Hooper Bay Tracks?

[outhudd]

About whether or not there was a fan connection made between ATP07 and Noatak in 2002 (that the supposed 2002 faker could exploit), it seems like the answer is no.

There's this post from 2005 when people are discussing and proposing what the name of ATP07 could be: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=139

No-one posting there connects ATP07 to Noatak, or suggests that could be what the voice is saying.

Also, every post on Twoism mentioning "Noatak" between 2005 and 2011 are discussing fake mp3s, imagining what the Hooper Bay track would sound like etc, no-one mentions that it could be ATP07.

The earliest post I could find where someone suggests ATP07 voice could be saying "Noatak" is audiotrack from 2012: viewtopic.php?p=166177#p166177

People can draw their own conclusions from this, but my own take is that if these really are mp3s from 2002, I find it very hard to see how they could be fake because: stem splitting technology didn't exist like it does now, the ability to clean up that distorting bass on ATP07 as much as this didn't exist (and actually probably doesn't even exist now), and most convincingly for me: there was no reason to make a fake of Noatak that sounds like ATP07, people hadn't made that suggested that connection at that point.

It's still possible that some absolute maniac made these fakes in 2026 and went to very impressive lengths to encode the mp3s in a way that was very typical of late 90's/early 00's era.

[Lollie]

It's worth noting that the version of "Noatak"/ATP07 that appears here is structured quite differently to the one from the live show — which should be obvious, they played their tunes live, they weren't just pressing Play on a pre-recorded tune. But that means THIS version is new to us. If it's really the genuine article, it's the version they rehearsed and recorded "in studio" (read: bedroom, garage, wherever they did their recorded works) so they could put it on tape.

Like, I don't know, there's a point where a "fake" is doing too much to be a fake. I think it's real.

[outhudd]

Nice also how the kid's voices in "Point Hope" sound a lot like the ones in "Olson (Version 3)".

Very similar effect used on them. I don't think it's exactly the same sample, but maybe from the same source.

[Omikron]

This really does sound like a heavily compressed tape rip, which buries some of the finer details that we might otherwise expect to hear. I'm impressed that the first two tracks have unheard outros that a faker would probably not dare to include after replicating known works. Real or fake, I'd love to hear side A.

[Negamuse]

Yeah I'm torn on this. Usually with these things the style is so of I find myself thinking people are nuts for thinking it's real. Or, there's some technical reason that stands out that proves it's not what it claims to be.

But I don't see that with this. Maybe I'm going soft in my old age. It sounds way more plausible than they usually do

And while the technical details of the encoder and whatnot probably aren't the slam dunk they appear to be - you can fake that stuff easily - it's a pretty high effort thing to get right.

Real or high effort fake for me.

[cstalin]

This is fake and not even a good fake. For all yall confused on how they could have gotten the bass sound from ATP7 its because the soundboard for that track and a few others was leaked a few weeks ago. The rest is just bad looping of samples you can hear the bad splicing job. Take anything the uploaded said with a grain of salt. Faking "Old" mp3s is really easy. You can use old software or even easier find a old MP3 player and just rip your track that way. The bad ADC converters plus bad mp3 conversions will make it sound like this especially if you set the levels badly.
Also listen to Random 35 track tape you can here the brothers actually knew how to play instruments well, knew theory and how to arrange music on even their early tracks. These have no flow.

[outhudd]

Definitely possible these are 2026 fakes.

Unlikely to be fakes from 2002 in my opinion.

Another detail: B1 being Circle is new info I think. The real side split for Hooper Bay isn't known. Someone might correct me there.

More obvious split if I was faking this would be roughly 15 minutes on each side, making Circle A3 and Noatak B1.

[Negamuse]

I mean I'll state the obvious, I guess, the fact that we're hearing any fakes now, in the age of GenAI, is not really surprising. That's only gonna get worse

[niski]

will just add this - whoever posted these to archive is almost definitely a native polish person, this is very clearly not machine translated in any way

and it's got to be from eMule if we follow the story as written, since chomikuj didn't exist before 2006

[outhudd]

will just add this - whoever posted these to archive is almost definitely a native polish person, this is very clearly not machine translated in any way

and it's got to be from eMule if we follow the story as written, since chomikuj didn't exist before 2006

Another question that could be answered: did eMule (or chomikuj) really preserve the file modified date from the source when you downloaded files from someone else?

Or did it make the "date modified" on the file represent the time you downloaded it? (If it's the latter, then the story on archive doesn't add up)

[niski]

will just add this - whoever posted these to archive is almost definitely a native polish person, this is very clearly not machine translated in any way

and it's got to be from eMule if we follow the story as written, since chomikuj didn't exist before 2006

Another question that could be answered: did eMule (or chomikuj) really preserve the modified date from the source when you downloaded files from someone else? Or did it make the "date modified" on the file represent the time you downloaded it? (If it's the latter, then the story on archive doesn't add up)

eMule was/still is? p2p, so the "modified" date in a similar fashion to soulseek will be whenever the files were downloaded
chomikuj is basically a glorified ftp website, so same applies here

however those could've been originally in a zip/rar archive, which would retain the filedates to at the very least the original zip/rar creator's modified dates

[outhudd]

will just add this - whoever posted these to archive is almost definitely a native polish person, this is very clearly not machine translated in any way

and it's got to be from eMule if we follow the story as written, since chomikuj didn't exist before 2006

Another question that could be answered: did eMule (or chomikuj) really preserve the modified date from the source when you downloaded files from someone else? Or did it make the "date modified" on the file represent the time you downloaded it? (If it's the latter, then the story on archive doesn't add up)

eMule was/still is? p2p, so the "modified" date in a similar fashion to soulseek will be whenever the files were downloaded
chomikuj is basically a glorified ftp website, so same applies here

however those could've been originally in a zip/rar archive, which would retain the filedates to at the very least the original zip/rar creator's modified dates

It's also possible that this poster on archive downloaded them from eMule in 2002, so the modified date is when he did that.
eMule started May 2002, based on eDonkey2000.

[Redd Panderson]

Whatever the outcome, let's be nice to this Archive.org uploader! Even if they turn out to be fake, they said themself that they don't know that for sure.

At any rate, I just got a chance this morning to give the purported Point Hope a proper listen on my nice speakers and it honestly enchanted me. I kind of find the low fidelity charming, it gives it a clandestine yet earnest exploratory feel, like a little peek behind the curtain. Not only is it a nice piece, not only does it sound like it could be authentic, but it also sounds eerily similar to Inferno?

Help me out here, what Inferno track is this most like? I tried to skim Inferno quick before work but couldn't identify it, and it may not be a particular moment on the album but rather a general vibe. Is this just me?

Off the top of my head, I know the airport intercom-esque voice sounds like the voice in The Process. Then, it's reminding me of the opening of You Retreat In Time In Space... Like it tracks that this Point Hope has that parallel with those two tracks being back-to-back.

[Redd Panderson]

Took some more time with this. Forgive me while I take a potential fake BOC track too seriously, but to recap some known stuff and extend it a bit further:

You Retreat In Time In Space feels like a reprise of Deep Time and of their whole discography, really. Definitely a "roll the credits" song at what could be the end of their discography (or, at least, this 5-album phase of it, for those holding out hope for more new material).

Deep Time of course refers to geological time scales, basically, which feels like a bit of an acknowledgement of the time scale that BOC works in.

That kinda makes sense alongside the fact that, to me, You Retreat In Time And Space also feels like it calls back to Everything You Do Is A Balloon--the closer on their first big EP, Hi Scores.

If this Point Hope is real, it would be a closer to its own phase of the BOC discography in the five unheard private albums. So the fact that this Point Hope is reminding me of The Process / the first half of You Retreat feels like it could be more than coincidence. It could be a throwback to this, too.

That You Retreat transitions from the Point Hope vibes portion to the Everything You Do portion at virtually the exact halfway point feels mirror-like, which is plugging into my head canon for Giraud's Mirror once again.

I'm probably taking this too far and acknowledge there may be some confirmation bias in this, but fake or no, it makes for interesting speculation and possibly very (unintentionally?) clever writing for the faker.

[Soul_Slip]

Took some more time with this. Forgive me while I take a potential fake BOC track too seriously, but to recap some known stuff and extend it a bit further:

You Retreat In Time In Space feels like a reprise of Deep Time and of their whole discography, really. Definitely a "roll the credits" song at what could be the end of their discography (or, at least, this 5-album phase of it, for those holding out hope for more new material).

Deep Time of course refers to geological time scales, basically, which feels like a bit of an acknowledgement of the time scale that BOC works in.

That kinda makes sense alongside the fact that, to me, You Retreat In Time And Space also feels like it calls back to Everything You Do Is A Balloon--the closer on their first big EP, Hi Scores.

If this Point Hope is real, it would be a closer to its own phase of the BOC discography in the five unheard private albums. So the fact that this Point Hope is reminding me of The Process / the first half of You Retreat feels like it could be more than coincidence. It could be a throwback to this, too.

That You Retreat transitions from the Point Hope vibes portion to the Everything You Do portion at virtually the exact halfway point feels mirror-like, which is plugging into my head canon for Giraud's Mirror once again.

I'm probably taking this too far and acknowledge there may be some confirmation bias in this, but fake or no, it makes for interesting speculation and possibly very (unintentionally?) clever writing for the faker.

I just disagree with the sentiment that they are done. I really doubt they would end like this. There is no evidence they are done. For me personally, TH felt more like an actual end credits then this album does. Anyway, the hooper bay tracks sound like the known live stuff was retooled to make a fake. The “Noatak”song does not flow correctly. The loops dont come in or drop out the same time that the song was arranged in. Its like some one got some loops created by ai and then tried to re-create it but wasn’t very skilled at timing and changes. At least that’s what I hear.

[TheStatPow]

Biznasty about to pop out at any moment now revealing himself to be yet again eating a copy of Hooper Bay

[Redd Panderson]

I swear to god lmao

That story was so legendary I'm not even mad. It was so funny.

[Waterbagel]

all right. sounds like a lore event. i want it. i found this: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardsofcanada ... pparently/

but the video is long since taken down. what's the scoop here

[Redd Panderson]

This video is the hoaxer himself telling the whole story:

https://youtu.be/yfS1ny8w6wo?is=p8vZ15KhSQbvd6Zn

Soooooo you have to understand the level of dubiousness all supposed Early Rare Albums leaks provoke

[Waterbagel]

hehe well i wasn't around for the soulseek days, but my start with BoC was thru limewire before i was at an employable age, and i've been on here (off and on) for a long time, so i've been thru my own fair share of fakes for sure