Tune of the Week: BOC vs Radiohead

Boards of Canada is a Scottish duo whose electronic music is cloaked in mystery. Their sound includes analog sythesizers alongside hiphop styled beats and obscure samples. Their oblique ways have had them likened to sonic alchemists. The above song and the EP it comes from, “In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country”, references the Branch Davidians. Not exactly a cheerful, friendly topic.

The beats and melody of this song have more than a passing resemblance to a more famous song by an infinitely more famous band:

While one is tempted to accuse the larger band of ripping off the smaller one. Indeed, Thom Yorke was very much inspired by electronic music when composing songs for “Kid A”. It is likely that he could of heard BOC’s tune before its release and copied it. However, the release dates for both tunes are a mere month apart from each other. “Kid A” having come out first on October 2, 2000 and “In a Beautiful Place…” on November 27 of the same year. These peculiar facts and similarities only add to the mystery of the Scottish duo that leaves more and more questions in their sonic wake.