As I said in my review of "Twoism" I was amazed to find that there were no reviews for any of the various e.p.s that BoC have put out as they stand up incredibly well to the 3 main BoC albums.
Boards of Canada are made up of the brothers Marcus Eion and Michael Sanderson.
The "Twoism" E.P. got BoC noticed by the Skam record label, who signed them and released the "Hi Scores" E.P., this E.P. has been re-released several times since it's initial release in 1996 (it has been re-released in 1998, 2002 and 2005, to neatly coincide with the 3 main BoC albums no doubt).
"Twoism" to me is greatly reminiscent of their "Music Has The Right To Children" album yet even though "Hi Scores" e.p. shares a song from "Music Has The Right To Children" (Turquoise Hexagon Sun) and a song off "Twoism" (Seeya Later) to me the e.p. represents a different side of BoC.
The "Hi Scores" E.P. reveals slightly more open soundscapes, seems to further show how mature BoC’s sound was back then and reveals a more upbeat side to their music.
It starts with the song "Hi Scores" which is classic BoC with it's repetive (in a good way) beats with hidden melodies and details in in the background but to me sounds slightly darker and more downbeat than usual, if this sounds depressing, don't worry as there also seems to be a feeling of hope running throughout this song. The second track is also classic BoC especially as the track also appears on "Music Has The Right To Children" and is not altogether that different from the version on that album, as good as ever on this e.p. this track (for obvious reasons) and the "Hi Scores" track seem to be the closest you get to the sound of "Music Has The Right To Children".
The next few tracks seem to take very different and far more beat-driven approach with "Nlogax" sounding sort of like electronic funk starting with a long build-up of drums and a single keyboard line and then turning into one of the funkiest tracks BoC have ever put their name to, a brilliant track that has a really wierd ascending and descending synth line.
This is followed by "June 9th" which is another different sounding BoC track with quite heavy (for Boc) beats that have a very mechanical sound, yet the song also has lovely melodies running through the background of the beats which allows the track to have a bit of warmth as opposed to sounding too mechanised.
The next track "Seeya Later" which also appears on "Twoism" also show this unusal and more upbeat BoC sound with it's weaving bassline, nice beat and beautiful melody.
The e.p. then closes with "Everything You Do Is A Balloon" (nice title) which opens with one of the short tracks that BoC like to use on thier releases has BoC's trademark sound, then the actual song begins and seems to be a kind of cross between the sound of "Music Has The Right To Children" and the earlier soundscapes of "Twoism" but still stands out as sounding a little different but this could just be my opinion, regardless of what it is familiar to it is a brilliant track in it's own right, probably one of BoC's best and a great way to end the e.p.
As with "Twoism" the "Hi Scores" E.P. is brilliant in it's own right and keeps up the high standard that BoC continually keep and stands alongside "Music Has The Right To Children" as some of their best work.
