Earlier today, elusive Scottish duo Boards Of Canada re-emerged with their first piece of new music in 13 years, ending years of speculation as to whether they were still actively working on fresh material.
In typical fashion, the familial electronic pairing made their return by eschewing the standard release cycle. In fact, their return was earmarked by plenty of mystery and analogue technology – a fitting method for the brothers.
News of their comeback first came about earlier this month when a number of fans began to start receiving VHS tapes which were emblazoned with the group's 'hexagon sun' logo. These tapes featured visuals which were as creepy as they were intriguing, and their arrival was soon complemented by equally mysterious posters around the world.
Now, on April 17th, the group uploaded a track to YouTube dubbed Tape 05 – their first new piece of original music since 2013, and hopefully the first taste of a new album.
However, this return has brought to mind a number of previous musical rollouts which inspired curiosity from fans the world over. So, let's explore some of them while diehard Boards Of Canada fans (this writer included) cross their fingers for new material.
Boards Of Canada
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In keeping with the theme of our intro, let's cast our memories back to 2013, when it had been eight years since Boards Of Canada's third album, The Campfire Headphase.
On Record Store Day of that year, a mysterious vinyl record appeared in a record store. Dubbed ------ / ------ / ------ / XXXXXX / ------ / ------, the single featured a small snippet of music and a code, which – when paired with other codes that had been found in various locations – led to a website which offered a pre-order to their fourth album, Tomorrow's Harvest.
To give an example of how voracious the band's fanbase was at this time, that vinyl record was one of six copies known to exist. So far, only five have been found, with copies selling for $3,500 over the past decade.
Radiohead
It's hard to express how important Radiohead were at the start of the millennium if you weren't there to experience it. Coming off a cultural landmark record such as OK Computer, fans had expected the English outfit to follow in the same vein as what had come before. Instead, they decided to effectively overhaul their entire sound.
Inspired heavily by electronic music, fourth album Kid A was a true sonic shift, and so was the promotional trail. The group removed themselves from the media trail, they released no singles, and instead commissioned a number of brief animated video clips called "blips", which were later described as "context-free animated nightmares that radiated mystery."
Alongside a venturing into the burgeoning world of online streaming (at a time which also featured burgeoning online music piracy), the group's largely subversive approach to the marketing of the album and their reticence to preview anything ahead of time helped play into the eventual acclaim the record received. Today, it's considered one of the best albums of the 21st century, and one of the finest examples of how a sonic shift can work for a band.
Beyoncé
By 2013, Beyoncé had been in the game a minute, having spent years working as a member of Destiny's Child, as an actress, and as a solo artist. Needless to say, she was growing tired. Not necessarily of success, but rather, or the marketing process.
So, when it came time for album number five, no one knew it was coming. In fact, the production of the record was kept a secret so well that when she dropped her self-titled album on December 13th, 2013, it surprised everyone outside of her team.
The record went to the top of the charts, became the fastest-selling album on iTunes (thanks largely to its exclusivity to the platform), and set the standard for surprise-releases. For Australian fans, however, some might have expected a new album was on the way. After all, why else would Bey have been spotted filming in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick just weeks earlier?
Frank Ocean
In 2016, discussion about Frank Ocean's second album was at fever pitch. 2012's channel ORANGE was a massive success, Ocean was a superstar, and the hype was real. So, where was album number two?
On August 19, Ocean seemed to end his musical silence with the release of Endless, a video album which was minimalist in its design, and was something of a far cry from what fans had expected his follow-up to be.
However, fans have long suggested that the release of Endless was simply a ploy for Ocean to fulfill and subsequently end his contract with Def Jam Recordings, given that the following day, he released Blonde via his own Boys Don't Cry label.
In stark contrast to Endless, the reception to Blonde was overwhelming, with the record since being deemed one of the greatest of all time, and Ocean's magnum opus. Maybe that's why, almost ten years later, we're still waiting for a follow-up.
Private Function
No mention of marketing tactics could be complete without a mention of Melbourne's own Private Function. In 2023, the group announced their third album, 370HSSV 0773H, and revealed the cover would be part of an interactive game in which the cover featured three scratch-and-win panels.
The winner of the prize would receive $2,999 in cash (one for every non-winning copy) and have their face featured on all future pressings. Surprisingly, the cover caused immense controversy when it was initially banned in South Australia for violating gaming regulations.
Ultimately, SA relented, Private Function won out, and a Queensland fan called Mitch ended up winning the prize.
Charli XCX
By the time Charli XCX released Brat in 2024, she'd been in the game for half her life. She's already topped the charts, and while Brat would do the same, there was no predicting just how immense and – frankly – culture-defining her sixth album would be.
Having planned for the record to have a global 'moment', the simplistic lime green cover was an exercise in simplicity, with the rest of Charli's discography being redesigned to mimic this latest release. The relatable, club-ready compositions took the world by storm, and Charli's somewhat disaffected approach to the industry left fans hungry for more.
Then, the memes came. The world – regardless of their seasons – experienced a Brat summer, the artwork was repurposed for all manner of mediums, and even the likes of then-US Presidential nominee Kamala Harris got involved, adopting the aesthetics for her own campaign.
While a marketing campaign such as this could have been planned from the start, the success of Brat is a crucial example of crafting something accessible to the fans, and then letting them take it over and turn it into a global phenomenon.
Nine Inch Nails
In 2007, talk of the music world was almost entirely centred on Nine Inch Nails and their immersive Year Zero album. It's a hell of a story, which begins with mysterious flash drives featuring new music, links to websites, images hidden within the songs, and ultimately, a tale of a dystopian government which bled out into the real world by way of posters, phone numbers, and more.
Reznor himself decried calling it a marketing ploy, however, instead claiming it was all part of a wider piece of artwork.
Most impressively, some fans who followed the Year Zero alternate reality game through, however, found themselves invited to a special Nine Inch Nails concert. That gig leaned into the theme of the record by having a number of actors dressed as a SWAT team raid the gig and usher fans out of the venue.
Death Grips
In January 2014, enigmatic outfit Death Grips announced the release of their The Powers That B album, subsequently sharing the first half of the record, N**as On The Moon. Planning the release of the album's second half – Jenny Death – for the latter half of the year, the group instead cancelled a tour in support of Nine Inch Nails and announced their split in July.
While Death Grips had already been unpredictable, few fans had expected a split, so the release of their next album, Fashion Week, came as a surprise in January 2015. Even more confusing was the fact that the album teased the arrival of the remaining half of The Powers That B by its titles spelling out the phrase 'Jenny Death When'.
Ultimately, Jenny Death and the entirety of The Powers That B arrived in 2015 – just in time for Death Grips to go back out on tour, and release a further two albums in the ensuing years.
Creeper
In 2016, English outfit Creeper followed up their performance at the Reading & Leeds festival by going silent. Quite literally. In fact, the band were effectively MIA.
The band's members began removing their social media accounts, with posters appearing online urging others to help aid in the search. Soon, links began to emerge between the band and the paranormal investigator James Scythe, who was also missing.
Though it didn't seem like many ever thought the group were actually missing, the group remained off the grid for two months, eventually re-emerging in October 2016 with the announcement of their debut album, Eternity, In Your Arms – a concept record which focused around the character of Scythe.
Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin mastermind Richard D. James has been a musical wildcard ever since he first emerged onto the scene, but by 2014, public interest had waned somewhat. It had been 13 years since the release of his last album, drukqs, and while he'd continued to release music under a variety of monikers, it was hard to predict if more Aphex Twin was on the way.
However, in August 2014, the rollout for a new album began when an Aphex Twin-branded blimp appeared in England. Soon, Aphex Twin's Twitter account teased a link only accessible on the Dark Web, providing fans information about the album's title and track listing.
However, with tracks given names such as 4 bit 9d api+e+6, 180db_, and syro u473t8+e, and the artwork itself being an itemised list of the record's production and promotional costs, fans weren't actually quite sure what the information they had been given actually was until the album formally arrived.
Geese
Alright, we might be pushing the boundaries a bit here, but this week also brought with it claims that the rapid success of US outfit Geese was a "psy-op", with the group previously being dubbed an "industry plant".
After all, this would probably explain why they seemed to explode in 2025, and why fourth album Getting Killed ended up as something of a ubiquitous favourite amongst tastemakers.
However, representatives of digital marketing company Chaotic Good Projects recently spoke to the likes of Billboard and WIRED, who confirmed the company had been involved in a marketing campaign for the band, utilising Chaotic Good's method of providing "digital experiments and musical mayhem."
Singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb also chimed in on the relationship between the two, questioning whether Chaotic Good's marketing tactics of "trend simulation" and created virality were ethical or not. "If 100 people think your song sucks, Chaotic Good will create 200 people who think your song is awesome," McLamb explained in a Substack post.
Ultimately, this has caused a fierce debate online about the legitimacy of Geese's success and whether or not they're deserving of the accolades they have. On one hand, the ethics of marketing are ripe for discussion, but can a group be blamed for engaging the services of a company who did a very good job in promoting the band?
On the other hand, all the marketing in the world can't help a group who have no talent, so maybe there's something to be said about whether Geese needed this marketing, and whether the success may have found them eventually had they done things independently.
Or maybe this is just an indicator of where things are going in the music industry? Regardless, it's a far cry from the traditional methods which have made headlines over the years.
