Boards of Canada

Music Has the Right to Children

First released1998

Music Has the Right to Children, released in 1998, was recorded over several years in the Scottish Highlands by brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, who comprise Boards of Canada. The album was produced entirely by the duo in their own studio setup, utilizing a combination of vintage synthesizers, drum machines, and sampled sources including obscure educational films and television broadcasts. The production process emphasized analog warmth and lo-fi aesthetics, with the brothers employing tape saturation and deliberate use of distortion to achieve the album's characteristic nostalgic and melancholic sound. The album emerged during the early intelligent drum and bass and ambient electronic era, drawing influences from jazz, soul samples, and 1970s synthesizer music while establishing the duo's signature style of introspective electronic composition. Released on Warp Records, the album became highly influential in electronic music and established Boards of Canada as major figures in the post-millennial ambient and electronic music landscape.