(idm) An announcement from the BOC website Administrator

From Lance C McGannon
Sent Sun, Sep 26th 1999, 22:36

-------- EHX Boards of Canada web pages announcement ------------
First of all hello to all and thank you for even taking the trouble 
to check out the BoC website. A lot of work went into it from all of 
us and the very large majority of correspondance concerning it has 
been very favourable.

Please note, I am not lurker of IDM, another subscriber alerted me 
the recent threads. I am writing to perhaps set the record straight, 
but more to attempt to clear myslef of a few unfair accusations.

I did not realise that the issue of the discography would cause such 
a stir! Perhaps it would be more rewarding to me if people in 
enjoyed the other aspects of the site, like the general design, the 
gallery etc, which BoC feel are just as important.

With respect to the pre-Twoism releases in particular, I can confirm 
that I personally have not known about them for long either. The for 
reasons this I can probably explain. Mike and Marcus have been 
making music for a very long time, using a wide range of instruments 
and with a large number of other people over the years. For some 
time now they have had their own self-financed "company" called Music 
70, which is a collection of like minded close friends, who produce 
all types of art: audio and visual. The large majority of the music, 
film and photography they produce, is part of their life-long love, 
and remains such to this day. Much 
of what they do is copied for each other and their friends, and this 
still happens. It is not for distribution in record stores and I am 
confident that there is a lot more to come. **The entries you see in 
the discography are simply homage to this string of product**. The 
recordings are real. Twoism is real and was self-financed, why cant 
others exist?

BoC's decision never to mention these items before is their own. But 
I will say that there is definitely NO financial gain here, and there 
is no particular timing in the announcement, particularly as "hype" 
for their new album. They ARE 
recording a new album, and I find it a pity that some people view the 
discography as simply a mechanism to artificially pump interest in 
BoC prior to its release, this is NOT the case. We have been talking 
about re-doing the website since the last album came out, so these 
counter-claims are simply rubbish. In fact I find these statements 
insulting and I am quite sure Mike and Marcus would too.

There is no rule about what you should and should not put in your own 
discography. Obviously BoC would have known that these recordings 
would cause interest. Once again: they were not demos. Someone 
rightly stated that BoC have a huge catalog of unreleased recordings. 
Isn't this the case for every other artist? The fact is that none 
of us, not even me, will hear them. I am afraid that even the most 
fanatical BOC listeners will have to live with that!

Now for the main reason for this statement:
As for my "disclaimer" on the discography page about making copies: 
this is totally out of necessity. I too have a full and busy life, 
and it is totally true that I do not have any time to distribute 
copies of BoC's material. Apart from anything else, I am simply not 
allowed. All of BoC's music is copyright and I honour that 
privelage. It is not that I "do not care". Someone mentioned that I 
sold copies of Twoism a while back, this is completely incorrect. At 
that time, I doubt if 1% of the people on this had even heard of BoC. 
Mike brought round 5 copies of Twoism, which I sent to 
people who emailed me, and who I felt had a strong interest in the 
band. In return I received a few records of other artists, as a 
thank you for my efforts. I have not made ONE PENNY from BoC. 

Again, I am insulted at the accusation that I have, or ever will.
If you understood my original reasons for EHX 
as a whole, which features many other artists apart from BoC, my 
intention was a non-profit organisation which broadcast the music of 
Edinburgh to the world, as I feel it has a lot to offer as a music 
making city, even though most the artists are distinct entities. I 
will continue this as long as I can and in whatever shape or form. I 
do not receive ANY funding from associated labels or artists. The 
most I get is bunch of promos and tapes for which I am very grateful.

Once again, BoC are not at all happy of the 
copies of their music that are made. Sometimes it is a fact of life, 
but they have their own philosophy and reasons for being this way. I 
would issue caution however, to people who offer money for, or 
advertise illegal copies of, their music. They are NOT into it. And 
this goes for their artwork too.

On the subject of recordings, the "sounds" page WILL contain some 
realaudio soon. Again, this was stalled due to a mixture of time and 
resources, and also to generate a little anticipation! It will 
features short clips of music old and new, with perhaps some pleasant 
surprises. Stay tuned!

Finally, feel free to comment on the rest of the site! There is a 
lot more to talk about. I have not read one single posting about 
about their gallery of pictures and photographs, which they are very 
proud of. They are very interested in film and photography as anyone 
who has seen them live will tell you. It is an integral part of 
their show.

I am slightly phased about having to write this message, but I felt I 
had to, and did not feel it was appropriate to publish it on the site 
itself. I hope now that this thread can now end and that other more 
deserving topics can take up your mailbox.

Feel free to contact me directly, and most of all, enjoy the music! 
There is a whole lot more to come from EHX in the near future, watch 
our for superb underground releases from Benbecula, Kasbah, Realtime 
and Kovac.

Peace and love to you all,
The Cosmic Crofter

EHX - Electronic Audio Artform in The Capital 
xxxxxxx@xxx.xxxxx.xx.xx 
www.ednet.co.uk/~ehx

np. boc maxima