Album Description: Music Has The Right To Children is their most successful Warp/Matador release. An electronic album that appeals to rock kids. 18 tracks.
Amazon.com: Like dust motes dancing in hazy afternoon sunlight, the compositions of Scottish duo Boards of Canada seduce listeners by illuminating almost imperceptible elements flitting through the cluttered cosmos. Though their saturated hip-hop beats and deployment of timbres as tactile textures recalls Autechre, Boards of Canada are distinguished by sweet melodies and a fondness for using vaguely familiar sounds outside of Western harmonic tradition--snippets of party conversations, bouncing Ping-Pong balls--to function as emotional triggers. Despite its sonic watercolor washes and childlike exclamations of "I love you" ("The Color of the Fire"), Music Has the Right to Children is not some yellowing document scribbled by glassy-eyed, loved-up rave casualties. This exemplary, evocative recording almost hovers above any fixed point on the time line of pop-music history. --Kurt B. Reighley
Overated completely but Ok. Boards of Canada's MHTRTC is perhaps one of electronic musics most overated albums- nonetheless it is still worthwhile. What really lets this album down is the percussion and beat which is soulless. The background odd chordal changes and blurry soundscapes are ruined by what at times seems like a rigid drum machine patch or sampled drum loop youve heard before. Its a shame as i do like the haunting quality of some of the melody's notes and childhood memories the music conjures up. I actually think Geogaddi is a much better album than this. And i still prefer Future Sound of London or Broadcast in the end. Id pick up Geogaddi instead but this is still a nice addition just not the holy grail so many have made it out to be.
Auditory Perfection This album features electronic music at its finest: it is simplistic yet interesting enough to keep the listener interested. It is not repetitive like some dance music is, yet it is not insanely intricate and filled with drum n' bass breakbeats, either. It is instead somehow beautifully intricate in its simplicity: with almost every listen you discover a new sound once unheard. It took me a few listens of the song "An Eagle in Your Mind" to notice the muffled muttering of "I love you" embedded within its swirling percussion and ambience.
Music Has the Right to Children is unlike any other electronic album out there. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it almost sounds as though it was created not by human hands, but simply just exists as something to be admired and enjoyed by all.
Yes JR... ... and writing a great novel is easy, you only need a pen and paper and you just have to put one word after another.
Opposing J.R.'s review, agreeing with Matt's... "Music Has The Right To Children" is nothing short of a masterpeice. It hooks you with strange vibes that you don't like at first, but for some reason you can't stop listening. Every time you listen to this album, something will stay in your head for hours later--a particular hacked up sample, rhythm, melody, or just the overall feel of a track. For me, it's the strange feel of "Aquarius" and the "yeah, that's right" and child laughing samples, or the rhythm of "Happy Cycling" and the occassional vocal-sounding sample that accents it.
The only criticism I have is this: At times, some tracks can sound "thin" in that there are few if only one thing going on at once, but they eventually fill in. Also, some tracks seem to have intentional harmonic distortion. At first it sounded like the speakers were distorting from being too loud, but when I played it at a lower volume on a number of systems, I found that the distortion is part of the recording. It could be that this was done intentionally to oppose the generally smooth, clean sound of ambient music, but I think it could have been done more artistically.
Whether or not the album required much technical skill or equipment, it is evident by this album that Boards of Canada has the ability to create unique soundscapes and create chord progressions and place notes and samples in such a way that it creates a feel that is totally unrecognizable and can only be described as "Boards of Canada". The album has an emotional depth that takes you in, surrounds you, and makes you forget about reality. It is one of those kinds of albums, though, that takes a few listens before you truly appreciate it. I recommend this album to anyone who appreciates unique electronic music or music in general that has depth.
This is the album that started the hype! An Amazing Classic! I am a kid again.
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