Scottish duo Boards of Canada's debut release, the beautiful "Music Has The Right To Children", brought to electronica a warmth and gentleness seldom encountered in a genre infamous for cold beats and noises. Geogaddi, their second album, is no different in that respect - although in many others it moves in quite different directions. From the opening few minutes - particularly "Music is Math", since the first track, "Ready Let's Go", serves as little more than the brief introduction hinted at by its name - it's clear that we're in darker territory than that of the debut. The softness of tone remains, but there's a sinister edge to things, here - the minor modes, the drones, the hauntingly melodic synths, the glitches and crunches, all brooding and edgy, are a far cry from the summery fantasy of Music Has The Right.. The use of childrens' voices, carried over from that album, here takes a darker tone too - instead of the idyllic "we love you" samples, we're confronted with mangled, on-the-periphery, repetitive counting of numbers towards some unknown aim.

At times, indeed, this album is in truly experimental territory, transcending (and doing credit to) its roots in Krautrock and ambient, and moving into the realms of Nurse With Wound or Coil; tracks such as "The Devil Is The Details" are genuinely unnerving, and throughout the album there's a very deliberate, clever manipulation of the soundscape which serves perfectly the mood that's being generated. Even when Boards of Canada resort to such old tricks as the vocoder -- now almost hopelessly passé -- they screw with the sound, turning the sound of angels into the sound of fallen angels, as in "1969". If Music Has The Right.. was a soporific, a dream in the mind of a child, then this is the darker side of that dream; it is the point at which innocence starts to be challenged, at which hope become questioned, doors become opened. And that's no bad thing; given the choice between that album and this, I would ultimately have to keep a hold of Geogaddi - it holds on to the somehow draining beauty of the debut, but provides an experience that is more demanding, more difficult- and ultimately more satisfying.

So - more essential than even Music Has The Right To Children, this is an album that will haunt you, that will reward your efforts, that deserves a place in your collection, whatever genres of music you think you like.

By kafka