Customer Reviews

Hi Scores

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Never used the word 'gorgeous' before, but I figure this is the perfect place to start. I bought this album three years ago after buying Music Has the Right...and felt the overwhelming urge, some may call it obsession, to acquire everything BoC has ever recorded.
I was very successful: I found Twoism, a live album (Warp's 10th anniversary bash), as well as what I believe to be a pre-Twoism recording. I also found Hi-Scores.
Hi-scores represents a stunning prologue to Music Has the Right... as it features other worldly sleep-inducing sounds (Turquoise Hexagon Sun) along with intense rushes of godlike intonations (Nlogax). The best track here perhaps is Everything You Do is a Balloon. Mesmerizing Beat overlapping lush melodic keyboards reminding me of an infinite field of green grass and yellow flowers. I could listen to this song all day.
Hi-Scores is a great companion to Music Has the Right... Turquoise is on both albums, Nlogax could be a precursor to Telephasic Workshop and the title track is the epitome of the BoC sound - artful, captivating, invigorating yet peaceful.
In short, if you like BoC you will thoroughly enjoy this CD. No reason exists that could properly explain why you do not own this cd. Listen with headphones and let Boards of Canada speak to you. It will be a remarkable and unforgettable conversation, I assure you.

I just got this and three of the six songs are really good. But one of those three I was already familiar with from Music Has The Right..., Turquoise Hexagon Sun. Hi-Scores and Everything Is A Balloon are highly contagious tracks, the latter easily one of BOC's best. The other three tracks are not of the usual high quality you get from BOC, and they feel uncertain. Still, they're nowhere near as bad as those abrasive Aphex Twin tracks that you always skip to prevent ear damage.

In a word... Awesome. For me, the "Hi Scores" EP is one of the greatest pieces of electronic music ever made. If you're looking for mainstream "techno" music, or the latest trance anthems, look elsewhere. If you're just getting into IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), you MUST buy this EP. If you're well aquainted with IDM, you already have "Hi Scores" - it's as simple as that.

As usual, BOC flirt with themes of childhood and nostalgia, woven into melodies heavy on minor chords and slight dissonance, evocative of the glacial wastes of the arctic. Almost Satie-like, the music is locked into slow electro rhythms that share common ground with Richard D. James early Aphex Twin work. If you already have BOC's landmark "Music Has The Right To Children" album, you already know what to expect. Take the best from that album and condense it into "Hi Scores". This "single" was first released in late 1996 as a 12" ep - this re-release on cd (from '99) has been somewhat hard to find, I'm quite stunned that Amazon has this available. Pick it up while you can!

Track listing and timings: hi scores 4'57 / turquoise hexagon sun 5'09 (also on "Music Has the Right...") / nlogax 6'54 / june 9th 5'18 / seeya later 4'12 / everything you do is a balloon 7'02 /

Eoin and Sandison are gods. Can I say that?

I need to qualify the 3 stars. If you have Skampler and Music Has the Right..., you have half the tracks on this CD. (There might be subtle differences... I haven't done an A/B comparison).

If you DON'T have Skampler or can't find it, then I rate this 5-stars easily. Everything You Do Is A Balloon is the pinnacle of BoC's style IMO. Just don't buy this with the expectation that every track will sound like the album.

That said, I like the 3 new tracks. They are different from previous material, and almost seem like something from one of their live performances. They're a bit more repetitive, with fewer funky rhythmic samples. "Nlogax" is a terrific take on 80s electronic disco/pop. The production value of the older tracks seems more polished, standing out from the more minimalistic nature of the newer.

Hope this helps...

If you have come this far in searching for Boards of Canada albums you should buy this immediately. It really is a great piece of work. If I could give it four and a half stars I would, but it isn't a five star album, very close though. Track six "Everything you do is a Balloon" is so great it is scary, it is easily one of Boards best songs. Track 3 "Nlogax" really threw me through a loop, it sounds like some late 80s/early 90s Miami cheesy club music, but it opens up after awhile, and really grows on you. Also know that track 2 is "Turquoise Hexagon Sun" which is on Music has the Right. The thing that is great about Boards is that they make you feel some sort of deep emotion through their music, I won't try to put it into words, because from reading other reviews I realize it cannot really be done, but you can feel them really perfecting their craft through this album.

So if you like Boards of Canada sound and IDM music, buy this now, you will not be let down. And let it be known that this sounds nothing like Aphex Twin!!

Just got Hi Scores and was blown away. I had expected the earlier BOC to be a little less interesting than Music Has The Right To Children, I don't know why, but I was pleasently proven wrong. Six great songs, including "nlogax" which combines BOC's signature Nova soundtrack analogue synth freakouts with a nothing-but-fresh breakdance beat. Creepy cheese at it's finest.

I love you Boards of Canada!

I listening to High Scores I found my self lying on the couch drooling on my self. This first track is perhaps one of the best feeling sounds I have yet listen to. The remainder of the 6 track e.p. is enjoyable and well crafted.

I bought Music has the Right to Children over a year ago and have probably listened to it at least 75 times. Although a great CD I was starting to crave something new from BOC. As soon as High Scores was available I had to snap it up. One song is already on MHTRTC, so now I'm down to 5 new songs on this CD. My favorites are track 3 and 5. Unlike MHTRTC you can dance to some of this stuff. I gave the CD 4 stars not because it was lacking quality just that in order get 5 stars I think you need more than 5 new songs. I am waiting patiently for the new full length CD these guys have been planning. I guess the boys are too busy drilling holes in there heads, seriously, or getting freaky at there Scottish bunker. These boys are some weird dudes but they make the best music. If you haven't checked them out Do it. If you haven't heard there style before, the closest thing would be that tune playing in the VW Jetta commercial, very similar genre. ENJOY!

Everything on this ep tastefully murmurs 'class'. 6 tracks of pure bliss. worth every cent, especially the sublime, final track 'everything you do is a balloon', but there isn't a dud track.

The elements of "Music Has the Right to Children" are all here: packaged in turquoise cardboard, with a braille label, and another backlit photograph (pivotal to somebody's nostalgia no doubt), this EP on the Skam label is both rhythmically sturdy and haunting in its tunefulness. The ingredients of the mostly colour-based compositions on BoC's album, on which the Kraftwerkian percussions recede into the backdrop, are still unevenly mixed on some songs here. The oblique redolence of the synths can at times seem at odds with the spare, insistent old skool hip hop beats. But most of the six tracks (including one later reprised on "Music Has the Right to Children") really catch, and while we wait and wait and wait for the next full-length, this EP -if you can find it- is highly desireable.