Broadcast

Broadcast are an English indie electronic band, founded in Birmingham, England in 1995 by Trish Keenan (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and James Cargill (bass). The band has released three albums as well as several EPs, singles and EP collections, with their first studio album, “The Noise Made by People”, being released in 2000. Their musical style blends elements of 1960s American psychedelic rock with electronica, incorporating samples from various sources, and earned the band a cult following. Other members included Roj Stevens (keyboards), Tim Felton (guitar), and Steve Perkins (drums). Drummers including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes and Neil Bullock were also featured in the band. As of 2005, Broadcast consisted only of the duo of Keenan and Cargill. Following the unexpected 2011 death of Keenan, Cargill remained the only member.

Broadcast's musical style, a mixture of electronic sounds and Keenan's 1960s-inspired vocals, was heavily influenced by the 1960s American psychedelic group the United States Of America, using many of the same electronic effects. The band were also known for using samples taken from both library music compilations and real-life field recordings.

(Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel
In 1996, Peel played the Birmingham band's earliest recordings on Wurlitzer Jukebox and the Duophonic Super 45s label associated with Stereolab. The same year, he saw them live for the first time, at the Phoenix festival, and afterwards declared their set “the most enjoyable I saw throughout the four-day weekend,” against competition including Neil Young and a reformed Sex Pistols.

In June 1998, Broadcast were one of the four outfits who performed in a Warp label live special for the opening night of the Meltdown festival curated by Peel, alongside Autechre, Plaid and Plone. The Independent newspaper reviewed the band's performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the following terms:


 * “Broadcast followed (a five-piece, experimental guitar band), against a video projection of swimmers filmed with an underwater camera, and played a strong, passionate set. Often described as retro-futurists, acknowledging both Serge Gainsbourg and electronic abstract musicians as influences, Broadcast have come a long way in the past couple of years, with a fuller, more confident sound.”

The DJ played tracks from both albums the band released on Warp during his lifetime, alongside regular sessions and Festive Fifty entries. After his death, the first of their recordings for his show was selected by those who knew him best in a list of Peel Sessions: The Best 125. On the Keeping It Peel website, Trish Keenan recalled the band's awe at being allowed to record for Peel at the BBC's historic Maida Vale studios:


 * “There was a sense of initiation on entering the Maida Vale studios. We were quiet as we received our BBC badges and escorted, by security, to the large elevators that took us and our equipment down below ground-level. What we found was a maze of hallways and side rooms, strangely silent and uninhabited. During a break from recording, we wondered through the corridors, peering through the windows of locked rooms, on a hunt for the Radiophonic Workshop. … It was wonderful to be free to walk around unquestioned."

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1996 Festive Fifty: The Book Lovers #34
 * 1996 Festive Fifty: Living Room #40
 * 1999 Festive Fifty: Echoes Answer #36
 * 2000 Festive Fifty: Come On Let's Go #5
 * 2003 Festive Fifty: Pendulum #40
 * Post-Peel
 * 2011 Festive Fifty (& Wolfram Wire): Verstehen 1.8; 3.296.2.1 #47

Sessions



 * Three sessions. No known official release.

1. Recorded 1996-09-15. First broadcast 06 October 1996. Repeated 24 November 1996 (John likes the playlist description of Broadcast as "an eclectic selection.").
 * Forget Everything / The Note / The World Backwards / Untitled

2. Recorded 2000-01-23. First broadcast 09 February 2000. No known repeat.
 * Long Was The Year / Echo's Answer / Where Youth And Laughter Go

3. Recorded 2003-07-24. First broadcast 19 August 2003. No known repeat.
 * Pendulum / Colour Me In / Minim / Sixty Forty

Live

 * 30 June 1998: live sets from Warp Records Night at Meltdown (recorded 1998-06-20).
 * 1) Book Lovers
 * 2) None Of Us
 * 3) Martian Stabs Alien
 * 4) Come On Lets Go Look Outside
 * 5) Writing For Pleasure


 * 24 May 2000: live sets for One Live, from The Irish Centre, Digbeth, Birmingham
 * 1) Long Was The Year
 * 2) Where Youth And Laughter Go
 * 3) Message From Home
 * 4) Echo's Answer
 * 5) Dead The Long Year
 * 6) Look Outside
 * 7) Come On Lets Go
 * 8) You Can Fall
 * 9) Interlude
 * 10) Unchanging Window
 * 11) Distant Call
 * 12) Drums On Fire
 * 13) Paper Cuts

Other Shows Played

 * 1996
 * 09 February 1996: Accidentals (7") Wurlitzer Jukebox
 * 08 March 1996: Accidentals (7") Wurlitzer Jukebox
 * 27 April 1996 (BFBS): Living Room (7") Duophonic
 * 27 July 1996: Living (7") Duophonic Super
 * 03 August 1996 (BFBS): Living Room (7") Duophonic (JP has been to the Phoenix festival: “The most enjoyable set that I saw throughout the four-day weekend was, perhaps rather surprisingly, from Broadcast.”)
 * 05 August 1996 (BBC World Service): Living Room (7") Duophonic Super 45s
 * 14 September 1996: Accidentals (v/a album - The Camden Crawl II The Revenge) Love Train
 * 21 September 1996 (BFBS): Accidentals (v/a album - The Camden Crawl II The Revenge) Love Train
 * 17 November 1996: The Book Lovers (12 inch - The Book Lovers EP) Duophonic
 * 08 December 1996: The Book Lovers (12 inch - The Book Lovers EP) Duophonic
 * 08 December 1996 (BBC World Service): The Book Lovers (12" - The Book Lovers EP) Duophonic Super 45s
 * 21 December 1996: Living Room (7 inch) Duophonic FF#40
 * 22 December 1996: The Book Lovers (EP-The Book Lovers) Duophonic FF#34
 * 28 December 1996: According To No Plan (12 inch EP-The Book Lovers) Duophonic


 * 1998
 * 28 May 1998: Hammer Without A Master (v/a CD - We Are Reasonable People) Warp


 * 1999
 * October 1999 (FSK): Echo's Answer (CD Single) Warp
 * 31 October 1999 (BFBS): Echo's Answer (7") Warp
 * 04 November 1999: Echo's Answer (CDS) Warp
 * 17 November 1999: 17 November 1999
 * December 1999 (FSK): Papercuts (CD Single) Warp
 * 08 December 1999: Echo's Answer (CDS) Warp
 * 23 December 1999: Echo's Answer (CD single) Warp FF#36 (started again by mistake when #35 is announced)
 * 28 December 1999: Papercuts (Radio Edit) (CD single-promo) Warp


 * 2000
 * 03 January 2000 (BFBS): Papercuts (Radio Edit) (promo CDS) Warp
 * 06 January 2000: Papercuts (CD single) Warp
 * 27 January 2000: Belly Dance (CDS-Extended Play) Warp
 * 10 February 2000: Long Was The Year (LP: The Noise Made By People) Warp (JP mistakenly claims the first Broadcast album is on Mute)
 * 17 February 2000: Come On Lets Go (LP - The Noise Made by People) Warp
 * 19 February 2000 (BFBS): Tower Of Our Tuning (CD-The Noise Made By People) Warp
 * 22 February 2000: Unchanging Window (LP - The Noise Made By People)
 * March 2000 (FSK): Look Outside (CD - The Noise Made By People) Warp
 * 16 March 2000: Come On Let's Go (LP - The Noise Made by People) Warp
 * 30 March 2000: Long Was The Year (CD - The Noise Made By People) Warp
 * April 2000 (FSK): Come On Let's Go (CD Single) Warp
 * 25 April 2000: Come On Let's Go (CDS) Warp
 * 27 April 2000: Chord Simple (Single: Come On Let's Go) Warp
 * 11 May 2000: Come On Let's Go (7 inch) Warp
 * June 2000 (FSK): Come On Let's Go (CD Single) Warp
 * 05 July 2000: Drums On Fire (12") Warp
 * 24 August 2000: Illumination (EP - Extended Play 2) Warp
 * 06 September 2000: A Man For Atlantis (EP-Extended Play 2) Warp
 * 20 September 2000: Illumination (single) Warp
 * 28 December 2000: Come On Let's Go (Maxi CD) Warp FF#5


 * 2003
 * April 2003 (FSK): Still Feels Like Tears (CD - Pendulum) Warp
 * 02 April 2003: Small Song IV (EP - Pendulum) Warp
 * 10 April 2003: Still Feels Like Tears (EP - Pendulum) Warp
 * 17 April 2003: Pendulum (EP – Pendulum) Warp
 * August 2003 (FSK): Before We Begin (CD - Before We Begin / Man Is Not A Bird) Warp
 * 13 August 2003 (Radio Mafia): Before We Begin (album - Haha Sound) Warp
 * 30 August 2003 (BBC World Service): Before We Begin
 * 04 November 2003: Before We Begin (CD Single) Warp
 * 13 November 2003: Before We Begin (LP sampler CD) Warp
 * 15 November 2003 (BBC World Service): Before We Begin
 * 24 December 2003: Pendulum (CD single) Warp FF#40 (JP: 'I remember hearing Andy Peebles, he used to work for Radio 1, doing a chart rundown at some stage, and he said, "In that all-important number 17 spot", and that's something that has stayed with me forever, so, in that all-important number 40 spot...')