TEARS IN THE TYPING POLL: ILM Artist Poll #114 - BROADCAST (Results Thread)

https://i.imgur.com/xWMQshn.jpg

TRACKS: 24 ballots; 111 songs
ALBUMS & EPs: 23 ballots; 17 releases

Here's where we came from - Come On Let's POLL - ILM Artist Poll #114 - BROADCAST (Polling and Lobbying Thread)

Thanks to Nag Nag Nag for running the poll, I will be your host for the rollout, plan is

Monday = Albums & EPs
Tuesday-Friday = Tracks

Thanks for the chance to talk about one of my favourite bands for a whole week. See you here this time tomorrow (or a little earlier) for the albums & EPs. [/b]

Yayayay!

Shake your earrings

Here's where I propose a Spotify playlist for the eventual tracks countdown and prematurely post a link at the beginning of the thread. :)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55SHnwBEbm0xw0z6b3WFB7?si=ecf6f9c05daa481a

(Collaborative playlists are more complex nowadays; I'll share the URL for editing later.)

PERFECT title!

OK then, let's get this thing going with ALBUMS and EPs

This was always going to be a bit of an odd one, given that two of the band's best albums are compilations of EPs and rarities, so should not be surprised that there are surprises.

17 releases received votes, let's just do all of them. Be ready for some massive jumps in votes.

https://i.imgur.com/FBGb67C.jpeg

17 Microtronics Vol 1 (2003)
7 Points, 1 Vote

not expecting these ones to elicit a lot of discussion tbh, so I will push on.

https://i.imgur.com/pKctbaZ.jpeg

16 Broadcast & The Focus Group - Familiar Shapes & Noises (2010)
13 Points, 1 Vote

Oooh, it's on!

These are both pretty great, but I didn't squeeze them onto my ballot. I'm glad others did.

https://i.imgur.com/91aKfAq.jpeg

15 Roj - The Transactional Dharma of Roj (2009)
31 Points, 3 Votes

xp this one was! and on mine too.

Yes! And a wise third party's too, lol!

I think I used the words 'burpy' and 'meandering' in the other thread. Under the right conditions its relative formlessness feels like a positive.

Yeah, it was the only solo release that felt like it was from the Broadcast world, specifically a late 2000s Broadcast world after Roj left, strangely enough.

https://i.imgur.com/ZZG1Kah.jpeg

14 Pendulum EP (2003)
45 Points, 4 Votes

For a bit of contrast, while the thread remains quiet, here's where I (gently) dis something! If I was forced at gunpoint to select a least favourite Broadcast release, I'd probably pick this one. The title track is a slightly stilted thing. And several of the other tracks are significantly less interesting than average. That said, the shorter instrumentals are cool enough, the drumming frequently sounds great and I still voted for at least track IIRC!

sorry Pendulum is stilted? I might have to ask you to discuss this out in the street sir.

There will be ample time for arguments about Pendulum when we reach the tracks poll.

Here's my first "TOO LOW!" of the poll.

https://i.imgur.com/RK11XGa.jpeg

13 The Book Lovers EP (1996)
50 Points, 2 Votes

I guess #13 bore the brunt of "compilation vs constituent EP" type conundrums.

XXP: I think the "Pendulum" vocal melody rubs me the wrong way. It was not the best advertisement for Haha Sound for me as I like pretty much everything else on it more.

I guess #13 bore the brunt of "compilation vs constituent EP" type conundrums.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, May 30, 2022 3:59 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I only voted for full lengths because I didn't find time to compare every EP, but I still hesitated in making an exception for the Book Lovers based on what appears in my song ballot.
Anyway, my question: is it not an EP in its own right ? why compilation ?

it's true, I imagine voting for 50% of Work And Non Work and then also voting for all of Work And Non Work may seem excessive, but I really love these four (or six) tracks.

https://i.imgur.com/PNVhf3E.jpeg

12 Microtronics 1 & 2 (2003/2005, released together March 2022)
89 Point, 9 Votes

I mean

https://i.imgur.com/PNVhf3E.jpeg

12 Microtronics 1 & 2 (2003/2005, released together March 2022)
89 Point, 9 Votes

Discogs suggests there were 2500 The Book Lovers CDs in addition to 2000 12"s. I think I imagined strictly vinyl for that one, for some reason. I waited for the convenience of W&NW so I'm hopelessly under-informed and uncool. My vote went that way too!

XP! I went for the combined Microtronics 1 & 2 too, if only to squeeze more stuff onto a ballot!

Fun fact I only noticed via the BMI/ASCAP site in recent weeks is that Cargill gets sole composition credits for Microtronics. All of them, IIRC.

I like them quite a lot. When I used to write silly things on RYM, back around the time they came out, I definitely claimed that the first volume was my new favourite Broadcast release. I can't quite remember whether I was entirely serious at that instant!

Quite a mixed bag, but everything is kept very short, I suppose it's essentially just unused ideas. Some parts are brilliant, we may find one in the tracks poll, who knows?

https://i.imgur.com/RZCvEwc.jpeg

11 Berberian Sound Studio (2013)
91 Points, 10 Votes

I have done it again

https://i.imgur.com/RZCvEwc.jpeg

11 Berberian Sound Studio (2013)
91 Points, 10 Votes

I really should watch this again. Can barely remember how the cues worked in context. A bunch of them, at least, are pretty groovy in isolation.

I must sleep. I look forward to reading the thrilling conclusion in the morning!

I have never seen it, might give it a go.

https://i.imgur.com/lVtZqU5.jpeg

10 Extended Play Two (2000)
118 Points, 7 Votes

should really post these two together. Here's our first first place vote!

https://i.imgur.com/MtaPElj.jpeg

9 Extended Play (2000)
132 Points, 6 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

https://i.imgur.com/sUyDFbL.jpeg

8 Mother Is The Milky Way (2009)
176 Points, 15 Votes

I was disappointed that the reissue of Mother Is the Milky Way changed the artwork. Did the original violate some copyright?

Is this the original or the re-release? It's the one on Discogs anyway.

https://i.imgur.com/zzGNfbU.jpeg

7 The Future Crayon (2006)
194 Points, 14 Votes

I didn't really know Mother Is The Milky Way well until the recent reissue. It's a cool release. I also bought the Microtronics reissue which I hadn't heard before. I'm not sure it'll get regular plays but there were some nice moments.

The Book Lovers is a contender for the greatest EP of all time. Maybe just ahead of Stereolab's Fluorescences from the same time.

I remember being stuck working in a deserted bookshop in Southampton once and the only CDs I had were The Book Lovers, Flourescences and Miss Modular. It was a pretty good day.

Is this the original or the re-release? It's the one on Discogs anyway.

yeah, agreed, less good.

...and here's a new entry straight in at number six

https://i.imgur.com/QDVnRUU.jpeg

6 Maida Vale Sessions (2022)
239 Points, 13 Votes

I guess that Future Crayon votes were pretty much split between the album and the constituent EPs, but I do think it holds up as a gorgeous sprawling monolith in its own right. Probably slightly more Trish-lite than most of the other 'big' albums though.

Maida Vale might be a very recent release but it's so satisfying how it unifies three distinct eras of Broadcast. There's also something really massively on-brand about engaging with them via evening radio broadcasts heard at a 25 year remove.

Yeah as a container of tracks that i voted for individually, Future Crayon could have been my number #1 release vote, I sortof wish it was now. Its majestic record, I vastly prefer it to Work and non work. Pendulum has always seemed a bit of an oddity for them with its conventionally heavy Loop / Can psych type groove and does that wonderful Broadcast trick of synthesising something you already love and immediately making the source material pale a bit in comparison. Well, perhaps not the Can part.

The progression through the maida vale sessions one is just a delight, the last side absolutely slays me. I wonder if anyone else voted for the Nico cover in the end.

Personally I find Future Crayon to be a bit of a slog, although I ranked it. I've never heard the constituent EPs and singles and imagine I'd prefer them.

The 3-inch Microtronics CDs are really fun, even if the cases break when you touch them. I bought the LP reissue and it sounds quite nice; when preparing for this poll I listened to both. (The Microtronics artwork looks a little pixilated on the LP sleeve; I wonder if the reason they changed the Mother Is the Milky Way art is because they didn't have a high-res source for the original.)

Oh hey happy to see the Maida Vale sessions so high in here.

sorry, that was an unplanned break. anyway

https://i.imgur.com/xUY40Tm.jpeg

5 Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age (2009)
286 Points, 17 Votes, 2 First Place Votes

Ah, I assumed I'd be catching up on everything through to #1. :)

One thing I only realised through this exercise is that I possibly prefer a combination of EP1 + EP2 played consecutively to TNMBP!

apologies for the break, something came up, we will still be finished tonight.

witch cults was my number one, it's easily the one I come back to most often. everything just fits together so well.

I wonder if anyone else voted for the Nico cover in the end.

Ha!

#5 was my #1 too so that works for me. A surprise return to form IMHO, despite not actually sounding much like any previous form of Broadcast. Little details still surprise me.

it's funny the pollrunners are so out of step with the rest of the voters, and this may not be the final example of this

anyway, on with our hastened schedule

https://i.imgur.com/srkVRNs.jpeg

4 Work And Non Work (1997)
496 Points, 23 Votes, 4 First Place Votes

Testament to how good this is that I bought it and played it to death even though I already had all but two tracks (Accidentals & We've Got Time)

The cool thing about the top 4 is I seem to recall all of them being at the top of the ranking at some point. Though that reign came rather too early with W&NW!

votes have been fairly predictable up to this point, but will they be so for the three canonical LPs?

https://i.imgur.com/zvxAA16.jpeg

3 The Noise Made By People (2000)
597 Points, 23 Votes, 3 First Place Votes

will be honest, I expected this one to win handily

guessing voters are mostly sleeping now. Will try not to skip a few hours again.

anyway. are we ready for our top two?

I'm here, at least, despite a dodgy mobile connection. Surprise me lol!

https://i.imgur.com/bIAh2Xv.jpeg

2 Haha Sound (2003)
624 Points, 23 Votes, 5 First Place Votes

https://i.imgur.com/KhVsfGK.jpeg

1 Tender Buttons (2005)
650 Points, 20 Votes, 6 First Place Votes

must sleep now myself, looking forward to some comments in the morning.

Excellent work!

I remember saying in the other thread that was I perfectly content with the results if ~20 votes was all we were going to get. Haha Sound and TNMBP had been jostling for #1 for most of the voting period. As is often the case, later ballots had a slightly different flavour and Tender Buttons snatched it, by a whisker. All three still sit within little more than the span of a first-place-vote.

Not sure I even had a firm opinion before this exercise but I settled on HHS as my favourite of the three more conventional studio LPs. Despite gently dissing "Pendulum" above. :)

Regret not making time to vote but thank you so much for doing this.

Top 3, about right- just expected the placements to be different. Glad to see the TB love was as big as mine! My deep love of this band came from doing some graduate school work at my grandparents’ house shortly before my grandmother passed and I remember listening to Tender Buttons and everything clicked. A band becoming more devoted to electronics for support after another departure of a band member. My grandmother in hospice, needing electronic medical equipment to monitor and keep her on support.

Also wish I had gotten around to voting but enjoying this thread, thanks.

I think The Noise Made By People would've been my No 1 - despite being underwhelmed by it on release - I felt like it was too careful and buttoned-up and distant - perhaps I wanted it to be something that it wasn't? But now I think I enjoy that slight remove, in fact really appreciate it as a soundtrack for feeling slightly detached from life, looking through windows or walking alone. A nice daytime record.

Generally I prefer to listen to digital copies of albums that I first got to know on CD, but this is a rare example of a 21st century LP that I enjoy more on vinyl.

When Trish died - and this has happened with a few artists I admire - it felt like I instantly had a very different sense of her (and Broadcast's) artistic journey - it is hard to explain but knowing that the project was over completely recast my understanding of their body of work.

xpost

The top 3 is the same as mine, same order. I came to Broadcast late and apart from Witch Cults didn't hear their catalogue until after Trish died. My vote for TB may well just come down to "at the end of the day I am a 'songs' person and TB has the highest proportion of them," though I also associate it with a bad time in grad school, when the album seemed to offer something like grace.

Glad to see Tender Buttons top the albums list. Not only their best set of songs, but one of my favorite sounding albums ever--the sonic palette of primitive drum machines + sentient-fax-machine synths + Trish's sweet, stoic voice to me evokes an eternal, glowing future.

Yeah very much on the money. Haha is my favourite but TB is an alchemical record which blew the doors off their previous confines, made them a hugely exciting band rather than a beautiful style exercise. I think I will be listening to Witch Cults for decades and slowly decoding it.

I don't think I saw this mentioned on the other thread - a mixtape made by Trish around 2010, which may serve as an amuse-bouche ahead of the tracks rollout:
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/04/20/trish-keenans-mind-bending-motorway-mix/

Fairly sure the top three is how the same order they all placed in the 2000s poll on here a couple of years ago. It was great to see them do so well in that.

I would happily put Tender Buttons in my all time top ten albums, maybe even top five but I had this crazy realisation during the voting process that not only would I put Work & Non Work ahead of it, I might put it above every album I've ever heard. It's one of those albums that makes me feel nostalgic for when I first heard it and still excites me just as much after 25 years. I absolutely adore all nine songs (and voted for every one in this poll) and it's sequenced so beautifully. It is the album I would recommend to a Broadcast beginner. I love how that one leads to the three albums and the journey they would take.

Weirdly I remember being so disappointed with Tender Buttons when I got it. It was a couple of years later I revisited it and everything fell into place. Very happy to see it at the top. Also happy to see Maida Vale up there. I feel kinda guilty it's probably going to get my number one vote in the end of year poll in January. It's a wonderful collection.

I was disappointed with Tender Buttons initially too, but it never fully recovered in my case! It's the closest they came to approximating some actual 'in' sounds of the era. I think my 2005 reaction is on this site; something like "the world needed another electroclash act?" It's probably more like an album of Pendulums in reality, except that the once delicious drums are now overwhelmingly little more than a click track. And, all of a sudden, they were breaking into 3/4 uncharacteristically rarely, lol.

I remember the descending wibbly guitar in "Black Cat' immediately sounding alarmingly 'indie' and unambitious. Far from breaking down barriers, it seemed that references to stuff outside the confines of rock were getting swapped out. For someone whose first favourite Broadcast song was probably "Accidentals" much of the album seemed to represent an ever so *slight* drift towards the tired things that had me fleeing to Broadcast in the first place!

I don't dislike it though. It's still Broadcast innit. Small distinctions, etc. I just reach for it less often than other stuff and am glad they didn't really dwell there for long, recordings-wise.

My top vote was for TNMBP but my appreciation of Tender Buttons improved by the biggest margin on relisten during the poll: a more complete sonic clothing over intact melodies, more confidence, more surrealism. But I first heard TNMBP and love its vagueness, quaintness, dreaming apathy. Haha Sound is the one that I connect the least with, I find it has less unity, it's more a collection of experiments for me. Maida Vale was a perfect occasion for the poll and I like to think it was the trigger.

I've also realized, while I like the three bands, how much higher regard I have for Broadcast compared to Stereolab and Pram. I love Broadcast.

I feel like I should spend more quality time with Pram. They never quite clicked for me, but they endlessly feel like they might be about to do so.

I think I know what you mean about Haha Sound. Much of it sounds like a sequence of quite, er, small ideas. I mean, something like "O How I Miss You" is possibly the slightest thing in the whole world ever and yet... it's possible I've very nearly shed a tear over that thing!

the broadcast v stereolab narrative needs to knock it off

one of my favorite sounding albums ever--the sonic palette of primitive drum machines + sentient-fax-machine synths + Trish's sweet, stoic voice to me evokes an eternal, glowing future

Re Tender Buttons: this nails it really - I remember that it leaked very early (par for the course in 2005) and the sound of it was a real shock at first. It had a brace of springy pop songs (Black Cat, America's Boy, Corporeal, Michael A Grammar, Goodbye Girls) which definitely had the fizzy abandon that I'd always wanted from them. But, yes, Haha Sound had been their most cavernous album and yet this felt like their most minimalist. Tender Buttons and Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth are both easily in my top 10 all-time albums, for similar reasons - stoic vocals over drum-machine bounce.

Loads of comments above regarding initial reactions to certain albums resonate with me. Broadcast have definitely become my favourite band over the past 25 years, and I've bought everything at the point of release since Book Lovers, but both TNMBP and Haha Sound did slightly different things than I'd initially anticipated

I had exactly the same initial reaction to TNMBP as emsworth outlines upthread; by the time the Pendulum EP came out I'd long since fallen in love with the chilly detachment of this prev album, but then the Pendulum tracks and parts of Haha Sound were so much about the newly gigantic and frenetic drums that my expectations shifted again. Both TNMBP and Haha Sound were massive growers for me and each new release completely changed my appreciation of the previous one.

I think I will be listening to Witch Cults for decades and slowly decoding it

Completely this, also - I guess it doesn't do what some people want from Broadcast, but it's so lush and dense and once you stop listening for tidy pop songs they do gradually emerge.

I feel like I should spend more quality time with Pram. They never quite clicked for me, but they endlessly feel like they might be about to do so.

Cool! Thanks. :)

Helium is very good too

c)If it is a concern, her politics seem to have been fine during their prime and she left years ago (the new records are great)
d) I am very partial to the telemetric melodies compilation

*takes notes*

Thanks people!

The one actual physical disc I plucked from a discount bin (but *still* don't know well) is apparently The Moving Frontier which I'm guessing is not immensely acclaimed...

btw, the chronology with Billy playing in Broadcast is obviously back to front, but if Plone had been eligible for this poll I would have given them hefty votes.

Tender Buttons was my #1 for albums, probably their most song-y release but

Oops

Tender Buttons was my #1 for albums, probably their most song-y release but also I think it also just showcases the various strengths of the band so well, you still get a lot of the psych feel/general strangeness on there as well.

I voted for the compilations rather than the individual EPs as that's how I know them but I should try giving them a listen separately, just to see how they flow in that format.

ok, (come on) let's go.

is 77 a bit too many tracks? possibly, but number 78 was somehow the highest ranked track with less than two votes, also it was me who had to make images and all 77 are done now, as of about 20 minutes ago. going this high also lets us sample a few different flavours which would otherwise be missing.

https://i.imgur.com/osFDaZ9.jpg

77. Locusts
From Come On Let's Go Single, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006
Fan-made video by Blue-Loire on YouTube
27 Points, 3 Votes

In a little yellow lemon tree, no less! A+ CaAL!

pictures look not so great at this size, will make some minor adjustments

What to say about Locusts? I like it a lot, but it flits from idea to idea, and only a few moments are truly special, so can understand it being overlooked.

https://i.imgur.com/G3VYeuf.jpg

76. Chord Simple
From Come On Let's Go Single, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006
Fan-made video by Muse Seymour on YouTube
28 Points, 4 Votes

I think I vaguely wondered out loud in the other thread whether this standalone version was likely to get any votes. Then I refreshed my memory. It did sound faintly more... unbuttoned than the other version? I did opt for the other one, however.

https://i.imgur.com/iMSJsd0.jpg

75. Microtronics 04
From Microtronics Vol 1, 2003
Audio on YouTube
29 Points, 2 Votes

I can reveal that this is the only Microtronic which we will be hearing today/

Haha. This is the one I kept on my ballot. I was delighted to see it receive further support!

One of the more Radiophonic Workshop sort of tracks.

Oh wait, that's 05 up there.

I, at least, hopefully voted for this one this one. :)

the broadcast v stereolab narrative needs to knock it off

― Western® with Bacon Flavor,

I only think of them like this when trying to figure out where to put them in my favourite bands list. Both somewhere in the top five but the order is tricky.

I didn't ever consider voting for any of the Mircrotronics tracks. It would be hard for me to pick out highlights.

Nine Microtronics tracks received votes - suspect all of them were throwing a single vote in its direction, only two votes ended up landing on the same one.

Apologies for posting the wrong video, will try not to make any more mistakes. Thankfully not so easy to confuse anything coming up.

Time for our first of two ties. An interesting pairing!

https://i.imgur.com/QGx20yh.jpg

=73. Bit 35
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by eataverysbones on YouTube
31 Points, 3 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/vveebvG.jpg

=73. Dead The Long Year
From The Noise Made By People, 2000
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on Youtube
31 Points, 3 Votes

Now I'm trying hard to figure out the relation between Colour me In and Hawk :)

These images are really working for me, CaAL!

Also: I'd forgotten how good the second #73 is. Should have been on my ballot somehow.

I'm plonking these in that Spotify playlist as well, and this quasi-random all-instrumental sequence is fab.

I will explain the images when the rollout is over, pretty sure there will be some questions before then.

idk i'm loving the inscrutability of the images, it fits the theme

also loving all the fan made videos

Yeah one of my favourite parts of this process has been finding these videos.

Having said that, here is our second and final tie, and neither of these has a fan-made video I can find.

https://i.imgur.com/QmcyZC1.jpg

=71. A Quiet Moment
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Audio on Youtube
32 Points, 2 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/OYwzmpB.jpg

=71. The Be Colony/Dashing Home/What On Earth Took You?
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Audio on Youtube
32 Points, 2 Votes

so far, i've voted for "locusts" (love the off-kilter 6/8 groove and the big swooping piano notes) and "dead the long year" (reminds me a of a roubaix-esque spy film score)

That basically sums up why Tender Buttons is not a favourite: it never really threatens to remind anyone of a Roubaix-esque spy film score lol

turns out i didn't vote for locusts lol, it was a late cut though

I didn't end up having any room for anything from Witch Cults, but Colony would have been my pick.

Bit 35 was one of the few Tender Buttons songs I didn't vote for. It's great obviously.

Witch cults token pop song in with a bullet at 71. the Be colony would sound glorious on any era broadcast lp and unfailingly lulls me into a false sense of security.

should say that this is not "The Be Colony" - it's "The Be Colony/Dashing Home/What On Earth Took You?"

Oh fab, the collage-y bit at the end, that's commitment.

I tend to forget that is the source of that wonky loop. It's somehow more associated in my mind with muffled recordings of their late live sets!

https://i.imgur.com/9a1ebYQ.jpg

70. I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse
From Mother Is The Milky Way, 2009
Audio on Youtube
35 Points, 2 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/jJJ5PzV.jpg

69. Let it Begin / Oh Joy
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Audio on Youtube
36 Points, 3 Votes

the middle part of this one (Oh Joy?), with the tape coming up to speed and the choir is just a beautiful & unique bit of sound collage

https://i.imgur.com/V0377po.jpg

68. What I Saw
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Audio on Youtube
37 Points, 3 Votes

think it should be fairly obvious why this track has this photo

https://i.imgur.com/mQlIIu4.jpg

67. A Man For Atlantis
From Extended Play Two, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006
Audio on Youtube
41 Points, 3 Votes

Tender Buttons was my #1 album. I love the harshness and sweetness of the sound world; it was such a pleasant shock when it came out. There was at the time a question: how are they going to do it as a duo? And TB answered: like this. Very satisfying and surprising.

Building the tracks selection did make me wonder if Haha Sound was not my real favorite, though; went with the legacy choice but it could have gone either way.

I also put Maida Vale Sessions high up — the sound and performances improve on their studio versions in nearly every case, or that's how I hear it.

Afraid I am also in the small "not so fussed about Tender Buttons" camp, never really has clicked for me in the way the other albums do. maybe it will one day.

https://i.imgur.com/g3yhL9d.jpg

66. A Seancing Song
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Fan-made video by drumgold23 on Youtube
42 Points, 2 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/WJYzXqI.jpg

65. The Little Bell
From Haha Sound, 2003
Audio on Youtube
44 Points, 3 Votes

"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) - mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw) - Jun 1, 2003

https://i.imgur.com/Ptb6tLf.jpg

64. Belly Dance
From Extended Play, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006
Audio on Youtube
45 Points, 3 Votes

i love "the little bell," creepy little nursery rhyme

So far none of these made my top 40. Chord Simple and Dead the Long Year were right on the cusp for me but didn't make my ballot. I think I already mentioned upthread that in the end, nothing from Focus Group, Microtronics, or Berberian Sound made the cut for me. Songs from the various EPs made it in but none of these.

well, you won't have either of these then either

https://i.imgur.com/qZ4jP8C.jpg

63. The Equestrian Vortex
From Berberian Sound Studio, 2013
Berberian Sound Sound Title Sequence on YouTube
48 Points, 4 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/LMToWSH.jpg

62. Teresa, Lark of Ascension
From Berberian Sound Studio, 2013
Audio on Youtube
52 Points, 5 Votes

I didn't vote for either, but good that BSS has some representation.

Two of my lower votes there. Both rediscovered during the voting process as I found BSS fairly impenetrable before. I'll be back to it more often now, I think.

has anyone seen the film itself? looks pretty good, not sure where I can watch it.

“A Seancing Song” there for my daughter (age 20), she’s Broadcast-aware but not a fan per se, yet somehow this is her favourite.

Would not be at all surprised if there's a great rediscovery of Witch Cults at some point.

Ok, one last one for today.

https://i.imgur.com/HuAoX17.jpg

61. The Aphid Sleeps
From Mother Is The Milky Way, 2009
Audio on Youtube
54 Points, 4 Votes

Tomorrow we'll have numbers 60-41, including some better known tracks, and two number ones.

I like Witch Cults and Mother is the Milky Way, but as works of sound collage I found it hard initially to zero in on "songs." It helped thinking through the lens of the things from those records they performed live as songs, i.e. Royal Chant, In Here the World Begins, Be Colony/Dashing Home/What on Earth, What I Saw

Also interesting were the few pre-Tender Buttons songs they kept around: Valerie, Lunch Hour Pops

Ooo I love "The Aphid Sleeps"! It didn't make my abbreviated 15-song ballot, but it perfectly embodies the tripped-out storybook folk of Mother Is the Milky Way. It sounds like an Incredible String Band song!

Love your work Camaraderie at Arms Length!

I probably voted for half of what placed overnight (GMT+10). Makes for a bitchin' trippy Sp*tify collage, I'm finding, with 5 seconds crossfade, after mostly not listening to Broadcast for a few weeks.

Ah, now it's wisely playing Children of Alice to sustain the mood. I heart you evil algorithm.

Berberian Sound Studio is the only Broadcast release I don't own. Maybe it's time to give it another go.

Here's a rundown of day one.

77. Locusts
76. Chord Simple
75. Microtronics 04
=73. Bit 35
=73. Dead The Long Year
=71. A Quiet Moment
=71. The Be Colony / Dashing Home / What On Earth Took You?
70. I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse
69. Let it Begin / Oh Joy
68. What I Saw
67. A Man For Atlantis
66. A Seancing Song
65. The Little Bell
64. Belly Dance
63. The Equestrian Vortex
62. Teresa, Lark of Ascension
61. The Aphid Sleeps

might get going a little earlier today as it's the only day I'm working this week and have to fit in some posting when I can.

has anyone seen the film itself? looks pretty good, not sure where I can watch it.

Yes, it's quite good. I re-watched last night. While Broadcast are playing for a goodly proportion of its duration, I'm not sure everything on the record was used. eg. #62 might have appeared as little fragments, if that. The title sequence linked at #63 is indeed the only title sequence it has, though it purports to the opening of the film within the film, The Equestrian Vortex, which is seemingly the most horrifically violent film ever. (Virtually no other footage of the fictional film is revealed; just the terrifying soundtrack they're piecing together with groovy mid-century equipment.)

Nothing from my ballot placed yesterday but in retrospect I should've voted for Chord Simple as a standalone track, it's really lovely.

I really like Berberian Sound Studio, the whole thing is Broadcast catnip - I'd say they are pretty deep beneath the skin of Peter Strickland (the filmaker) - he's revisiting similar audio fetish territory in his new one, Flux Gourmet. I think he was involved in Ben Wheatley's In the Earth, which explores similar Stone tapes / owl service type Broadcast obsessional themes. His Field in England is also superb. Sorry, I feel like you all know all this....

I don't! Though I have been taking a dive into Broadcast influences/ references as you'll be able to tell from the images so far.

* puts Flux Gourmet and In the Earth on watchlist *

I lost track of Wheatley after 'Field' and only ever saw the one Strickland film, so this is welcome.

Likewise a film-still checklist from CaAL lol

Ace, if you find yourself on a Strickland Jag, Duke of Burgundy (s/t by Cats Eyes) is magnificent and In Fabric (s/t by Tim Gane) is a lot of fun.

Aaah, noted! I guess only got as far as a quick dip into the latter's soundtrack. Thanks.

let's get to it with day 3, shall we?

https://i.imgur.com/z9CPhAd.jpg

60. 'What You Want' aka 'Dulcimer Jam'
From late live performances
Live recording, Melbourne HiFi Bar, 2010
55 Points, 4 Votes

I'm now dreading to see my first vote appear even though I only voted for 30.
I wanted to say that although I have no idea what motivated each pairing, I find many of those images positively hilarious, especially all the ones that look like 70s Czech cinema.

There is a story behind the pictures which I won't reveal yet, but think it safe to say "Czech cinema" is very much barking up the correct tree.

Yay for #60! This appears to be my 8th selection, now that I actually look at the list.

That recording at Youtube inevitably leads, at some point, to me thinking "if she hadn't circumnavigated the whole planet to play for us she'd probably be alive today." : (

What You Want AKA Dulcimer Jam is intriguing, wish I'd voted for it, it sounds like a load of different things (Tender Buttons / Krautrock / VU & Nico) but also like nothing else somehow, such a shame we never got that 4th LP.

https://i.imgur.com/A1Xstfz.jpg

59. Elegant Elephant
From Mother Is The Milky Way, 2009
Audio on YouTube
60 Points, 5 Votes

I swapped this out quite late, for some reason.

I do like that there is a bit of support for quite a few Mother tracks. I wonder whether we would have seen fewer a year ago.

https://i.imgur.com/sFOiwoS.jpg

58. Small Song IV
From Pendulum EP, 2003. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Audio on YouTube
61 Points, 4 Votes

'Small Song IV' off the Pendulum EP is perhaps the most 'Summery' thing they've done.  - Sociah T Azzahole (blueski) - Aug 1, 2005

Summery? Interesting.

I gave some points to this one. It's not wholly unlike "Distant Call", come to think of it. With slightly more crustier, dysfunctional electronics, typical for the HHS era. I seem to be attracted to this general bed of electronics + conversational (? lol) bass template.

https://i.imgur.com/7HsMY2P.jpg

57. Mother’s Milk Means Music (At Home in the Universe)
From Mother Is The Milky Way, 2009
Audio on YouTube
63 Points, 4 Votes

xp yes, doesn't sound particularly summery to me either.

Does this thread get *quieter* during the actual rollout bits? Don't be shy lurkers, if you're out there. Your contributions will almost certainly be less stoopid my typical post. :)

"THAN my typical post"

I expect it to get busier once we get to tracks that more than a few people know.

Nearing the end of the working week here? It is great that Mother is the milky way stands as a legitimate release now, I was listening to it yesterday while on the rove in the fleeting sunshine and its such a joyful, light tip. Absolutely the ying to Cult's Yang. Or the the way round.

Small Song IV was one of the last songs I cut from my ballot. The Pendulum EP is so great.

this one doesn't have many more votes, but think we can all hum it

https://i.imgur.com/uhyv1yU.jpg

56. O How I Miss You
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by Kent Hernández on YouTube
70 Points, 5 Votes

this fan video is excellent, btw.

song is such a lovely Beach Boys pastiche

https://i.imgur.com/2KdaX9C.jpg

55. Test Area
From Echo's Answer, 1999. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by The Mystery Machine on YouTube
82 Points, 4 Votes

Does this thread get *quieter* during the actual rollout bits? Don't be shy lurkers, if you're out there. Your contributions will almost certainly be less stoopid my typical post. :)

Alright! Test Area (and Echo's Answer) blew me away when it came out. I'd been a fan since the first single, but it had been 3 years of waiting since Book Lovers. I'd loved those 1996 records, but they sounded so jammy and loose on Test Area in a way they hadn't before. And to put Echo's Answer out as the A-side of the first single after a 3 year wait seemed so ballsy. I got to seem them a few weeks later in NYC at a Warp 10 year thing (with Plone and Plaid) and the show put those two new songs into context with the rest of the stuff that would be coming out the next year.

I think Test Area suffered in terms of votes as it doesn't really get good until the second half. those who did have it on their ballot ranked it fairly highly though.

https://i.imgur.com/EdRpZhE.jpg

54. Distant Call
From Come On Let's Go, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Audio on YouTube
91 Points, 6 Votes

Listening to the playlist of this rollout. It's a nice mixtape of their musique concret / instrumental side, in what I assume will essentially be a massive preamble to the emergence of Trish as the singular frontwoman of the group.

It's interesting to hear it this way - all the later-period stuff first. In my mind it frees this stuff from the tragic sense of loss* and instead presents it as the essential underpinning of what they're all about. It also really kills the idea that Broadcast were in any way in the shadow of Stereolab - they were clearly up to their own thing.

*I know Trish was alive for (and appears on) these releases, but her death still cast these albums in a different light - what might have felt more like a detour in their output wound up being the defining characteristic of their late period. Maybe part of why I've never really connected with Witch Cults or anything after is that I can't help but think about what was extinguished. I appreciate the albums but it's hard not to think that Broadcast went out with an extended, multi-album whimper.

It's interesting to hear it this way - all the later-period stuff first. In my mind it frees this stuff from the tragic sense of loss* and instead presents it as the essential underpinning of what they're all about. It also really kills the idea that Broadcast were in any way in the shadow of Stereolab - they were clearly up to their own thing.

I didn't properly articulate this, because it's *not* all later-period stuff so far although a lot of it is. When you mix in some of the weird and/or brief instrumental bits from the early EPs and albums it only reveals more strongly that this element has been there all along. But the track rollout is really putting an emphasis on this element of their sound and I expect there's going to be a moment in this rollout when things snap into strong melodies, rhythms, traditional songs.

this is kind of the opposite to how I feel about Broadcast, but I am generally much more drawn to texture than tunes, this is why I had Witch Cults down as my number one, it's all feeling with not that many tunes getting in the way. but of course it's also amazing that the same band can appeal to different people in such different ways.

we do have some more melodic stuff coming up today, though not that soon.

https://i.imgur.com/PIoCgTa.jpg

53. Make My Sleep His Song
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Fan-made video by HeatRayz Video on YouTube
113 Points, 7 Votes

this is one of my favourites, from any era

https://i.imgur.com/yyCyFPp.jpg

52. Ritual / Looking In
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Fan-made video by me on YouTube
114 Points, 6 Votes

Great looking images!

I made the linked video for "Ritual," I am very pleased with it but nobody else seems to like it, so ymmv, etc. it's a heavily edited / processed video I filmed from the front of a tram on Hong Kong Island.

xp thanks Moka!

That image from Theorem is so eerie and great, I reckon it must be a photo from the set, as I'm sure the angle is different in the film (been a while).

Not the last one either, should really see the film now I have a folder full of images from it.

https://i.imgur.com/Ap8r5Mq.jpg

51. Dave's Dream
From Extended Play, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by blakaraka on YouTube
123 Points, 7 Votes

Camaraderie: your video really really works, hats off

Thanks, I think it needs some kind of upscaling and it may find wider acceptance.

Meanwhile, Dave's Dream, you hear some music described as "cinematic" but this is somewhere way beyond that.

https://i.imgur.com/MrJH0GP.jpg

50. You And Me In Time
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Audio on YouTube
124 Points, 11 Votes

wonderful little song

Just looking at my list and I'm sad to see I had Oh How I Miss You so low. Beautiful song. Probably should have had You Me In Time higher as well, but they just have too many amazing songs.

https://i.imgur.com/esrcNZx.jpg

49. In Here The World Begins
From Mother Is The Milky Way, 2009
Audio on YouTube
130 Points, 11 Votes

I'd never heard 60 before, sublime drone and curious phrasing. I say never heard, they may well have played it the last time i saw them at Queen Elizabeth on the South Bank. Was it just the two of them in the 2010 live incarnation? I wish I had clearer memories of that show, I don't think I had heard mother is the milky way at that point and recall quite a few unfamiliar songs. And brilliant visuals.

https://i.imgur.com/pQynuPf.jpg

48. I See, So I See So
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Official video by Julian House on YouTube
135 Points, 9 Votes

until I found this I was sure that there were only two official Broadcast music videos

Seriously, go watch that video.

Anyway,

tine for our first first place vote!

https://i.imgur.com/yWuqfGP.jpg

47. Inside Out
From Broadcast/Focus Group - Study Series 04: Familiar Shapes and Noises, 2010
Fan-made video by The Mystery Machine on YouTube
137 Points, 7 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

going to have to speed things up a little if I want to get today done

https://i.imgur.com/NLjWxSk.jpg

46. Hammer Without A Master
From VA - We Are Reasonable People, 1998. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Audio on YouTube
144 Points, 11 Votes

The first thing I heard from them was "Hammer Without a Master" and eventually I stopped waiting for them to make anything that good. I do think they're starting to catch up to their hype with the new album, though. - MindInRewind (Barry Bruner) - Nov 7, 2005

Inside Out is great, worthy of a first place vote for sure. I love that whole EP, best distillation of the Broadcast vs Focus Group aesthetic.

https://i.imgur.com/RYlbSBh.jpg

45. Phantom
From Living Room Single, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by Rune on YouTube
152 Points, 10 Votes

here's what I wrote about Phantom on the other thread

In early 1996 I was in the habit of buying a few 7" singles every week from Magpie Records in Worcester, sometimes from bands I'd heard on the radio, sometimes I just liked the cover, as I did with this one.
I liked 'Living Room' fine, but 'Phantom' just changed everything. Never heard anything like it before or since, that clockwork rhythm, it sounded like the 'fairground' demo tracks on my uncle's Hammond(?) organ, but with the Theremin(?) making it sound like it was possessed by mournful spirits. The portal for me not just to Broadcast but to avant-garde music.

CaAL I just watched your video and it’s perfect, upscale my ass, the crunchy gritty video and digital stutters make it magical. Completely nails the vibe of the track.

Some great stuff here. Make Him Sleep My Song is lovely and weird. Hammer Without A Master might have been the first Broadcast song I ever heard on that wonderful compilation CD. Voted it fairly high because nostalgia. Which I feel with this band is very, very appropriate. Love this. Thanks poll runners.

Ah no, looking at the dates I had Work And Non Work first

here's one some people will be happy about

https://i.imgur.com/QKWyRy9.jpg

44. Sixty Forty
John Peel Session 19/08/2003, Compiled on Maida Vale Sessions, 2022.
Audio on YouTube
159 Points, 8 Votes

It hadn't occurred to me that mine ("Inside Out") was the lowest ranking of all the first-place votes lol. But then I look to have voted for almost everything placing after I went to bed (around "O How I Miss You"), so it's hardly a shock.

Sixty Forty is wonderful and my number 2. It took me a while to figure out I rated it so high but there it is.

Shall I do it?

TOO LOW!

"Phantom" and "Ritual..." did alright CaAL!

To be fair I was boosting them something rotten in the other thread (also we are still outside the top 40 so glad I did (a lot) more than that)

This is a cover of a Nico song, right?

I had connection problems and then went to bed, so I got waaay behind on Spotify. I will again now. Here's the 'collaborative' link just in case anyone had been listening in real-time and was hankering for the ability to edit, etc:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55SHnwBEbm0xw0z6b3WFB7?si=cda77ea7b1b04ed7&pt=fd13bfccba4f865d288f28ff94d04a3e

Posting fairly quickly now as I would like to be asleep by 1am if possible. These two go together anyway.

https://i.imgur.com/jAoxl46.jpg

43. Forget Every Time
John Peel Session 6/10/1999, Compiled on Maida Vale Sessions, 2022.
Audio on YouTube
159 Points, 10 Votes

this may be my favourite new discovery of the poll

This is a cover of a Nico song, right?

― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

Sure. Early eighties Nico. I should spend more time with the original. But this Broadcast version wow.

https://i.imgur.com/Hyke4Jk.jpg

42. Long Was The Year
From The Noise Made By People, 2000
Audio on YouTube
181 Points, 14 Votes

I expect there's going to be a moment in this rollout when things snap into strong melodies, rhythms, traditional songs.

Magnificent. Is Long Was The Year their song that sounded like it could have fitted on An Electric Storm the most.

BTW I'm also really enjoying listening to the Spotify playlist of the slightly more eccentric bubbles of music early in the rollout.

I played the playlist earlier and let it drift over me. I mostly voted for the more traditional, poppy tracks, but I was surprised how much I was pretty familiar with so far.

ok, last one for today as I really do need to go to sleep now, and it's another first place pick.

tomorrow I'll get started a little earlier and try to stick to schedule, we'll have numbers 40-21.

https://i.imgur.com/dNSMglO.jpg

41. Hawk
From Haha Sound, 2003
Audio on YouTube
186 Points, 12 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

I should have voted for I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse.

Well. It's here now.

For the record, my “Sixty Forty” vote was for the recording on Warp20: Unheard. Possibly this was counted separately, and that version is outside the 77. To be honest I’m not wowed by ‘Maida Vale’ the way others are.

Fascinating roll out so far.

"Sixty Forty" versions were bundled together for counting purposes!

* goes to compare the two *

"Hawk" too low!

I think everything too low at this stage. Incredible band, really don't know what is popular from here

Great results today. I cut Sixty Forty and Forget Every Time from my list last minute purely because I hadn't known them for long and felt like I should give more spaces to my older favourites. I actually heard Forget Every Time for the first time a few years ago on the TV show Good Girls. Someone working on the show must be quite the Broadcast fan as their music appeared on the soundtrack a few times. It was quite a weird moment when that one appeared as I knew it was them , but couldn't place the song. This was years before Mada Vale sessions came out. The show got a bit repetitive so my wife and I gave up on it, but I was tempted to keep on going just to see if anymore of their songs appeared.

Going to go with a too low for Phantom (probably in my own list too). I remember someone (maybe my brother who is also following this poll) saying it sounded a bit like Ghosts by Japan. Made me love it even more.

I am really regretting not putting “Hammer without a Master” on my ballot

I keep giggling a little inside about offering voters more ballot slots than I have for any other artist after repeated suggestions that their output was too tiny to bother with a poll. And then CaAL opting for a gloriously comprehensive (and apparently faintly troubling lol) rollout!

They were a way more interesting band than even some strains of fans are accustomed to acknowledging. All along too: 'Accidentals' and Familiar Shapes & Noises sound like basically the same (freaky) band to me.

Incidentally, was Roj the main purveyor of samples in the band or something? They were less conspicuous in his absence. Before Witch Cults anyway.

I hadn't heard that Warp version of sixty forty before, it is fantastic, more of a measured studio take, I wonder when it was recorded? The melody line and lyrics sound so eerily like they could be a Broadcast composition, a slightly more minimal version would have fitted perfectly on tender buttons . Having said that, I love the way it condenses all the best aspects of spacemen 3 circa Playing with fire (thinking particularly Suicide) while the Broadcast-ness remains completely intact.

I think all my more marginal votes have now been placed so I am officially mainstream. Realising my secret hope is that no two people will vote the same number 1. Hawk was an amazing top choice.

Rollout while I'm on holiday and barely at a computer :-(

Following on my phone when I can. Loving the images!

Some quick notes -

Haha Sound my number 1 album - didn't know it at all before because I was an idiot, as I mentioned on the main Broadcast thread:

I've liked Broadcast for what, 20, 25 years now & it's always been a drifting in-and-out thing for me - always approving, occasionally loving tracks. But in the last few weeks they've become all I want to listen to - the soundworld I suddenly need - like I'm hearing just how good they were for the first time & wondering why I wasn't paying better attention even while having their albums on & just feeling that death should fuck off.

So Haha Sound was all new and sunk in deep - the melodies, the astonishing drums, the way the swirls of sound and distortion never quite swallow it but never quite let you settle. But the other two studio albums were no distance behind.

Going to throw a too low at I See, So I See So - find myself half-singing "Solar on the heel, solar on the keel" to myself as I walk the dog on sunny days. Endless pleasure in their melodies, and there are so many of them!

Love Long was the year too - such a way to open - seems so simple, like music for schools or something, so steady and clear. Even now it usually has me waiting keenly for that top line (countermelody?) that comes in.

And the small catalogue thing… I admit I thought I'd basically end up with about 20-25 songs off the three studio albums (plus some others). I'm pretty basic in my tastes and thought it'd just be the ones that are obviously songs - so Witch Cults and Mother… belonging in the albums.

But I kept falling in love, or like, with instrumentals and realised I was going to make 40 songs when I went from 'fine, a throwaway, slightly annoying' to 'hang on this is great' on listen 3 of 'A Man for Atlantis'. In the end 40 was pretty easy, & I missed stuff off & I'm pretty sure I'm going to find stuff I love when I go through the low end of this rollout on my return from this curséd holiday.

I hereby second "I See, So I See So" toolowness. And yes! "A Man for Atlantis", OTM. (Half my ballot is already too low, so I'll restrict myself to seconding/thirding at this point!)

Also: I nominated that fab "I See" clip in the recent music videos poll. I think it might even have attracted a second vote lol!

77. Locusts
76. Chord Simple
75. Microtronics 04
=73. Bit 35
=73. Dead The Long Year
=71. A Quiet Moment
=71. The Be Colony / Dashing Home / What On Earth Took You?
70. I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse
69. Let it Begin / Oh Joy
68. What I Saw
67. A Man For Atlantis
66. A Seancing Song
65. The Little Bell
64. Belly Dance
63. The Equestrian Vortex
62. Teresa, Lark of Ascension
61. The Aphid Sleeps
60. 'What You Want' aka 'Dulcimer Jam'
59. Elegant Elephant
58. Small Song IV
57. Mother’s Milk Means Music (At Home in the Universe)
56. O How I Miss You
55. Test Area
54. Distant Call
53. Make My Sleep His Song
52. Ritual / Looking In
51. Dave's Dream
50. You And Me In Time
49. In Here The World Begins
48. I See, So I See So
47. Inside Out
46. Hammer Without A Master
45. Phantom
44. Sixty Forty
43. Forget Every Time
42. Long Was The Year
41. Hawk

The distortion-drowned hum on Hawk is fantastic, combined with the addictive motorik drums and bell melodies, it's like a snowstorm in a teacup. Unique in its atmosphere, it really stood out for me and I should probably have put it higher than sixth song from HHS.

HHS is hella rad.

I just had a peek. 40-21 is frequently fabulous. I'll need to sleep through much of it, so please imagine me typing "too low!" in response to every second entry should things fall silent, kthx.

Planned to start at 12 but stuff came up. Anyway here we go!

https://i.imgur.com/uKOcNbv.jpg

40. We've Got Time
From Accidentals single, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by DARI Graf on YouTube
199 Points, 10 Votes

Big TOO LOW on this one, such a beautiful song.

Groovy synth. Just occurred to me how sparingly the drummer was employed on this 1st single.

instantly regretting not voting for this one

https://i.imgur.com/i1MIySP.jpg

39. Still Feels Like Tears
From Pendulum EP, 2003. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by theladycandicejuarez on YouTube
199 Points, 11 Votes

Hey all, I'm enjoying the thread greatly, thanks for all your effort, it's making me go back to those corners of the discography I don't often visit.

I made a folder with a couple of early gigs in it for those that may be interested.

I was at the London Forum one, and it was the first time I actually heard the band, they were supporting Stereolab iirc.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uwgy0ssya4gizht/AADAnEVGnNxjONweJc1Eukv3a?dl=0

Voted We've Got Time very high. It's really special to me, love that haunting synth melody and the building vocal melody

It could have been my number 1. On another day. I'm really surprised this wasn't top ten.

Ooooh, thanks Marsen3st!

^ grrr, guaranteed typo in every post.

You know, #39 feels a bit lethargic to me. I guess I already outed myself as having some reservations about that EP. That's a goodly number of votes though, so maybe listener error. :)

https://i.imgur.com/VUf9Jrq.jpg

38. Tender Buttons
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Semi-official(?) video by Ramon Bloobmerg on YouTube
201 Points, 10 Votes

Thanks Maresn3st for the live recordings, checking them out now.

Andrew, who recorded them is fairly dismissive of the quality in his notes, but they're really decent.

I didn't vote for Tender Buttons even if it fits well in the album. With the number of votes available, I predict easily more than a dozen 20+ votes, I'm just wondering which it will be.

Will there be that much consensus? Hm...

https://i.imgur.com/xl0xFRg.jpg

37. Arc Of A Journey
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by desertshore on YouTube
206 Points, 12 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

Arc of a Journey is amazing. The warped distorted toy piano is unhinged genius, it starts as a lullaby and builds into a contemplative epic.

Damn, the video excised the nasty distorted coda thingy. I think 87% of the points I gave it were for that shrill bit lol.

Will there be that much consensus? Hm...
― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, June 2, 2022 3:27 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Are you saying I put too much hope in humanity and ILM in 2022

There were certainly one of more tracks attracting 20+ votes. That's a pretty high bar in a pool of 24 though!

Damn, the video excised the nasty distorted coda thingy. I think 87% of the points I gave it were for that shrill bit lol.

Still feels like tears and arc of a journey two absolute favourites here. I wish there had been a LITTLE more consensus around the those, but yeah, lack of consensus points to an insanely rich bunch of recordings which mean all things to different people.

i don’t think consensus is bad in this case, i'm curious to see what unites people. i can think of 4/5 songs that are guaranteed to be near the top but the rest is a mystery

Arc of a journey and Still feels… both incredible - both have that subdued or submerged longing/emotion with drive & hesitancy sparring that I love.

https://i.imgur.com/VXOr0O5.jpg

36. According To No Plan
From The Book Lovers EP, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by The Mystery Machine on YouTube
210 Points, 11 Votes

"Arc Of A Journey" is transcendent, was almost my number 1

"Clouds float away like iron tools on the moon"

The way she sings the word "avenues"

I think it’s Nabisco’s obituary where he regrets what she might have written given time - poems, stories. She was such a good, strange writer of lyrics, apart from the melodic gift - folk/popular/clear-rhyming clarity with an honest instinct to play, cut, estrange and twist.

(Thought I’d post this rather than just saying ‘little bell too low’ but it also applies to the above quote from Arc…)

The cool thing about #36 is that I haven't the foggiest idea how it was made. It could be a 100% musique concrète affair derived from stuff on TV for all know. Er, aside from the vocals, obv.

i don’t think consensus is bad in this case, i'm curious to see what unites people. i can think of 4/5 songs that are guaranteed to be near the top but the rest is a mystery

We’ve Got Time and Ac riding to No Plan we’re both top 10 votes for me.

35. Valerie
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by earlofeastjurong on YouTube
214 Points, 11 Votes

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. mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Jun 1, 2003

https://i.imgur.com/No0TtkC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vPhcTXM.jpg

34. Minim
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by Tahnee Udero on YouTube
217 Points, 15 Votes

XP: Haha, I was just thinking something similar to mitchlnw. Didn't actually remember "Valerie" building to such an dense cloud of fizz. It's possible I was so focused on those tracks I *wasn't* sure I was going to vote for that I never re-listened to a no-brainer like this one. Not sure it's spectacularly low here though, maybe an 'ABOUT RIGHT!'

Fun fact: I remember saying that there was one track absolutely everyone had voted for, over the few couple of weeks of voting. That was 'Minim'!! Obviously it didn't sustain it, but that's still a very high number of votes for this level, no? I think this is my fourth in a row. The second half is a bit fabulous.

^ 'over the FIRST couple of weeks of voting', rather

found out during this process that i love every song on haha sound and these two are no exception.

minim is the one i voted for, tho. "how sweet the bells, but what can they tell of heaven and hell?"

https://i.imgur.com/dGcBjXf.jpg

33. The World Backwards
From The Book Lovers EP, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by mrdonaldbecker on YouTube
223 Points, 10 Votes

This was #6 on my ballot, love the way the harmonies, the waltz rhythm and the turntable stuff fit together so perfectly. don't know what the extended sample is, but the way her voice lifts out of it is just a perfect moment.

Since they don’t credit it (see voting thread), big shout to Luboš Fišer for the Valerie melody. I have bought a copy of the soundtrack hoping that Finders Keepers are the kind of record company who make sure royalties are correctly directed.

And yes minim got my vote really for what happens when it pulls into the second half - exhilirating (but it shouldn’t start in the second half - the wait makes it!)

Yes, exactly!

(actually, make that a reply to both woof re 'Minim' *and* CaAL re "TWB' lol)

https://i.imgur.com/BlAS8xQ.jpg

32. Subject to the Ladder
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Bueno Film on YouTube
224 Points, 15 Votes

I must retire. Again, if Spotify folk feel like updating that playlist, use the collaborator link from maybe 18 hours upthread!

here's something I feel should be more appreciated (not even a fan video!)

https://i.imgur.com/4rVCT2z.jpg

31. You Can Fall
From The Noise Made By People, 2000
Audio on YouTube
226 Points, 12 Votes

Enjoying sporadically checking in on the rollout; agreed with those above who mentioned how well miscellaneous mostly instrumental tracks work in this arc. This seems odd for me to say, given that I called Future Crayon a slog, but I probably have more investment in the sequence since I partook in the poll (and voted for a few of these lower-placing tracks — including Microtronics 04, which is very Raymond Scott).

think there are only one or two instrumentals to come now. not that You Can Fall is an obvious hit, I would say its opening is probably the weakest moment on TNMBP, but that descending noise after "you can fall" is so gently sinister, such a memorable moment, it elevates the whole thing.

30. Living Room
From Living Room single, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by Donbecker5 on YouTube
235 Points, 11 Votes

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. stevem (blueski) Aug 14, 2003

Hm

https://i.imgur.com/zCNdXJ2.jpg

30. Living Room
From Living Room single, 1996. Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by Donbecker5 on YouTube
235 Points, 11 Votes

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. stevem (blueski) Aug 14, 2003

There we go.

Minim is a favorite, a true electronic poem, reminds me distantly of Desired Constellation, until those characteristic drums just wash it away with a fun random appearance of German. I voted for both The World Backwards and Subject to the Ladder but I think they bettered those songs and the consensus poll will show that. Also gave a couple of points for You Can Fall, one of those haunting melodies they seem to use and re-use until complete hypnosis and playful confusion of the listener is achieved. Maybe what is not immediately apparent in a poll is the dialogue between all those songs.

I regret not voting for According to No Plan, and I felt I had been generous with Work Non Work

catching up. "the world backwards" was my #8! that transition that happens around halfway through is thrilling every time.

also voted for "subject" and i didn't vote for "living room," but i'm pretty sure that one showed up in lodge 49?

echoing my request for anyone who loves broadcast to watch lodge 49, a brilliant show with a soundtrack that consists of broadcast and bands that aspire to be broadcast

We shall try to answer your request

I was the #1 for "Hawk" - an early version of the cultic ritual vibe that emerges as their whole thing post-Tender Buttons, a sort of mystic stasis over a rattling Wicker Man parade percussion

+ it's a song I felt no one else could have or would have made

"Arc of a Journey" was in my top ten. The moment when she sings "Constellation/of Orion" while the distorted synth slashes in the right channel gives me chills and gets lodged in my head, so sublime

Also love the strange attenuated quality of her vocal performance on "We've Got Time"

Speaking of soundtracks, You Can Fall also appears on the Morvern Callar OST, never seen it but this is quite the list of songs.

1 Can–I Want More
2 Aphex Twin–Goon Gumpas
3 Boards Of Canada–Everything You Do Is A Balloon
4 Can–Spoon
5 Stereolab–Blue Milk (Edit)
6 The Velvet Underground–I'm Sticking With You
7 Broadcast–You Can Fall
8 Gamelan Drumming
9 Holger Czukay–Cool In The Pool
10 Lee 'Scratch' Perry–Hold Of Death
11 Lee Hazlewood And Nancy Sinatra–Some Velvet Morning
12 Ween–Japanese Cowboy
13 Holger Czukay–Fragrance
14 Aphex Twin–Nannou

The moment when she sings "Constellation/of Orion" while the distorted synth slashes in the right channel gives me chills and gets lodged in my head, so sublime

XP that film is great. That’s a real holy shit soundtrack I wish I’d had back in high school.

https://i.imgur.com/q2O3Y8F.jpg

29. Look Outside
From The Noise Made By People, 2000
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
245 Points, 13 Votes

video link seems to be wrong. here's the right one

think this is the ultimate example of "theme to a 60s arthouse Bond film"

https://i.imgur.com/KNsAOdz.jpg

28. Illumination
From Extended Play Two, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by Jon Psimer on YouTube
247 Points, 14 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/GuSNH9p.jpg

27. City In Progress
The Noise Made By People, 2000
Fan-made video by Barnaby on YouTube
260 Points, 16 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/vq0EKrM.jpg

26. Poem Of Dead Song
From Extended Play Two, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by ilyphelps on YouTube
291 Points, 17 Votes

"Poem Of Dead Song" had passed me by for ages, kind of wobbly, um, 'exotica'. Like the Gentle People, almost. Another for the ALL-TIME-BEST list. - Alex in Sheffield (Alex in Doncaster), Aug 3, 2005

Just the best EP tracks band ever

Just noticed the last three video links are wrong too, no idea why, sorry all! Something to do with a new Youtube mode. These should be the right ones.

Illumination
City In Progress
Poem of Dead Song

"city in progress" is too low, my #4. sublime, extra-dimensional circus music

https://i.imgur.com/8jtYo8h.jpg

25. Goodbye Girls
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by The Mystery Machine on YouTube
297 Points, 12 Votes

https://i.imgur.com/sPfLtRv.jpg

24. Winter Now
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by TrueLyrics on YouTube
302 Points, 15 Votes

City In Progress and Goodnight Girls both in my top ten.

*goodbye

This one is lovely

https://i.imgur.com/rTsNlNc.jpg

23. Lunch Hour Pops
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by avalancealonso on YouTube
317 Points, 14 Votes

"Lunch Hour Pops" is tops tops tops! - Yngwie AlmsteenMay (sgertz), Mar 28, 2005

"goodbye girls" was a top tenner for me too!

seeing "Lunch Hour Pops" performed live was a complete marvel.

Look Outside 29th?

Fuck is wrong with you people?

One more first-place vote and it could have been... 27th.

https://i.imgur.com/egOhIPb.jpg

22. Lights Out
From V/A - NME C96, 1996, Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by The Mystery Machine on YouTube
322 Points, 15 Votes

One thing I like about this song (though it's possibly most pronounced in the familiar studio version) is how the bass and the buzzy synth line accentuate the end of each bar, almost like they're being switched off altogether. Or like they're employing a tape loop again even though that's presumably not what they're doing this time. At least until later on, lol. Also "I want to watch the carpark empty" is heavy, man. - Nag! Nag! Nag!, May 9, 2022

C96 was a CD you had to send away for, think it was about £5, maybe a little more. I can see the idea, updating C86 for a new generation, but the problem was that the bands clearly didn't sound anything like each-other. Still it's probably better than the c86 tape, Tiger, Comet Gain, Delgados, Spare Snare & Quickspace tracks are all v. good. The compilers somehow managed to get the wrong bit of the Mogwai tape, so instead of the thing that should be on there you have a couple of minutes of rehearsal room noodling, v. embarrassing mistake.

Rather too low for my liking!

iirc it was in the top ten for a while

Ok, last one for today. Top 20 tomorrow!

https://i.imgur.com/6nsuSPg.jpg

21. Accidentals
From Accidentals single, 1996, Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by GrimlyFormingPW on YouTube
324 Points, 14 Votes

Sorry to be absent this section, immensely complicated morning here. Just wanted to say that we've reached the stage where every entry elicits an "aww" and "I love this so much" from me. Except I wish I had put Valerie as my number one, I think I held back because of the appropriation of the melody, which seems ridiculous now.

That’s like the greatest song ever, right there

I thought I would have placed "Accidentals" above "Lights Out" but apparently not. I only heard this upon procuring W&NW, which I presumably bought on the strength of the other A-sides. I was all "wait, I had no idea they feck around with samples and stuff too!" They became a way cooler band in my mind when I heard this remaining wintery A-side out of chronological order, with its faintly jarring sheets of, er, orchestral found sounds or whatever. (And the other more obviously sample-based stuff.)

Allegedly from the score of Losey's Accident innit. I saw that before discovering this fact. Maybe I should re-watch that too, and listen harder.

Ok poll runners were wanting more opinions, not sure these are interesting but there’ve been drinks

Look Outside – It’s so quiet and measured compared to what was happening in the boorish UK indie scene at the time. Maybe (?) a bit slight to be this high.

Illumination – I like slow Broadcast. La la la la. Dreamy. I voted this 40/40

City In Progress – fundamental. None of us know who we are. We haven’t said enough about how this was one of the first Warp bands that played guitar and drums? Again, one of my faves because it’s quiet and measured.

Poem Of a Dead Song – I didn’t vote for this. It’s lovely – is there a Brit folk horror element to this that led to the later collaborations. Exotica.

Goodbye Girls – just too low. One of their best productions. Woozy. Love the repetition of the – what is that – Broadcast production brings so many questions. Love you all night.

Lunch Hour Pops – yes, I don’t know, yes. I don’t know why this makes my think of Twin Peaks, the landing.

Accidentals – yeah of course. I think that when the whole rollout is done I’m not going to be agreeing with what has been placed in the top ten. The slower tracks are placing quite low.

Still don't understand a low placing for We've Got Time

Yeah, I recall it struggling all along, diverging from most of the other early stuff. I was part of the problem though: dig it but didn't vote for it, for no obvious reason.

The top 10 looks pretty decent to me. And the teens.

I seemingly voted for 6 of the 20-somethings, and that's similar to every bracket. My selections are weirdly evenly distributed across the 77 with almost nothing out beyond that. So I'm finding it hard to be appalled by anything much lol.

Feel like I voted for every single song today. What a run and shows how strong their back catalogue is that so many of the best songs ever made didn't make the top 20.

I was hoping more of the early EP/Work & Non Work tracks would be higher up, but those are respectable positions really. I thought Living Room would be a top ten contender. It was the first song I heard by them on the John Peel show back in the day. It'll always have a place in my heart as I still remember how I felt when it came on. Agree on the too low comments for We've Got Time.

When it came to putting my list together, picking out highlights from Haha Sound was the hardest part beyond two songs which are yet to place. Songs like Lunch Hour Pops and Winter Now are two that stood out after a couple more listens. It's an album that works really well as a whole and doesn't contain the obvious standouts unlike Noise Made By People and Tender Buttons.

Look Outside kept climbing up my list and ended up in my top ten. It's a great Broadcast song until that guitar appears at the 1.30 mark when it becomes an amazing Broadcast song. One of my favourite moments of theirs.

I mentioned earlier that Tender Buttons took a long time to grow on me. Subject To The Ladder and Goodbye Girls were two of the songs that were my way in.

Really enjoying the rollout and catching up with the comments. Tempted to take the day off work tomorrow for the top 20.

I had Lunch Hour Pops at 11, but it could have easily been higher, easily one of my favorites, just didn't want to overload on Haha Sound. It's a great image to let go of your fears and anxieties like a bundle of balloons drifting away.

In my brain, the second half of "Look Outside" is grouped, perhaps somewhat improbably, with the second half of "Inside Out". In the "we're going to do something a bit different from here on" basket.

Aaaah I love "Goodbye Girls" so much. "Too low" of course, but I guess everything is at this point. I've always kind of paired it in my mind with "America's Boy"--they strike me as the two most overtly poppy songs on Tender Buttons. I prefer "Goodbye Girls" these days but they're both totally perfect.

Also kitchen person I strongly encourage you to take a personal day tomorrow (for any reason, but especially for this rollout). I would do it too if I hadn't already taken Tuesday off lol.

I saw a preview of the images CaAL was working on about a week ago. The "Lunch Hour Pops"/Red Balloon one might have been foremost in my mind when I responded with "OMG, they're friggin gorgeous" or something. :)

Good morning / afternoon / evening - here's how we stand so far

77. Locusts
76. Chord Simple
75. Microtronics 04
=73. Bit 35
=73. Dead The Long Year
=71. A Quiet Moment
=71. The Be Colony / Dashing Home / What On Earth Took You?
70. I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse
69. Let it Begin / Oh Joy
68. What I Saw
67. A Man For Atlantis
66. A Seancing Song
65. The Little Bell
64. Belly Dance
63. The Equestrian Vortex
62. Teresa, Lark of Ascension
61. The Aphid Sleeps
60. 'What You Want' aka 'Dulcimer Jam'
59. Elegant Elephant
58. Small Song IV
57. Mother’s Milk Means Music (At Home in the Universe)
56. O How I Miss You
55. Test Area
54. Distant Call
53. Make My Sleep His Song
52. Ritual / Looking In
51. Dave's Dream
50. You And Me In Time
49. In Here The World Begins
48. I See, So I See So
47. Inside Out
46. Hammer Without A Master
45. Phantom
44. Sixty Forty
43. Forget Every Time
42. Long Was The Year
41. Hawk
40. We've Got Time
39. Still Feels Like Tears
38. Tender Buttons
37. Arc Of A Journey
36. According To No Plan
35. Valerie
34. Minim
33. The World Backwards
32. Subject to the Ladder
31. You Can Fall
30. Living Room
29. Look Outside
28. Illumination
27. City In Progress
26. Poem Of Dead Song
25. Goodbye Girls
24. Winter Now
23. Lunch Hour Pops
22. Lights Out
21. Accidentals

The three-note fuzzy synth on Goodbye Girls is gloriously dumb / addictive, a repetitive melody all pixelized, I overlooked it sadly.

"Lights Out" is my discovery of the poll and my 4th. It has utterly captured me, being side-to-side depressed and sublime, a perfect spleen. The original and Maida Vale sessions are equally haunting.

Ok, early start today, so I don't have to do the mad rush tonight.

https://i.imgur.com/hoO8w4Q.jpg

20. America's Boy
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Darryl D. on YouTube

328 Points, 14 Votes

Fitting entry into the best of the best

I also want to add a random general comment that I adore her English accent. I presume it is typical of Birmingham (I am now googling Brummie).

Ok it's definitely her pronunciation as well

Think Ozzy Osbourne for a more stereotypical Brummie accent, he would have been an odd fit for Broadcast.

I also want to add a random general comment that I adore her English accent. I presume it is typical of Birmingham (I am now googling Brummie).

Trish Keenan grew up on the Chelmsley Wood housing estate (which she namedrops in Michael A Grammar) in the north-east of Birmingham. It's just around the corner from where I grew up in Castle Bromwich and my nan lived on the same estate as her. Trish's Birmingham accent isn't noticeable when she sings, and it isn't that pronounced in interviews either. There are some tell-tale Brummie vowels in this interview - 'lighter' becomes 'loiter', for example - but (for me at least) she doesn't have that strong an accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axnH1icd8F4

Just amazing that you posted that just as I was editing this.

https://i.imgur.com/tlIj3ds.jpg

19. Michael A Grammar
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Wes Johansen on YouTube
343 Points, 16 Votes

Also that nothing I ever heard from them before ever really leapt out at me as worth the effort of investigating further one bit. But crikey, that "Michael A Grammar" song is a huge earworm! If the rest of the album is this good (and that sound doesn't get wearing over x number of tracks) I'll have to admit I've sorely overlooked them and I'm sorry. - login name (fandango), Dec 12, 2005

"Michael A Grammar" spooks me, because Trish calls out "Michael!" in exactly the same sing-song tone/interval that my mother used when I was little, calling me downstairs for my tea. - mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Nov 7, 2005

Too close to call, but I'll give Broadcast the nod - not least because they included Chelmsley Wood in a song ('Michael A. Grammar'), which is the estate in Birmingham where my nan lived, right next to where I grew up. Odd to find such a sense of place in a group that sounded nothing like other Birmingham bands. - Portsmouth Bubblejet, Jun 30, 2018

Haha. Funnily enough, I also had my local expat advisor of choice on all things English to comment on the extent of her (and Roj's) Brumminess in that Sean Hughes interview a few weeks ago, lol. Not hugely Brummie at all, she also concluded. :)

I also grew up in the West Midlands (mostly Worcester) and her voice just sounds basically normal to me.

Heh! Just to add that Chelmsley Wood may sound like a mythical enchanted forest, but in reality it's part of a cynical north-east Birmingham tradition of giving new housing estates deceptively pastoral names. (See also 'Falcon Lodge', which doesn't have any falcons or lodges.) As the lyrics to 'Michael A Grammar' suggest, Chelmsley Wood instead has loads of high rise blocks of flats. Growing up, I also recall many kids' fathers looking like teddy boys, or at least having Lonnie Donegan and Bill Haley records, so this song sounds quite weirdly locally specific to me.

Just north of Chelmsley Wood is Water Orton, where Lawrence and Maurice Deebank grew up and formed Felt. For different reasons, neither Felt nor Broadcast sound anything like the surroundings from which they emerged.

Top 20 gonna be nothing but straight up classics

Tears in the Typing Pool top 3 let’s gooooo

This stuff is legit fascinating. :)

I suggested on a thread here not too long ago that I'd be interested in a music-themed bus tour of greater Birmingham. With firm expectations of Felt content too kthx.

“goodbye girls” was in my top five, such a joyful collection of sounds

also voted for michael, certainly one of the catchiest and most propulsive songs in their catalog

time for something a bit more spooky

https://i.imgur.com/ZGtJIbh.jpg

18. Until Then
From The Noise Made By People, 2000
Fan-made video by David Dean Burkkhart on YouTube
357 Points, 15 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

Apparently, amongst people giving this points, I gave the least. Another 'no-brainer' that I may not even have revisited until right now. It's sounding great though, so I may have boosted it a little more had I spent quality time with it recently. Respeck to the 1st-place voter!

Also, are these lyrics possibly drawing from some very specific and identifiable eastern school of thought or something?

https://i.imgur.com/jtNFjbI.jpg

17. Colour Me In
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
360 Points, 16 Votes

One voter mentioned that their vote was for the Maida Vale version specifically. I shall refresh my memory...

Also, are these lyrics possibly drawing from some very specific and identifiable eastern school of thought or something?

No idea about this, things often turn out to be a reference to a film or a painting though.

https://i.imgur.com/A6BJmIU.jpg

16. The Be Colony
From Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, 2009
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
Bonus beat: Performed by Princes Hill Secondary College Vocal Group, arranged by Maille Halloran
362 Points, 18 Votes

That BBC version of "Colour Me In" is rather frisky, isn't it. I seem to have listened to that less thoroughly than many, so this is probably no revelation at all to y'all. :)

Also, yayay for something more from their best long-playing release lol.

Absolutely adore Colour me in, never fails to give me goosebumps and make my insides dance. This and Pendulum are such perfect complimentary pair. People often describe Trish's voice as "sweet" which i think is wildly off, but here she is pure nectar. Loved the added static roughage on the maida vale version too.

'The Be Colony' works so well in DJ Food's 'O is for Orange' mix

https://vimeo.com/69721622

One of best parts of this (brilliant) exercise has been inadvertently listening to their penultimate oz show (Hifi?) and realising how great ( and relatively conventional old Broadcast) the Be colony and other Witch cults/ mother songs sound in their final incarnation. I need to track down a good version of one of these shows.

To add a bit of controversy in the sea of love, I didn't vote for the last two. Her voice on Colour Me In is indeed too mawkish, the song too much like an introduction. The Be Colony is fine but the music lacks either some energy and drive or some innovation.

Also it's now the top 15 and we still have 20 first-place votes !

XP: The setlist was seemingly relatively static all that year, so you'd *hope* there'd be a few decent recordings out there. Not least for the epics with no studio equivalents that tended to bookend the sets. (And yeah, "Hi Fi Bar" in central Melb. Though I think the name was short-lived, come to the think of it.)

To me, at least, the mix on 'The Be Colony' seems to mimic the unbalances that are occasionally baked into certain stereo 60s recordings, when careful forward-planning of overdubs was necessary.

This is why you'll hear some Kinks tune for example, where the tambourine or some other element will be unusually prominent compared to the rest of the music.

In The Be Colony, some elements are oddly recessive, Trish is way in front with the guitar/organ while the things that should give the song its forward movement, like drums/percussion are cloaked and in the distance.

After seeing the fan video for Until Then, I wondered if it could have been set to the last scene of Stalker
I tried and it worked well enough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNiVFCWMrqI. The glass almost starts moving with the buzzing metallic guitar.

I mean, it IS an introduction, almost like an invitation, and it certainly has a naive quality, but it sounds incredibly vibrant and evocative to me in a manner that mawkish doesn't quite cover.

Shit, didn't mean to post that sorry, didn't know I need to give it a title

Time for a hit

https://i.imgur.com/jgY7Pzz.jpg

15. Papercuts
From Extended Play, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Official music video on YouTube
367 Points, 16 Votes

I wouldn't say this is too low, exactly, #15 seems about right, but I had expected it to place higher.

Some of "The Be Colony" is sampled too. That repeating bassy clunk is roughly hewn from a Piero Umiliani soundtrack, from memory.

I like "Papercuts". But didn't assist it. Maybe I had some strategic omission thing going on!

"papercuts" is the best, sweet and sinister

my #10 or thereabouts

I added all the rest of my Broadcast live stuff to the Dropbox folder, there are a couple of really nice radio recordings in there (Amsterdam in particular) and one very listenable audience recording from the 2009 tour (Montreal)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uwgy0ssya4gizht/AADAnEVGnNxjONweJc1Eukv3a?dl=0

I had Papercuts at… #15! :ghost:

cheers Maresn3st!

https://i.imgur.com/CaN8ZRB.jpg

14. I Found The F
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Myra Orgain on YouTube (heavy strobe effects here)
377 Points, 16 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

That 2009 recording is crisp and intriguing so far. Thanks again Maresn3st!

https://i.imgur.com/rQKY7MJ.jpg

13. Corporeal
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
405 Points, 17 Votes, 2 First Place Votes

Corporeal manages to be both incredibly unassuming and completely thrilling - technopolis, Oct 25, 2019

I continue to be delighted by it. "Corporeal" especially (Trish duets with a collapsing building to luscious effect) - Alex in Sheffield Aug 1, 2005

Corporeal only at 13? That's surprisingly low. It was my No. 2 pick, and nearly my No. 1 - big shout out to the two first-place voters.

songs i have played on a loop for god knows how long

^Every time. "Corporeal" was my #1. I would describe it as "mathematically perfect"

https://i.imgur.com/vLCxdZp.jpg

12. Message From Home
From The Book Lovers EP, 1996, Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by Donbecker5 on YouTube
412 Points, 18 Votes

Papercuts was my no.2 and Corporeal my no.1 - both TOO LOW obviously but also glad that they made it this high.

Corporeal pretty much became my favourite Broadcast track the first time I heard it and it's stuck ever since. It's so narrow somehow and way less demonstrative than the clattery swirls of the previous album but it's a fizzy pulse of purest pop and I have never got even slightly bored of it. (both listed quotes above are from me, 14 years apart - thanks CaAL!)

First heard Papercuts on John Peel and was dazzled by the fact that they were now releasing massively robust pop singles with a solid verse/chorus 1/chorus 2 construction which I don't think they really did much of again after this. Maybe also because of the video, it feels like they were fully snapped into focus and present here in a way that they shied away from afterwards - it's a dynamic, exhilarating (chart-ineligible) hit.

The next track had a very odd journey through the polling period, it generally moved around the top six, was at number three for a while, and only slipped out of the top ten when the last three voters awarded it a total of zero points.

https://i.imgur.com/05FqNx8.jpg

11. Where Youth and Laughter Go
From Extended Play, 2000. Compiled on The Future Crayon, 2006.
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
413 Points, 20 Votes

This was my number 4, just such a perfect song, amazing that it was hidden away on an EP.

Anyway, what do people think the top ten will look like?

Two voters indicated that the interlude that it's attached to on the EP (but not The Future Crayon) was a significant factor in their vote.

This is actually the real winner lol! Secretly the most popular track on Extended Play (all of which has now placed), appearing on ballot after ballot after ballot (until it didn't, as CaAL noted). I mean, who knew?

voted highly for this one, and kudos to the youtube creator who managed to make the creepiest broadcast vid yet!

On to the top ten then! Here's a track with the opposite journey to WY&LG - it hovered around the top 30, then the top 20, then finally broke into the top ten with the last few ballots.

https://i.imgur.com/M71KR7I.jpg

10. Man Is Not A Bird
From Haha Sound, 2003
Audio at YouTube
Bonus beat: Drum cover by Roddy Bailey
436 Points, 18 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

'Man Is Not A Bird' echoes 'Pendulum' rhythmically but the vocals are less urgent, more sullen and melancholic - just as haunting overall - stevem (blueski), Aug 14, 2003

didn't realize this one was such a fan favorite, but glad it is. my #6. kind of the ur-broadcast song imo, the one i think of first when i think of the broadcast sound.

this was my #1, I love the drums and echoey bell effects

What a gorgeous song, so deeply melancholy. Broadcast weren't really a "groove" band, but that one is an exception; the beat seems to nod to both James Brown's "Cold Sweat" and the outro to "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Finding the video for the next one yielded a quote I just had to share.

https://i.imgur.com/ImDMvjv.jpg

9. Black Cat
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Trish Keenan directed version of Black Cat on Youtube*
437 Points, 17 Votes, 3 First Place Votes

* "A little backstory for fans of this song... Trish, who I was friends with for many years, used to come to my house during the day when I was out at work to write songs. My cat, Corky, is very shy, and at first he would just poke his head round the door of the room where she was sitting, and then run away. As the day went on, curiosity would overcome him and he would finally try and make friends with her. Hence, the lyrics of the chorus. We filmed some of the vid at my house and I appear in the vid for about 2 seconds. What a thrill and an honour for me and Corky xxx" - ellenmeilee on youtube

My #1, I find the abrasive vertiginous synth and guitar so unsettling, the vocal so serene and detached, every second a pure thrill. And somehow their most “pop” moment.

Man Is Not a Bird my #4 and yes I want to listen to the beat forever like I want to listen to Corporeal forever. I admire their concision, each track as long as it needs to be & no indulgence or fat; but fuck I would have liked them to knock out one or two hypnotic 20 minute epics in the studio.

i don't know if it's still the case, but i remember appreciating that the Black Cat bar/club in Washington DC had Tender Buttons on their jukebox.

Other thoughts - I find Colour Me In nearer disturbing or uncomfortable than mawkish - like a few of their other tracks you look at it one way, it's sweet, you walk round and squint and there's something unsettling. The passivity/greyness until the addressee starts on or colludes in colouring, the slippery way it both seems a love-metaphor and a monologue by a sketchbook page or abstract idea or as-yet-unlistened-to album… the voice holds it together perfectly, never feels an either/or to me. Also, I hate everything that sounds a bit like circus music and yet I love this (and lunch hour pops) so I don't know how the hell they managed that.

Until Then was my Number 1 pick. So strange and pretty. I actually thought Corporeal would take this poll. I've been off all along I think. Papercuts also very high in my poll. Great stuff. Bring on more surprises I guess!

XXXXXXP - I love that YT comment on the Black Cat video

Yeah, my assumptions were off too - I thought Michael a Grammar was surely top 5 - maybe their clearest pop moment & how can anyone resist "come on - your father was a teddy boy'? So no clue here but enjoying everything.

I just love picturing her sitting there writing songs and this black cat nervously approaching her, and her making up this song to sing to it.

https://i.imgur.com/gJCRyMM.jpg

8. Tears In The Typing Pool
From Tender Buttons, 2005
Fan-made video by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
445 Points, 19 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

Love stereolab but not sure anything they’ve done is as resonant as something like tears in the typing pool for me - mind how you go (Ross), Jun 21, 2018

josh az (2011nostalgia) at 12:34 3 Jun 22
Top 20 gonna be nothing but straight up classics
Tears in the Typing Pool top 3 let’s gooooo

absolutely love black cat, and the youtube story makes it even better

voted for 'tears' in my ranked section too

During this 2-3 month obsession I've been playing a lot of Broadcast in the house, & Tears… is the one track that's got a 'who's this?' from each of my stepkids as they've caught it. Seems to have special power over the non- or not-yet-fans.

The Mellotron is gorgeous

https://i.imgur.com/aSDUZB7.jpg

7. Before We Begin
From Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by Narcissus Weeps on YouTube
466 Points, 20 Votes

Dear Warp, please release Broadcast's 'Before We Begin' as a single. Actually it's too late now it would've been a perfect September release and I have a video idea in my head and everything. Dammit. - stevem (blueski), Nov 3, 2003

This is the most amazing song and I regret not making it my number one.

It all has happened, is happening and will happen.

damn missed so much of the rollout - had to make Black Cat my #1, I've probably played it more than anything else

I blame this thread for my insomnia last night. I woke up with the synth line from "Goodbye Girls" playing over and over in my mind. Was up for hours!!!

"Before We Begin" a perfect song, though they do have at least ten perfect songs.

Tears in the Typing Pool is surely the #1 broadcast song title. (and top 10 of all time)

https://i.imgur.com/5Xnv90p.jpg

6. The Book Lovers
From The Book Lovers EP, 1996, Compiled on Work And Non Work, 1997.
Fan-made video by Karl Taul on YouTube
506 Points, 21 Votes, 1 First Place Vote

The Book Lovers is still the one for me. I just realised it's almost exactly 20 years since I first heard it on the John Peel show. Incredible song - Kitchen Person, Dec 7, 2016

8. Tears In The Typing Pool
From Tender Buttons, 2005

If I'm counting right, this will be the highest-rated Tender Buttons track. (Pretty sure everything else has already placed besides "Minus 3".) Interesting that 7 other tracks placed higher though TB was the top-rated overall album.

I'd assumed that Tender Buttons would be my favourite Broadcast album until I realised just how few of its tracks I'd actually placed on my ballot.

Haha Sound is the album that I always underrate for some reason, right up until the moment that I actually re-listen to it.

I’m gonna call “Come On Let’s Go” for #1

Any predictions for the top five?

my #3 and my #2, in succession. i couldn't in good faith pick besides my #1 as my #1, but if i knew that "before we begin" wouldn't get a top vote, i would've thrown it one. completely magical song.

so the salt will spill again
throw it over your shoulder

Well I’ve not seen “Pendulum”, “Echo’s Answer”or “Unchanging Window” yet. Or “ Ominous Cloud”. So those are my guesses.

That salt line is my favourite too

This next one is going to be difficult to post, let's see if there are any errors in the bb code.

https://i.imgur.com/zHhK1F6.jpg

5. Unchanging Window / Chord Simple
Unchanging Window from The Noise Made By People, 2000
Unchanging Window / Chord Simple from Extended Play Two, 2000
Audio for Unchanging Window / Chord Simple on Youtube
Fan-made video for Unchanging Window by Wonder Muddle on YouTube
526 Points, 18 Votes, 3 First Place Votes
(331 Points, 11 Votes, 2 First Place Votes for EP version)
(195 Points, 7 Votes, 1 First Place Vote for TNMBP version)

The version of "Unchanging Window (Chord Simple)" from EP2 is probably my favourite Broadcast track ever. - Ross, Dec 6, 2016

nice, it all worked!

Damn, I'm way too busy at work to follow this beautiful thread. Just catching up and every single song so far is too low.

I was the number one vote for The Book Lovers. One of the best songs of all time.

I'm guessing Echo's Answer at one with Come On Let's Go in second place.

my #1. glad to see the EP version got more votes because that outro elevates the song to a completely different level.

"The Book Lovers" wouldn't have been too out of place on a Cardigans album

The version of "Unchanging Window (Chord Simple)" from EP2 is probably my favourite Broadcast track ever. - Ross, Dec 6, 2016

It's happy hour on Friday which means I'm having some beers in the typing pool.

Sorry this is my first thread comment.

Welcome to the thread, Chris

https://i.imgur.com/QDa4LxK.jpg

4. Pendulum
From Pendulum Ep, 2003 and Haha Sound, 2003
Fan-made video by Sergio Bga on YouTube
563 Points, 19 Votes

for the love of god, listen to "Pendulum" from the last album if you don't know it already. That is the song that made me a cultish Broadcast worshipper, and has the HUGE CLATTERY DRUMS missing from Tender Buttons. Yes, all of them. On just the one song. - telephone thing, Dec 12, 2005

Unchanging Window is good, but I'm surprised it is so well loved