LP5 - Inferno

[The Other]

Stills from the looping videos on Spotify in order from ‘Introit’ to ‘I Saw Through Platonia’ I normally don’t pay attention to these if/when I listen to Spotify.

Didn’t see these posted anywhere else on the forum. Apologies if it is a repeat post.

Beautiful. I noticed these as well, they all seem to be different and I couldn't find them anywhere else? It would be nice to be able to get a copy of those somehow

they're all in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ksRe0oMeXY

Yep. Didn’t even see this video on YT until after I posted these. Apologies.

[Waterbagel]

I'm grabbing my best bluetooth speaker, some fine comestibles, and my wife and I are taking the ferry out to this place for our first listen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Island

we did it!! OMG! it was incredible. what a way to have a first listen. we'll try to make a video to post some time later. took lots of good footage of the area. and pics. anyway here's my first listen rough notes:

- introit - yep. oh yeah baby. the boys are back. let’s do this. real gemini feel. another 'pronouncement' album intro
- prophecy - WOAH!! did not expect… an actual drum set! wow this is different. this is growth!! it's change!!
- hydrogen - aquarius synth doing under the coke sign. that synth that kicks in is surprisingly straight forward.
- capricorn - ok i’m picking up a real 'my life in the bush of ghosts' (eno, byrne) about all this so far
- father and son - this is nice. jaunty dark. wait what. what? what’s happening. omg. omg. this might be their funniest record. hahahaha wow this is great
- somewhere right now in the future - oh that is sooooo nice. i’m so glad they still do their smoother vignette style songs. wait!!! oh my GOD!!! this is the same bass line as 5.9.78!!! DUDE!!!!! are we finally getting to hear that one 'released'!? has it grown into this track?! maybe they just like it
- naraka - i was down. it was great stuff. i was like 'this is enough'. we got the runescape sound font chorus going and its nice. then boom the synth hook from earlier kicks back in. got me there, sandisons!!!
- acts of magic - this makes me think of dandelion. the intro to it. oh no NOT THE BEEEEESS!!!!!
- memory death. chill. sad. love it. oohhhhh that vocal sample. wow im just totally loving how many like straightforward vocal shit they’re putting in here. though damn the talking back in prophecy pretty dark there!
- the word becomes flesh - good. i’m still surprised at how straight forward this is. it really makes me think of the eno/byrne album
- into the magic land - oh i am LOVING that the more full band feel doesn’t totally stick around. oh wait here’s a full kit. ok how does that continue to play out. ok yeah it fades out too. man i love that. OH!! that guitar tone!! oh heLLOOOO 80s and 90s goth pop!!!
- blood in the labyrinth - WOAH sitar. haha ok!! ok actually hearing the drums, this makes more sense. oh hell yeah there’s that spooky vocal shit. man huh ok. this is like.. rhyming with cheesy new age. but it isn’t that. but if you were walking by someone listening to it, you might think
- deep time - ahh. there it is. shame about the white house video. i love this song in context
- all reason departs - by now in thinking about how i thought my first listen of TH would be my last first-listen of BoC material. enjoying this potential last first listen. oh wow didn’t expect the drums sound form that one beck song to show up or that very kaini industries synth. 3 minutes in ooh this is kinda funky! are we in a new song? oh shit 3 minutes left. wow this song has a lot left to tell us
- arena americanasa - huh! they’re all 5 minute-ers. i’m down. 1:27 huh ok!!!! i’m struck by how straightforward this bassline chord progression is. i like it. plus i mean, you get older, you just… drop some pretense sometimes. 3:40 oohhhhh yeah. yes that pumch. hmm this is a quiet 20 seconds. the beach is pretty loud. maybe i’m missing something
- the process - oh man. i’m a little stoned. can’t quite make it out. but i can tell this is dark. oh wow. oh this is completely gorgeous. wow.
- you retreat - wow this is again like just recorded acoustic drums and bass! once again! cool. but still got that ice cold twinkle synth. and the groovy sound from roygbiv. oh this is just great. oh man that sawtooth. didn’t we hear that earlier? arena americanada
- saw thru platonia. heart beat. classic. and that old dusty sounding nothing is real synth sound. or is it jacquard causeway. heartbeat though. hmm. still alive! oh i like that drone guitar waIT WHAT TOU HAD 20 seconds left!! did i just get sopranos'd?? agh i’ll have to listen when i get home!!!!!

10/10, first impression is fantastic. excited for future listens.

now i'm off to go see if anyone else picked up on the 5.9.78 chord progression in Somewhere Right Now !!

[outhudd]

I was NOT prepared for it to be my instant favorite BOC album

Same, this is incredibly good. I'll have to wait a bit longer to say for sure whether or not it's my favorite BoC album but I never expected that I'd actually be considering that.

[Seat of Consciousness]

I was NOT prepared for it to be my instant favorite BOC album

Same, this is incredibly good. I'll have to wait a bit longer to say for sure whether or not it's my favorite BoC album but I never expected that I'd actually be considering that.

Same x2. MHTRTC and Geogaddi are so embedded in my psyche I just assumed it would not be possible for anything to ever come close. Now, I'm wondering if Inferno is right up there with them. I still have lots of time I need to spend with it before I know for sure, but for now it seems to be on its way there. (And now how am I supposed to feel about having 3 BoC albums in my top 5 albums of all time? The brothers are making me look ridiculous over here.)

[Josh]

I've had TH in my car's CD player for 10 years, occasionally swapping it out with other discs, but always going back to it. It's by far the BoC album I've listened to the most. That doesn't mean it's my favorite BoC album, but it goes well with driving I guess? Anyway, Inferno is in there now and I expect it will be the default disc like TH was for years to come. A low key major life event lol.

[ColinWallis]

Anyone else feeling like it's possibly more likely than ever that they perform live again considering the prevalence of live instruments on this album? Also just the general vibe, I can just see it.

Still not really trying to say it's super likely, but at least compared to when Tomorrow's Harvest released. I had zero hope for that then, but with this one I just kindof go hmmmmmmmm.... Just kind of seems possible.

[Josh]

Anyone else feeling like it's possibly more likely than ever that they perform live again considering the prevalence of live instruments on this album? Also just the general vibe, I can just see it.

Still not really trying to say it's super likely, but at least compared to when Tomorrow's Harvest released. I had zero hope for that then, but with this one I just kindof go hmmmmmmmm.... Just kind of seems possible.

Yeah, I'm not going to get my hopes up too much, but right now it feels like anything is possible.

[Seat of Consciousness]

Anyone else feeling like it's possibly more likely than ever that they perform live again considering the prevalence of live instruments on this album? Also just the general vibe, I can just see it.

Still not really trying to say it's super likely, but at least compared to when Tomorrow's Harvest released. I had zero hope for that then, but with this one I just kindof go hmmmmmmmm.... Just kind of seems possible.

Just considering their personalities, I find it hard to imagine them wanting to go on stage with all this hype surrounding them, especially as two older guys who haven't played live in over 20 years. But given the album's "liveness" I agree, it does seem like Inferno is itching to be performed. The idea popped into my head today that the brothers could hire a band to perform for them, a sort of thing like, "Boards of Canada Presents: Inferno Live." Have two guys on keyboards/electronics, plus others on guitar, bass, and drums and you could throw down some pretty killer arrangements of these songs. Come on BoC...don't you want my $$$?

[JosephGW]

This album is amazing. Exceeded any expectations I had, including how difficult it has been to listen to. My dad passed April 9th and my mom passed May 27th. I guess they're retreating in time and space (in a way) now. My dad was an evangelical pastor for a while - southern baptist. He remained devout after stopping preaching. This record hits so hard in those places. Fragments of young teenage years really coming back into focus, some of these vocal samples feel like they are in my memory somewhere haha. Revivals and cantatas (if you know, you know lol). It's surprised me. Somehow through the intense madness and art and creation in this music it feels to me like the most real thing they've ever made. Or at least, the thing they've made thats had such an intense personal impact. Exceptional experience, listening to this album. Id rate it a 60/10.

[Negamuse]

For whatever reason I've watched a couple of reaction videos to this album (with the sound off, and captions on, I'm interested in the opinion but don't really wanna interact with the album in that way).

I dunno if this is a thing YouTube auto caption always does, but on both of these reaction vids I've seen it keep popping up the word "Heat" in the captions over and over. Obviously it's hearing some sound and it's just on the threshold of what it can decide is speech.

But that's a fascinating word for it to pick out, in an album called "inferno". Obviously if this is a common failure that happens on other music then you know, it's nothing. Still I thought it was interesting

[joeblackcircles]

Anyone else feeling like it's possibly more likely than ever that they perform live again considering the prevalence of live instruments on this album? Also just the general vibe, I can just see it.

Still not really trying to say it's super likely, but at least compared to when Tomorrow's Harvest released. I had zero hope for that then, but with this one I just kindof go hmmmmmmmm.... Just kind of seems possible.

Just considering their personalities, I find it hard to imagine them wanting to go on stage with all this hype surrounding them, especially as two older guys who haven't played live in over 20 years. But given the album's "liveness" I agree, it does seem like Inferno is itching to be performed. The idea popped into my head today that the brothers could hire a band to perform for them, a sort of thing like, "Boards of Canada Presents: Inferno Live." Have two guys on keyboards/electronics, plus others on guitar, bass, and drums and you could throw down some pretty killer arrangements of these songs. Come on BoC...don't you want my $$$?

I was thinking that given the strength of the promo videos it could be more of an immersive experience with the videos and projections taking centre stage. They could be there playing, but not very visible.

[Waterbagel]

- saw thru platonia. heart beat. classic. and that old dusty sounding nothing is real synth sound. or is it jacquard causeway. heartbeat though. hmm. still alive! oh i like that drone guitar waIT WHAT TOU HAD 20 seconds left!! did i just get sopranos'd?? agh i’ll have to listen when i get home!!!!!

oh DUH, this sets up another run-time bit for them doesn't it. like the way geogaddi runs for 66 minutes and 6 seconds

[2020k]

Someone on another forum said that they looked at the publishing credits on PRS and that Mike has 100% of the rights on roughly half the tracks and Marcus has 10% on the rest. Can anyone confirm that? They should have done a double album where they got their own LP each to play with! All but confirms Marcus had a very limited role on this album, which for makes how good the album is even is more impressive that it was a mostly singular achievement to compose, though insane credit goes to Mike Colton for the mastering of the album too.

Checking out Mike Colton's credentials? Yeah. He's badass. https://www.thisismetropolis.com/engineers/matt-colton/

Received my red vinyl today and there is quiet a bit of surface noise. In the medium loud sections it‘s pretty distracting.
Anyone else experience this?

No. BOC pressings are always really well pressed. There were a few problems with the represses in 2013 and if you contacted Bleep with a photo and video of what was causing the noise they shipped you out a replacement. I don't know if they still do that.

[skunkman]

interesting that Mike's now poaching ideas from Radiohead, instead of the other way around (jk jk)

[deadfly]

Received my red vinyl today and there is quiet a bit of surface noise. In the medium loud sections it‘s pretty distracting.
Anyone else experience this?

In my experience coloured vinyl does tend to have more surface noise. I noticed that on mine but it wasn't too bad

[Altruizine]

interesting that Mike's now poaching ideas from Radiohead, instead of the other way around (jk jk)

What’s the supposed Radiohead influence? I know you said jk but that must be based on something

[Spirit Fingers]

I think it's now safe to say that through a strange set of circumstances I got to hear this album all the way back in April.

To keep it general, I work for an events space in a coastal city. Warp have hired us in the past for album playbacks for Music Press in the past, so when they reached out to book a couple of days after the VHS tapes surfaced, I knew immediately what it was going to be. I didn't sign an NDA but the manager did, but I still had to play it very cool and pretend I did not care about BOC at all as they were very anxious that nothing was revealed ahead of time.

On the actual playback which I prepared, we had the same visuals as eventually used for the official listening events. I have a lovely recording of the moment it was announced what the album would be (cue gasps from attending press, presumably not as clued in as the rest of us on the tapes etc).

I swore I wouldn't listen to the album from the back room, but after everyone left that night I smoked a joint and played it back for just myself in the completely empty venue one time. A pretty magical experience, I remember hearing what I now know to be age of capricorn and Naraka and being so excited, not just knowing I was one of the very first to hear it, but also for everybody else to hear them and feel what I was feeling in that moment.

So all in all it's been pretty weird seeing everyone speculate about the album, what each track might be, while knowing very well what is was. After my solo listening party I was left with the feeling that this was geogaddi meets tomorrows harvest, which still makes sense to me.

As someone who was on this forum during the TH rollout there was a part of me that felt deflated to hear it so early, I couldn't share in the anticipation in quite the same way, but it's been so lovely seeing all those same people from back then sharing in the excitement this time around, and its also been lovely to see all the anticipation safe in the knowledge that the album would not disappoint. I've been so tempted to drop into threads and tease some inside knowledge but stopped myself, because at the end of the day this communal excitement is what we're all here for. What a joy this whole thing has been, and what a joy to have the record in my hands to listen to without that guilty feeling in the back of my head!

[Spirit Fingers]

I should note that I lingered after the playback and listened to a conversation between a Warp rep and a couple of writers from prominent pubs that the message from the brothers was zero interviews this time round (though the rep noted they had said the same last time so who knows)

[Waterbagel]

sounds like a dream! very cool Spirit

[Gazebo4]

Anyone else feeling like it's possibly more likely than ever that they perform live again considering the prevalence of live instruments on this album? Also just the general vibe, I can just see it.

Still not really trying to say it's super likely, but at least compared to when Tomorrow's Harvest released. I had zero hope for that then, but with this one I just kindof go hmmmmmmmm.... Just kind of seems possible.

Just considering their personalities, I find it hard to imagine them wanting to go on stage with all this hype surrounding them, especially as two older guys who haven't played live in over 20 years. But given the album's "liveness" I agree, it does seem like Inferno is itching to be performed. The idea popped into my head today that the brothers could hire a band to perform for them, a sort of thing like, "Boards of Canada Presents: Inferno Live." Have two guys on keyboards/electronics, plus others on guitar, bass, and drums and you could throw down some pretty killer arrangements of these songs. Come on BoC...don't you want my $$$?

I was thinking that given the strength of the promo videos it could be more of an immersive experience with the videos and projections taking centre stage. They could be there playing, but not very visible.

They could play in pitch black darkness like Autechre does. I'd sell my left nut to see them live, but who doesn't? Well women obviously but you get the point