As many know, after thirteen years, Boards of Canada‘s fifth album, Inferno, is finally here in all its glorious mystery, sending fans into an internet frenzy after weeks of coded sound and vision and a masterful promo campaign. By now the world has immersed itself into its multi-layered delights and is no doubt trying to deconstruct exactly what they’re seeing and hearing.

I was honoured to be asked by the band and Warp to make an Early Hours mix to accompany the album on Apple Music. My mix went up on the day of release, if you use Apple Music you might have found it, some people did but it was there, hiding in plain sight, another little audio Easter egg to be found by fans. The mix is 84 minutes long and contains lots of Boards-adjacent material and music, plenty of details to obsess over too.

Could I hear the album before release and include tracks from it? Actually, yes, so I was the lucky recipient of the record the same day the pre-orders went online – keeping that quiet was difficult I can tell you. I really have to thank the label for trusting me with this and it shows the goodwill surrounding the group that the album only leaked less than a week before release date, no mean feat when you consider the anticipation.

Predictably, Apple have their formats that you have to fit into so the mix title ‘I Can Hear The Sun’ disappeared along the way and a few questions I answered regarding the set got edited down in the process too so I’m reposting them in full below.

​- Did you envision this more as a chill-out set for after a night out, or something for someone just starting their day?

I think this is more of a late night thing personally. I usually start the day by clearing the decks, taking care of business and doing all the little things that need to be done before I can get down to some serious creative work. I’m not sure if this is a ‘background music’ kind of set, the listener will get more out of it if they’re focussed on the details, connections and mood shifts.

​- Do you have any go-to tracks that always are in your chill sets, or do you approach such a mix fresh every time?

I try to make every online mix different if I can but occasionally a mix of two elements is just too good not to repeat. Currently there are a couple that I’ll replay, both were included in my ‘O Is For Orange’ mix for Bleep last year; Spooky’s ‘Orange Coloured Liquid’ with Dream 2 Science‘s ‘My Love Turns To Liquid’ a cappella over the top and Boards of Canada’s ‘Everything You Do Is A Balloon’ with Bomb The Bass’ ‘One To One Religion’ (Skankapella) mix.

​- What was your general approach with assembling this set? What’s key to putting together such a set in terms of headspace or philosophy?

This mix was all about song selection and mood. Being lucky enough to hear Inferno a month ahead of release I could gauge the tone of the album and try to construct something that mirrored the feelings I got from it. To me, the album projects themes of religious devotion and worship, life and death/rebirth, celestial divinity and possible alien visitation – a higher power or calling. There is also a darkness alongside the revelation and sci-fi elements in terms of samples. I wanted to convey all these by showcasing songs I felt conveyed similar sentiments, certain artists who I felt share the unique sonic space BoC have created as well as giving a nod to a few Scottish artists and labels. I think it taps into the same places as the ‘O Is For Orange’ mix, often sharing some of the same names.

In terms of the approach to assembling the mix, the majority of this was done digitally and I used stem-splitting apps to deconstruct some of the tracks and remix or re-edit parts in ways it wouldn’t be possible to do easily with conventional DJ equipment. Boards of Canada are one of the hardest groups to mix into DJ sets in that their music is nearly always out of tune with whatever you want to mix over it melodically. To add to this, they often use unconventional time signatures or add extra bars into a sequence so that a standard 4/4 arrangement will slip out of time with their song structures. I did a lot of work rearranging other songs to fit with their arrangements rather than the other way around and to present the album tracks in new ways rather than untouched.

​- Tell us about 2-3 of your favorite tracks here, and why you chose them/love them.

Linkwood ‘Hear The Sun’ from the early days of the now seemingly dormant label Firecracker Recordings. This track partially gave the mix its title and is the kind of downtempo cosmic jazz thing I love.

​​When I’m making a mix I’m looking for ‘moments’, it might be a transition from one song to another or it can be the coupling of two songs together that form a magical third piece. There’s the moment where I use a sample of a girl talking to someone in a coma, she’s saying ‘I hope you can hear me, ‘cause I want you to know…’ before the BoC track ‘Memory Death’ kicks in, they seemed perfect for each other. I then added spoken word I’d made via voice cloning software over the top using notes from a conversation with a friend who related their experiences on a DMT trip. Together they give the Boards track a new dimension which is, for me, the point of a mix like this.
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​​Jane Weaver’s ‘Your Time In This Life Is Just Temporary’ (PJ Philipson version) is a song equally charged with emotion for me. I originally thought it was about death (and it could well be) but it could equally be about the passing of a relationship. There’s something about this version of the song, the guitars evoke another band I love, The The, and it’s a ‘please play this at my funeral’ kind of song for me.
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​​There seems to be a lot of lyrics or spoken word relating to death inherent in this mix, that wasn’t intentional at all, I just discovered it as I was near the end of making it. I like to think it’s the peaceful, transcendent kind of rebirth into a new life.

Also, here is the full track list, as Apple inserts ‘ID 1/2/3’ etc. when it can’t recognise a track (ie: it’s not on the platform).

DJ Food – ‘I Hear The Sun’
 – an Inferno promo mix

Studio Kosmische – Golden Dunes 

Jon Hopkins – Singing Bowl (Ascension)(Excerpt)

The Gates of Eden – No One Was There (Requiem)
Field Lines Cartographer – Dying Embers 

The Advisory Circle – A Mechanical Eye (a cappella)

Sven Helbig – Olson (Orchestra Variation)
Hawksmoor – Adviata
The Sexual Objects – Sometimes (Boards of Canada Remix)

Clocolan – Then The Morning Comes
James Adrian Brown – Limbic System 

Boards of Canada – Memory Death
SareemOne – Losing Nilsa 

Atticus Ross – The Bed Montage
Broadway Project – From Treetops

Boards of Canada – All Reason Departs

Beautify Junkyards – Raridade de Contrastes

Datashat – Out To Lunch

The Mothers of Invention – Oh No (a cappella)

Deepart – Connection

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Forever Heavy

Nebyudelic Sound System – Down To The River

Orgone Box – Mirrorball (When I Want To Feel) 

Boards of Canada – Arena Americanada

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Blue Morpho (a cappella)

Paul Cousins – Blueprint

Two Quiet Suns – Ambient Source

Patrick Carpenter – Arrival

Jane Weaver – Your Time in This Life is Just Temporary (PJ Philipson Version)

Studio Kosmische – The Great Author Of The Universe
Linkwood – Hear The Sun

Danalogue – Out Of Phase

Jeff Wayne – The Heat Ray (DJ Food re-edit) 

Boards of Canada – The Word Becomes Flesh

Move 78 – In The Age of Data
Papa Blue – Luna En La Pampa

Boards of Canada – Age of Capricorn

Parchment – Son of God

Boards of Canada – Naraka
The Shamen – Lightspan (samples)

Last but not least, the fabled blue hexagonal flexi disc (Hexi Disc) hinted at in the garbled dialogue of the VHS tapes sent out to fans at the start of the campaign. Nothing materialised when the formats were announced online but inside the booklet of the limited edition LP was this unlisted treat with a track not included on the album. No mention on the sticker, nothing in the sales notes or promotion, Marvelous!