New Broadcast (RIP Trish Keenan Jan 2011)

and yeh Tag i put that up, i got it from a friend who's into everything in the Warp vein - i recorded an MD round his house but we forgot to keep track of what was going on the disk - loads of Broadcast on there so i mistook it for one of their tunes for ages. i keep meaning to play it to this guy and hopefully he will remember what it is and i'll finally get around to that this week so the mystery will be solved.

as far as I understand it: not really. they were in love with new technologies. But of course new technologies => could be a really kule sound making machine or new 'weapons of mass destruction' so it was fuzzy logic.

I still don't know where that is in relation to ULU! (I'd already guessed you didn't mean the one in Hoxton...)

I'll be the fule in the...oh I dunno, who organises these things in advance? A ninetynine t-shirt, probably.

"we want to re-enter life"

but I had to leave straight after "Unchanging window" - what did I miss? Goddamn livingoutsidelondonness - anyone need a house-sitter between now and the end of july?

s'not with it's successes tho: i think it was marcello who chided boards of canada for lazily appropriating abstract loveless sound smear in place of other ideas please, but "valerie" is one of the few songs i've heard that's really learnt the (RIGHT!) lessons of "to here knows when" (the only exceptional mbv song/vacuum cleaner preset in my humble estimation). when that queasy keening dips into pure corrupt-hard-disk density.. sigh. and "the little bell" has that NASA-processing alien information sound in the background, that stuff always kills me - some impossibly urgent message fighting against the technology of its medium to be heard, a staged battle of signal vs noise (cf. "pen expers", "to here knows when" again). those impossibly prickly sounds at the end of "winter now" set against the blurry strings. the interrupted verses and the interrupting chorus of "man is not a bird".

i think it'll be a grower.

review: BROADCAST - Haha Sound
http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/reviews/broadcast_hahasound.htm

Broadcast interview
http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/interviews/broadcastiw_1.htm

a couple listens in i feel like "pendulum" is what had been promised from the beginning and from here the only places to go are back to the radiophonic workshop or in circles round add n to x and middling twee pop. :(

Monday 18.08.03 on xfm (10.30 pm to 1 am, I think)

Tuesday 19.08.03 on John Peel/BBC radio 1 (10 pm to midnight)

'Man Is Not A Bird' echoes 'Pendulum' rhythmically but the vocals are less urgent, more sullen and melancholic - just as haunting overall

'Minim', 'Lunch Hour Pops' and 'Hawk' are my other favourites...i'm not sure its quite as good as 'The Noise Made By People' but i don't know how to rationalise that - i think mitch may have been otm regarding they've pedestrianised things a little with the song structure and the starkness and sheer celebration of sonics inherent in previous work has been a little obscured here by sweet lyrics and dulcit unintrusive tones. i think i like Trish Keenan's voice because of that 'unintrusiveness' aspect - often it just seems like she's there observing and commentating on the song or its scenery rather than really pushing some kind of soul-baring introspection ala Beth Gibbons or whoever. but then if you think back to 'Papercuts', 'Message From Home' or even something like 'Living Room' which sounds more like Sean Lennon singing (may not have been Keenan but hard to tell!) it seems that there was more 'effort' in the singing but acceptance seems to have set in that there's a restricted range to her voice and the new songs have been written with that more in mind (considering the vastness of their forthcoming American tour perhaps this was a good idea). but i don't really know enough about singing to judge her like that. i'll keep listening and loving it anyway.

one thing tho - listen to Broadcast's remix of St Etienne's 'Angel' and perhaps compare Cracknell's vocals on that to Keenan's to see whether a voice more like Cracknell's would work better on other Broadcast material?

Kerrrrrrrazily I HAVE come to love TNMBP over last couple of months and am currently playing it near-constantly, so I dunno. Broadcast may be the ultimate grower group ever ever, although they've had enough hugely-immediate moments (Come On Let's Go, The Book Lovers, etc etc) to suggest that this isn't the case. Haha Sound is fantastic though and I can only see myself getting more into it, rather than going off it.

Current personal best track = 'Valerie' - great tune, the breathy vocals, spooky lullaby quality. I hope they play more UK dates after the monster US tour, as from their ULU showing in May some of these songs sound even stronger live!

Colour Me In, though, does actually sound like it's been written for the soundtrack of Playschool. Which is great.

They are a great band though: on their Peel Session last night they finished with a song ('60/40') that is better than several on the album & they didn't even include it on it! The band build & build, going into accelerating orbit whilst Trish stays cool & calm on the same level all the way through. Magic. If you missed it I am afraid you will have to listen all the way through to nearly the end of the programme to hear it.

"Dead The Long Year" came on shuffle and I thought it was some mid-90s RZA track until it got a bit weird.

still tripping out to “… investigate with cults of the radio age” over here

greatest band of the late 90's/00's

New album of demos coming out in early 2024 - been waiting so long for something like this, total holy grail release

Since Trish's untimely passing in 2011, James has continued to remember her by sharing unreleased Broadcast demos each year on her birthday, September 28th.

In the spirit of those birthday demos Broadcast present “Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009"

The collection comprises songs and sketches drawn from Trish's extensive archive of 4-track tapes and minidiscs. The recordings lay the groundwork for what would have been Broadcast’s fifth album, offering an intimate window into the creative process of Trish and James during this period post Tender buttons.

'Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009' will be released via Warp Records in early 2024.

I’m both sad and thrilled

Yes, that.

Was inspired to listen to The Noise Made By People in between listening to Gwenno’s solo albums which are somewhat similar on another thread and it’s sounding so great right now.

Some days it feels like Until Then is the last song ever written.

https://broadcast.warp.net/?fbclid=IwAR3A5VKqAN5RVkWj1LajxcfAZiaA0rmkN7eRBHFR-mTpFK8N3JcYIJrN7IY

Can't wait for these!

hard same

Damn straight.

C'mon don't put a 36 song release on streaming with ONE song available and we have to wait till May?

Cruel.

One sample song is beautiful of course and one can only wonder what could've been.

Holy cow!

woah new song sounds great, all in on this

yeah new song great but "Tears In The Typing Pool" (demo) also amazing... seemingly effortless to have a melody and structure like that already fleshed out from the start.

that new song is stunning, amazing how hypnotic and compelling and complete it sounds with just three (?) elements - it makes me think of how tender buttons was an unfinished recording that was actually perfect, similar (much sadder) vibes here

it’s going to kill me, I expect. it must be very hard for James to put these out. I love the cover art as well.

Gee, it really is two discs. September (!) for the 2000-2006 volume lol. Wasn't sure how to interpret the cover images on a certain Context-Free Streaming Platform. Only got as far as digging that photocopier aesthetic.

Both are coming out in May, a couple of weeks apart. Unless you mean vinyl?

Never mind I didn’t read the small type properly. Dammit, seriously, September?!

Duh. Distant Call is coming out on Trish’s birthday — what a beautiful way to wrap up this tradition, and the whole story.

There's something very final (obviously) but probably healthy about "This will be the last music from Broadcast".

had a look at the Spell Blanket track listing and nothing seemed to be obviously ‘Eyes Open’ or ‘Dulcimer Jam’… but i guess time will tell