So here it is, the most eagerly-awaited electronica album of the year - and amazingly enough, it lives up to all expectations. The two reclusive Scots who make up the Boards of Canada made a massive impact with their 1998 debut Music Has The Right To Children, but this follow-up is, if anything, an even greater achievement. On the surface the music is blank and impenetrable:
endlessly repetitive loops and synth drones, punctured only by submerged vocals and eerie childhood noises. The cumulative effect, however, is powerfully sinister, blending digital technology with the ambience of pagan rituals (it's hardly a coincidence that the album lasts for 66 minutes and 6 seconds exactly). Geogaddi may not break any new ground for this most fascinating of bands, but that hardly matters when they can produce music as mysterious and beautiful as this
