Geogaddi

Boards of Canada are a Scottish duo composed of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin (born Marcus Eoin Sandison), formed initially as a group in 1986 and later as a duo in the 1990s. They started making music during their childhood, using tape decks to do so. Boards of Canada takes their name from the National Film Board Of Canada. They released their debut album Music Has The Right To Children in 1998 to critical acclaim.

Geogaddi is an electronic, IDM, downtempo, and psychedelic album. Boards of Canada have claimed that the album's title is made up of several words with a specific meaning, but have let it up to the listener to interpret it. Compared with their previous releases, Boards of Canada aimed to record a project "with more facets, more detail and a kind of concentrated recipe of chaotic little melodies", as well as something "more fuzzy and organic". The duo recorded over 90 tracks for the project from 1999 to 2001 at Hexagon Sun, their Pentland Hills studio, ultimately choosing 22 based on how well they fit the intended atmosphere of the album. Michael Sandison, half of the duo, stated that the album features acoustic instrumentation.

Sandison described the album as "a record for some sort of trial-by-fire, a claustrophobic, twisting journey that takes you into some pretty dark experiences before you reach the open air again." The September 11 attacks drastically influenced the tone of the album during its production in 2001, with the duo "glued to the TV for the whole day" and Sandison saying that they had subsequently been pushed "into making a darker record".

Geogaddi's composition has been compared that of electronic musician Squarepusher. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork wrote: "the atmosphere on this album is a shade darker than on previous releases, and comparatively tense with a noticeable thread of paranoia." The album has been noted for featuring esoteric references and subliminal messages, including references to numerology and cult leader David Koresh of the Branch Davidians.

Geogaddi was first released by Vivid in Japan on 8 February 2002 and by Warp Records on 18 February 2002 in Europe. The album has been released on compact disc, vinyl, digital download and as a limited edition compact disc.

Geogaddi received critical acclaim upon release. It currently holds a score of 84 out of 100 from review aggregate site Metacritic based on 21 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". John Bush of AllMusic drew comparisons between the album and Music Has the Right to Children, including both albums' cover art. He also praised the use of samples, as he felt that it fit the tone of the album. Critics at Q compared Geogaddi to the album Drukqs by Aphex Twin, saying that it was "satisfying in every way that Aphex Twin's Drukqs wasn't".

Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone gave the album 3 stars out of 5, calling it "marvelously vague". A later review of the album on the Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it 2 stars out of 5, writing, "the contrast of evil undertones and electronic lullabies simply wasn't as compelling." Kitty Empire of NME named it "the electronic album of the year." Mark Richardson of Pitchfork wrote: "While some will complain about Boards of Canada's failure to cover new territory, [...] the rest of us will delight in what we see as a very accomplished album packed with great music."

Geogaddi was ranked on year-end lists of the best albums of 2002 by numerous publications, such as Mojo, NME, Uncut and The Wire. In 2017, Pitchfork placed Geogaddi at number five on its list of "The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time". It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Credits adapted from AllMusic.

Boards of Canada

• Marcus Eoin – production, artwork, photography
• Michael Sandison – production, artwork, photography

Additional personnel

• Peter Campbell – cover photograph

• Geogaddi Archived 30 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine at Warp
• Geogaddi at Discogs (list of releases)
• Geogaddi at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• Analysis of the meaning of Geogaddi titles, with quotes