someone who grew up playing alternative rock stuff on guitar and bass but has gotten hooked on electronic and sample-based production over the last few years, and wants to go that route without abandoning all of my old skills & sounds

[Valotonin]

Appreciate the input so far, had no idea about the reversed guitar/lute on Gyroscope. But listening back, the way those reverse notes have that abrupt cut off at the end would suggest a reversed string pluck for sure...if I'm even correctly identifying the same sound you guys are lol. Hard to be sure about a lot of the layers in Geogaddi sometime.

phpBB [media]

[Echelon]

Appreciate the input so far, had no idea about the reversed guitar/lute on Gyroscope. But listening back, the way those reverse notes have that abrupt cut off at the end would suggest a reversed string pluck for sure...if I'm even correctly identifying the same sound you guys are lol. Hard to be sure about a lot of the layers in Geogaddi sometimes.

I think buried somewhere deep in the thousands of layers of Geogaddi there are some heavily processed guitar lines merged with the buzzy droney sounds. But like they say, it's just so completely fucked with it that you don't notice.

On a side note, I'm a fan of the trick they do on Geogaddi and Headphase where they play some live music and then heavily fuck with it or loop it in order to get that distinctive sound. That live drum fill on 1969 before the chorus is so badass

Yes, the way they resample, loop and edit their own music is especially cool to me. Techniques like this blow me away because it allows them to approach electronic music making from an organic / human angle without making the live elements clash with or even stick out from the "electronic-ness" of the whole production. Kind of hard to explain well but it's part of what makes MHTRTC and Geogaddi so special to me. Especially as someone who grew up playing alternative rock stuff on guitar and bass but has gotten hooked on electronic and sample-based production over the last few years, and wants to go that route without abandoning all of my old skills & sounds

I think that's what makes BOC so special to me. To make their music sound organic and natural, (for electronica) they don't just take nature sounds and add them to a track. We have live music they (or someone else) actually played contending with all of the electronics. Where would Alpha and Omega be without that awesome bongo track? In fact, something I've noticed about Geogaddi is all of the psychedelic instrumentation added alongside the electronics. You got the bongos, you got those Incredible String Bandesque flutes on Julie and Candy and Alpha and Omega, some kind of non-western singer on You Could Feel The Sky, backwards guitars on Gyroscope, acid rock drum fills on 1969 and of course, all the backmasking.

For that reason, Geogaddi will always be the definitive statement of who these guys are and what kind of music they dig.

Sorry for digressing, back to finding those hidden guitars!

[Soul_Slip]

The songs i am almost certain have guitar are

“Everything You Do Is A Balloon”
“Aquarius”
“Dawn Chorus (lots of guitar)”
“Left Side Drive (reverse intro/ending for sure)
“Heard From Telegraph Lines”
“Seven Forty Seven (very likely)”
“New Seeds”
“Mr. Mistake (remix)” - electric guitar
“Sometimes (remix)” - reverse mandolin/banjo possibly more guitar in the layers
Those are just off the top of my head...