Boards of Canada » Biography

Boards of Canada are an electronic music duo from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, comprised of brothers Mike Sandison (b. 1 June 1970) and Marcus Eoin (b. 21 July 1971). They have released a number of works, most notably “Music Has the Right to Children” and “Geogaddi”, with little advertising and few interviews - like many of their label-mates on the pioneering electronic music label Warp. Boards of Canada have had an enormous influence on the ambient, downtempo and idm scenes. They have frequently made reference to the warm, scratchy, artificial sounds of 1970s television. Indeed, the Sandison brothers admit to being inspired by the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which they take their name. The duo have recorded a few minor works under the name Hell Interface. Boards of Canada’s music has been used in several CSI episodes and on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim interlude shorts; small bits of their music have been used on the BBC program Top Gear for transitional music.

Early Boards of Canada (1970s-1995)

Growing up in a musical family, brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin began playing instruments at a young age. They experimented with recording techniques at around the age of 10, using tape machines to layer cut-up samples of found sounds over compositions of their own. In their teens they participated in a number of amateur bands, however, it wasn’t until 1986 when Marcus was invited to Mike’s band that Boards of Canada was born.