Editing Boards of Canada (section)

===Early years (1986–1994)===
The brothers Mike Sandison (born Michael Peter Sandison, 14 July 1971)<ref name=" discogs ">{{cite web |title=Boards Of Canada – Boc Maxima |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/15290-Boards-Of-Canada-Boc-Maxima/image/SW1hZ2U6NTc2OTczODE= |website=Discogs |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Michael SANDISON |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/w_6MIeDh7u4_jtdtQ1RxzwsBEm8/appointments |website=Find and update company information |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref> and Marcus Eoin (born Marcus Eoin Sandison, 27 May 1973)<ref name="discogs" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Marcus SANDISON |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/YgQ1Uhf7RG2CDqB1H7EsRN--vSs/appointments |website=Find and update company information |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref> were brought up in [[Cullen, Moray]], on the northeast coast of Scotland.<ref name=theface>
{{Citation
 | last= Warren
 | first= Emma
 | title= Breaking Into Heaven
 | magazine= The Face
 | volume= 3
 | number= 48
 | date= January 2001
 | pages= 94–98
}}
</ref> From 1979 to 1980, they lived in [[Calgary]], Canada, while their father, who worked in construction, took part in the project to build the [[Scotiabank Saddledome|Saddledome]].<ref name=pitchfork/> They attended the [[University of Edinburgh]], where Michael studied music and Marcus studied artificial intelligence. Marcus dropped out before completing his degree.<ref name=theface/> The duo did not reveal that they are brothers until a 2005 interview with ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'', as they had wanted to avoid comparisons with another electronic sibling duo, [[Orbital (band)|Orbital]].<ref name="pitchfork"/>

Growing up in a musical family, the brothers first played instruments at a young age. They experimented with recording techniques from around the age of 10, using [[tape recorder|tape machine]]s to layer cut-up [[sampling (music)|samples]] of found sounds over compositions of their own.  In their teens they participated in a number of amateur bands. However, it was not until 1986 when Marcus was invited to join Mike's band that Boards of Canada was born. The band's name was inspired by the [[National Film Board of Canada]] (NFB), the government agency whose award-winning documentary films and animation they had watched as children.<ref name=pitchfork/>

The duo self-financed the limited release of the [[Twoism]] EP in 1995. After a copy was sent to Sean Booth of [[Autechre]], Booth suggested contacting Skam Records, leading to the release of [[Hi Scores]] in 1996 on the label.<ref name=jockeyslut>
{{Citation
 | last= Hector-Jones
 | first= Richard
 | title= Board Clever
 | magazine= [[Jockey Slut]]
 | volume= 2
 | number= 13
 | date= 1998
 | pages= 20
}}
</ref><ref name="pitchfork-hiscores">{{cite web |last1=Sherburne |first1=Philip |title=Boards of Canada: Hi Scores EP |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19832-boards-of-canada-hi-scores-ep/ |publisher=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |access-date=9 January 2025}}</ref>

Their first known release was ''Catalog 3'', in 1987 on [[cassette tape]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.boardsofcanada.com/discog_catalog3.html | archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010619002459/http://www.boardsofcanada.com/discog_catalog3.html | archive-date=19 June 2001 | title=Boards of Canada - Hi Scores }}</ref> on the brothers' own label, Music70, while Boards of Canada was still a band (it was later re-pressed in 1997 on CD on the same label). By 1989, the band had been reduced to Mike and Marcus, and they released Acid Memories in the same year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010609171731fw_/http://www.boardsofcanada.com/discog_acid.html | title=Boards of Canada - Acid Memories }}</ref> Both albums have only been heard by the band's friends and family, except for a 24-second excerpt of "Duffy", released on the EHX website in the late 1990s. Acid Memories is the only early album the brothers have mentioned in interviews. Later, in the early 1990s, the band had a number of collaborations and the band put on small shows among the [[Hexagon Sun]] collective, along with the releases of albums ''Play By Numbers''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010609171731fw_/http://www.boardsofcanada.com/discog_play.html | title=Boards of Canada - Play by Numbers }}</ref> and ''Hooper Bay'',<ref>{{cite web | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010609171731fw_/http://www.boardsofcanada.com/discog_hooper.html | title=Boards of Canada - Hooper Bay }}</ref> both in 1994, which, similarly to Acid Memories, were only released to friends and family and had sub-1 minute excerpts of two songs ("Wouldn't You Like To Be Free" from ''Play By Numbers'' and "Circle" from ''Hooper Bay'') released from both albums on the EHX website.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://ednet.co.uk:80/~ehx/boc/sounds.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000301021317/http://ednet.co.uk:80/~ehx/boc/sounds.html | archive-date=1 March 2000 | title=EHX - Artists - Boards of Canada - Sounds }}</ref>