02. Reach For The Dead (4:47)

[audiotrack]

This for me is the best track on TH.
If not the best track ever by BoC.

[arvy]

same thoughts, this track is enormous !

[mc10101]

RFTD feels utterly classic now. Not sure why it kinda reminds me of Kid For Today - probably the very graceful, stately build. Goosebumps...

[re-phaelam-ed]

had all tracks on random....crashed out....
reach for the dead played PERFECTLY into finity.

thats all.

[fujee]

This song is fucking nuts. I love how it got a bit rinsed around the album. Now whenever I put this record on it hits me like a tonne of bricks. Those drums are so funky.

[Fireal420]

yeah, reach for the dead is pretty incredible. its a very stand out track on the album, but i feel like it doesnt stand out because it was the single and the first taste that we got.


when the synths begin to build after the one minute mark, you can just feel the agony. even when reach for the dead played for the first time on the radio, i swear it was like i was listening to a memory. i never heard the song before, and yet i felt a complete connection to it, as though the song was written about my own life.

[re-phaelam-ed]

has anyone listened to the album in a 5.1 system? wonder if there is sound in those surround channels.
i dont have that kind of setup.

'i overflow man'

[Cohesion]

has anyone listened to the album in a 5.1 system? wonder if there is sound in those surround channels.
i dont have that kind of setup.

'i overflow man'

The album has only been released in two-channel stereo format so it wouldn't reveal anything new.

[WeHadNormality]

Videostatic.com talk to cinematographer David Myrick on the techniques used to create a video for Boards of Canada's 'Reach for the Dead' with director Neil Krug.

http://www.videostatic.com/depth/2013/0 ... vid-myrick

[Cyclosa]

Track now reminds me of the images of the gas attacks in Syria
Tape hiss sounds like the poisonous gas spreading in a city of death

[polarbear]

[polarbear]

[akrotiri]

my day was made

[polarbear]

my day was made

this is very good

[polarbear]

[reflect_what]

I had an interesting revelation (in Greek is the word "apocálypsis") regarding the title of this track, while building a fire out camping a month ago. I was walking around the campsite grabbing dead plant matter to build this fire, when it suddenly clicked... Reach for the Dead....

While I don't mean to say that there aren't other equally viable interpretations, there are a few reasons why I think this interpretation of the title makes sense:

1. Fire-building is a theme -- A. with respect to song titles "The Colour of the Fire" and "1986 Summer Fire" -- B. with respect to actual audio content (possibly the background hisses on "Beware the Friendly Stranger"; those pops on "Turquoise Hexagon Sun" -- and C. They've also mentioned fire-building in interviews.

2. Furthermore, in the most recent string of interviews, BoC mentioned a few "modern prophet" writers who predict that, in the future, American society will break down into smaller, more agrarian units. I would imagine in this type of scenario, there would be less energy to go around, and people would have to get their life-energy from fire -- in other words, "reaching for the dead" combustible matter would be a necessary component of this future-dystopic world.

Anyway, just an interpretation that I found interesting, and one that seemed to tie into the themes of the album.

[Radiobuzz]

^ It's a valid interpretation. I tend to think it in a more universal way though. Terence McKenna used to talk about the 'archaic revival' which in summary explains how a society (and I think it also happens on a personal level) will project themselves to the past whenever they feel 'the end' is approachiing, which explains piercings, tattoos, tribal rythms and more current instagram filters. I like to think this track represents that, which fits nicely with the collapse story arc.

[Opothecary]

I have become a big fan of improvisational live music in the years between the release of TCH and TH, so if you put two and two together, it's an amusing title for personal reasons, especially hearing it as the first piece of new music of theirs in years.

[egbdf]

I have become a big fan of improvisational live music in the years between the release of TCH and TH, so if you put two and two together, it's an amusing title for personal reasons, especially hearing it as the first piece of new music of theirs in years.

I don't follow.

What kind of improvisational music do you like?

[Kilroy the Killjoy]

has anyone listened to the album in a 5.1 system? wonder if there is sound in those surround channels.
i dont have that kind of setup.

'i overflow man'

The album has only been released in two-channel stereo format so it wouldn't reveal anything new.

It is possible for surround sound audio to be transmitted through a stereo signal (Dolby Pro Logic II,) but I doubt BoC would have done anything like that.