| 100 |
Urb
The Campfire Headphase is enough of a genre bender to finally introduce this music to a well-deserved new audience. [Dec 2005, p.94]
|
| 91 |
Stylus Magazine
This record contains some of the most astounding music that Boards Of Canada have ever composed.
|
| 90 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
Overall, it's Boards of Canada trying new things and experimenting outside of the box that they built for themselves; commendable and quite addictive.
|
| 90 |
Amazon.com
This is music you listen to when drugs don't work anymore.
|
| 90 |
musicOMH.com
[A] supreme collection of future-perfect broken nostalgia.
|
| 90 |
Lost At Sea
As well as being their most accessible, The Campfire Headphase emerges as the most solid Boards of Canada album to date.
|
| 80 |
Uncut
Occasionally, they lapse into their own shuffling comfort zone, but there's always a pixel-level attention to detail here. [Nov 2005, p.102]
|
| 80 |
No Ripcord
It’s definitely going to be divisive, this album – there are some who simply won’t welcome this definitive stride away from the electronic psychedelia that’s been the Boards’ purlieu for so long.
|
| 80 |
Mojo
It's a less alien, less disturbed and thoroughly lighter record. [Nov 2005, p.104]
|
| 80 |
Alternative Press
While The Campire Headphase sounds slightly defalted compared to [earlier] discs, it stlll has many charms. [Jan 2006, p.144]
|
| 80 |
Dot Music
The pair have opted for unfiltered analogue over cleaned-up digital, too, achieving a lush density with loops and textures and a warm wooziness overall that's a million miles removed from their last effort, 2002's dark and almost mathematically complex "Geogaddi".
|
| 80 |
Billboard
It is a testament to Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin's production acumen that the songs here sound so organic despite their computerized origin. [22 Oct 2005]
|
| 80 |
Junkmedia
Boards of Canada seems to be able to release albums pre-aged, so that all the things that might have bugged you a couple years ago now sounds like another part of why it's a classic.
|
| 80 |
Q Magazine
Radiates good feeling and warmth. [Nov 2005, p.131]
|
| 80 |
PopMatters
Admittedly, The Campfire Headphase becomes excessive at points.
|
| 80 |
Under The Radar
No, the album will not change your life as of yet, but it might prolong it before we’re all wiped off the planet by environmental destruction. [#11]
|
| 78 |
cokemachineglow
This record isn’t gonna kick you in the head the way that BoC’s last two outings have on occasion done. The break beats aren’t gonna blow you away and there’s nothing here that’ll really get your blood rushing. If you give it the time, though, Campfire reveals itself as an truly beautiful piece of work, better produced and with a tighter sense of melody than the Sandisons have shown in past.
|
| 76 |
Pitchfork
This feels like a step down from the last two albums.
|
| 70 |
All Music Guide
The Campfire Headphase lacks the transcendent grace that made Music Has the Right to Children and even Geogaddi classics in their field.
|
| 70 |
Playlouder
Unlike 2002's 'Geogaddi', it's a wholly gripping journey throughout.
|
| 70 |
Paste Magazine
Only takes a small step forward. [Dec 2005, p.108]
|
| 70 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Even the best parts lack anything new or novel to add to a sound already perfected.
|
| 70 |
New Musical Express
The likes of 'Chromakey Dreamcoat' sound like they were made on a potter's wheel rather than an iBook. [15 Oct 2005, p.36]
|
| 67 |
Entertainment Weekly
Somewhere along the way, the moody micro-bleeps and spacey strums have become a wee bit monotonous and predictable. [21 Oct 2005, p.77]
|
| 65 |
Neumu.net
The spell is broken, however, by pieces like "Tears From the Compound" and "Oscar See Through Red Eye," which get lost in the marshes of their own hypnotic rhythms, sugar-sweet synths and lo-fi, breathy drones.
|
| 60 |
Dusted Magazine
“Dayvan Cowboy” is almost worth the price of admission, but it makes the remainder of the album seem derivatively “New Age.”
|
| 60 |
Prefix Magazine
Campfire does little to surprise.
|
| 60 |
The Guardian
Despite its lengthy gestation period, there is more than a hint of deja vu about The Campfire Headphase.
|
| 60 |
Trouser Press
Ultimately, The Campfire Headphase shows continuity with the duo's previous recordings but fails to replicate the sheer beauty and awe-inspiring quality of past material, sounding at times like the work of very good Boards of Canada copyists.
|
| 60 |
Almost Cool
I don't fault them for trying some new things, but the results are mixed at best.
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