The Moomins

On weekedays in 1983, in five minute slots 'Childrens ITV' broadcast The Moomins. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this meandering tale of felted Hippo/Troll-like snout creatures. There was something odd and gloomy about the whole thing. Maybe it was the animation which in those days on a portable black and white television did seem crude. But something remained. Ambivalence.

A few years later I saw a cartoon version. Even though I enjoyed it, I couldn't stop thinking about the quirky early 80s animation. In the mid 90s I read most, if not all of Tove Jansson's Moomin books. It wasn't just the darkness that came through but the wistful feeling of nostalgia, summer adventures, cosy winter evenings, hibernation. It was about love, loss, friendship and in some respects, death, emptiness, but celebrated the here and now.

The world of the Moomins is not just familiar but slightly odd to those who live in Scandanavia as much as The Wind in The Willows is to the English countryside, but it's perhaps quirkier. It's setting Moominvalley is Tove Jansson's ideal Finland, a childhood Finland, of valleys, lakes and mountains, with little if any, human presence. The characters have something we can all relate to, in much the same way as all great works of literature. (This feature sounds a bit shit, doesn't it). Basically I love the Moomins. I love reading about them, I love the brusque, pompous and pensive Moominpappa who constantly is working on his memoirs and is just as attached to them as he is to his top hat. What's sweet is that you can read some of his memoirs in a couple of Tove Jansson's Moomin novels. Little Moominpappa and his friends, who bare close resemblence to Moomintroll's friends. Snufkin is another favourite, an idler, a hippie perhaps, a bag head, who knows, but full of wisdom.Maybe he's Moomintroll's best friend instead of Sniff, as he breaks Moomintroll's heart when he leaves on his travels, a restless soul.  If Snufkin is comfortable with silence and reflection, Little My, is more at home with noise and chaos, speaking the truth no matter how much it hurts and making her presence felt everywhere.

Then there's Sniff. Dopey, well meaning, silly, kind of like Captain Hastings in Poiriot, but without the pomposity, Moomintrolls's best friend, even if they scrap now and again. The leading roles of course go to Moonmintroll and Snork Maiden. Whilst most portrayals of Snork Maiden present her as an air-headed bimbo, she has a sweet and innocent relationship with Moomintroll, boyfriend and girlfriend, even though you could be forgiven for thinking that they look like brother and sister. What this reveals about Moomintroll is not only his love and loyalty but his compassion. Moomintroll in many ways represents us as children, an explorer, a dreamer, a naive, fragile soul. And his snout. You can stroke it.

There's a Moomin film finally coming to a cinema near you soon if it hasn't already. Based on Comet in Moominland it features the Moomins in the own road movie, under the threat of impending doom. There's probably no bad language in it, and there's even less violence but if it gets under the skin of children everywhere, it can only be for the best. It's in 3D too which might impress many of you, but what pleases me is how close it recreates that early 80s stop animation version and transforms it into a multi-coloured and faceted panoramic spectacle. Bjork has also written a song for it as well. Fitting.

  

Sometime in the future

This is a band that if I'm not playing them constantly, or talking about them, mythologising how relevant and important they are in the pantheon of the greatest music and bands of all time, I'm waiting for them. Enjoyng them but always waiting.They have a new album out next year. Or 2012, or 2016, who knows. Not even Warp know. You could be forgiven that the delay is because their perfectionism is the reason they need to explore, experiment, mix, fix, tweak and wait. They might just as easily be great at procrastinating. But we wouldn't know. We'll never know. It's what the fans admire. Bloody mindedness, perfectionism and the waiting game, but beautiful music, myths, lies and legends often follow the great bands around.

In the meantime the fans are going stir crazy. The fans here at least. Since the Trans Canada Highway EP in 2006 contemporay and popular music has gone through a few but not earth shattering changes. Fans have been speculating what the new album might sound like, not in the sense of what other music it might ape because it won't sound like anything other than Boards of Canada. This is the dream of other artists, not to sound like Boards of Canada but to sound like themselves, to become a genre of their own. Although from the fan made videos and the BOC community they are more Boards of Canada than Boards of Canada.

There's something kind of anti-corperate, certainley in the tone and assembley of the library footage chosen but also ambivalent and ambigious. It's hard to place. I sometimes go past a place called 'Cemex Aggregates' on my way to Manchester, whenever I take the train. I've associated it, and its logo so much to Boards of Canada that it almost feels significant and iconic.


So what is it about Boards of Canada that the fans love about them? It's partly the stuff already metnioned above, along with they washed out colours of distant, childhood summers. It's in part the sinister undertones of their mixes, the music somehow encapsulates what it is we can't express about those lazy school holidays in the early 80s when there was nothing to do and most of our better off friends were away somewhere. It's also in some of the themes which Ghost Box Records have exploited with the likes of Advisory Circle and Belbury Poly, that British public information mentality. The music is comforting but with an undercurrent that you might die soon. Or something incredibly evil is happening in the world and you can't exactly put your finger on what it is. Listen to 'The Devil is in The Details' or 'Alpha and Omega'.

The appeal for some fans is either the hidden secret messages in the music and the nods to cult/religious iconography. Now there's a few websites dedicated to unravelling these ideas which range from bonkers to intriguing but I think BOC just like to fuck with us sometimes.

Seems like a fitting place to leave this feature.


Also checkout this mix too.

http://soundcloud.com/strictly/sometime-in-the-future