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

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.

Thanks CAAL and Na, Nag Nag, it's been fun following this thread - have been busy so unfortunately didn't contribute much but I'm planning on catching up with the playlist and the videos.

My ranked ballot, 40 tracks:
1. The Book Lovers
Come On Let's Go
Before We Begin
Message From Home
I Found the F
Where Youth and Laughter Go
America's Boy
Echo's Answer
Pendulum
Tears in the Typing Pool
Man Is Not a Bird
Black Cat
Unchanging Window/Chord Simple
Ominous Cloud
Colour Me In
Living Room
City in Progress (BBC Session version)
Look Outside
Accidentals
Poem of Dead Song
The Be Colony
Subject to the Ladder
Until Then
According to No Plan
Goodbye Girls
Long Was the Year
Make My Sleep His Song
Corporeal
Lunch Hour Pops
Minus 3
Forget Every Time
Winter Now
Phantom
You and Me in Time
Still Feels Like Tears
Michael A Grammar
Arc of a Journey
Illumination
The World Backwards
Hawk

LPs/EPs:
1. Tender Buttons
Haha Sound
Work and Non-Work
The Noise Made by People
Maida Vale Sessions
Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
The Future Crayon
Berberian Sound Studio

I really enjoyed preparing my ballot and the subsequent rollout. Thanks NNN and CaAL!

Tracks, ranked:

Tears in the Typing Pool
Ominous Cloud
Corporeal
Lunch Hour Pops
Unchanging Window
Michael A. Grammar
The Be Colony
Man Is Not a Bird
Echo’s Answer
I Found the F
Come on Let’s Go
America’s Boy
I Found the End
Black Cat
Papercuts
City in Progress
Poem of Dead Song
Goodbye Girls
Pendulum
Subject to the Ladder
I See, So I See So
Colour Me In
The Book Lovers
Tender Buttons
In Here the World Begins
Let It Begin/Oh Joy
Microtronics 04
Lights Out
We’ve Got Time
Illumination
Microtronics 11
Elegant Elephant
Ritual/Looking In
Microtronics 02
Distant Call
Microtronics 06
Microtronics 13

Albums/EPs/comps, ranked:

Tender Buttons
HaHa Sound
The Noise Made By People
Microtronics
Work and Non-Work
Mother Is the Milky Way
The Future Crayon
Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Berberian Sound Studio

Belated thanks to Nag and Camaraderie for the rollout!

My ballot was pretty last-minute so I quickly threw together my 15 fav tracks and 5 albums. Definitely part of the late wave of Tender Buttons love:

Tracks
1. Corporeal
2. Ominous Cloud
3. Arc Of A Journey
4. Goodbye Girls
5. Tears In the Typing Pool
6. Come On Let’s Go
7. Man Is Not A Bird
8. America’s Boy
9. Michael A Grammar
10. Before We Begin
11. Hawk
12. In Here the World Begins
13. Black Cat
14. Message From Home
15. Subject To the Ladder

LPs/EPs
1. Tender Buttons
2. Haha Sound
3. The Noise Made By People
4. Mother Is the Milky Way
5. Work & Non-Work

Western® with Bacon Flavor: just confirming, we have a definitely column in our spreadsheet exactly corresponding to the ballot you posted above. :) *panic attack subsides*

Er, "definitely have a column" that is. o_0

I suspect I'll be quietly returning to this thread for quite some for the various links and recommendations, etc. Thanks everyone.

Glad to hear! And thank you and CaAL for putting this on! Now to dig into all the image source material.

TRACKS

Sixty Forty
Living Room
The Book Lovers
Echo's Answer
Message From Home
Lights Out
Before We Begin
Until Then
Come On Let's Go
Colour Me In
Tears In The Typing Pool
Look Outside
Pendulum
Illumination
Where Youth and Laughter Go
Forget Every Time
Poem Of Dead Song
Minim
Long Was The Year
America's Boy

LPs and EPs

Work and Non Work
Maida Vale Sessions
The Noise Made by People
Haha Sound
The Future Crayon

“Ominous Cloud” just kept getting pushed higher and higher up in placement the more I listened to it. “Though you said goodbye/You did not leave my mind” are probably the best words Trish could’ve left us.

― Western® with Bacon Flavor,

Absolutely the same for me. It started in my top 20 but ended up top three. A beautifully uplifting song.

Beautiful results and lots of great writing about such a wonderful band.

My ballot:

1. The Book Lovers
Come On Let's Go
Ominous Cloud
Message From Home
I Found The F
Papercuts
Living Room
Echo's Answer
Look Outside
Subject To the Ladder
The World Backwards
Where Youth and Laughter Go
Lunch Hour Pops
Black Cat
Before We Begin
Goodbye Girls
Colour Me In
We've Got Time
America's Boy
Accidentals
Poem Of Dead Song
Phantom
According To No Plan
Michael A Grammar
Until Then
Lights Out
Man Is Not A Bird
You And Me In Time
Arc Of A Journey
Oh How I Miss You
Tears In The Typing Pool
Unchanging Window
Winter Now
You Can Fall
Minim
City In Progress
Corporeal
Long Was The Year
Chord Simple
40. Illumination

Albums/EPs

1. Work & Non Work
Tender Buttons
The Noise Made By People
Haha Sound
The Book Lovers EP
Maida Vale Sessions
The Future Crayon
Extended Play 2 EP
Pendulum
10. Mother Is The Milky Way

I’d describe my Broadcast taste as “basic”:

Tracks

Black Cat
Valerie
Pendulum
Echo's Answer
Corporeal
Tender Buttons
Unchanging Window
The Book Lovers
A Seancing Song
Ominous Cloud
Come On Let's Go
The Be Colony
Before We Begin
Where Youth and Laughter Go
Winter Now
Small Song IV
Elegant Elephant
According to No Plan
I Found the F
Poem of Dead Song
Let It Begin / Oh Joy
Tears in the Typing Pool
Colour Me In
In Here the World Begins
Message From Home
Forget Every Time
Minim
What I Saw
Living Room
We Are After All Here
We've Got Time
Accidentals
Distant Call
Papercuts
Chord Simple
Bit 35
Phantom
Ritual / Looking In
A Quiet Moment
Mother's Milk Means Music (At Home in the Universe)


LPs and EPs

HaHa Sound
Tender Buttons
Witch Cults of the Radio Age
The Noise Made by People
Mother is the Milky Way
Maida Vale Sessions
The Future Crayon
Work and Non-Work
Berberian Sound Studio
Microtronics 1 & 2

based on yr polling submissions, we're all "basic" broadcast fans!

Morvern Callar OST, never seen it

Basicness may be under-rated. Even though I enjoyed advocating for the messiness of Witch Cults at al as long-playing experiences, the individual tracks I actually plucked out for a ballot were still overwhelmingly 'pop' ones, or at least pretty and/or propulsive ones that stood up well in isolation.

My ballot existed mainly as a playlist so I'll make this public for a bit: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3N6zPhyqhBOhmnU5mzavSS (Approximately this, from early April, plus "Dulcimer Jam" somewhere in the middle.)

Er, "Witch Cults et al".

“Basic” fan kinda sums me up. I’ve enjoyed the big albums over the years and have heard things like Be Colony and BSS but didn’t think I could rank favorites. This poll will be fantastic for doing a deeper dive though.

Been away for the weekend, good to see so many of you enjoyed the rollout. IMO a "basic" fan would be into the more famous tracks from TNMBP, Papercuts, perhaps a couple of earlier or later tracks - and I can see no ballots along those lines at all, matt you even have A Seancing Song at #9! (and I will try to find a slot for a Morvern Callar viewing)

Here's my ballot, I would recommend the non-placing remixes btw!

Tracks

Ominous Cloud
Phantom
Ritual / Looking In
Where Youth & Laughter Go
Forget Every Time
The World Backwards
Come On Let's Go
You Can Fall
Message From Home
Papercuts
According To No Plan
Unchanging Window / Chord Simple
Before We Begin
We've Got Time
Winter Now
Echo's Answer
The Book Lovers
Illumination
Michael A Grammar
Test Area
Avril - Be Yourself (Remixed by Broadcast)
Minim
Man Is Not A Bird
I See, So I See So
Badly Drawn Boy - Another Pearl (Broadcast Remix)
The Be Colony
Poem of Dead Song
Microtronics 05
Inside Out
City In Progress
Living Room
Hammer Without A Master
Locusts
Miki Furukawa - Coffee & Singing Girl!!! (Broadcast Remix)
Belly Dance
Dave's Dream
One Million Years Ago
Dead The Long Year
Hawk
Long Was The Year

LPs & EPs

Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Work and Non Work
The Book Lovers
Extended Play
Extended Play Two
Microtronics
The Noise Made By People
Haha Sound
The Transactional Dharma of Roj
Maida Vale Sessions

Great roll-out and a pleasure to follow the discussion - thank you everyone, especially CaAL and N!N!N! for making this happen.

TRACKS
1 Come on let’s go
2 Before we begin
3 Michael a grammar
4 Man is not a bird
5 Unchanging Window/Chord simple
6 Corporeal
7 Lights out
8 The book lovers
9 Paper Cuts
10 Pendulum
11 Tears in the typing pool
12 Long was the year
13 Valerie
14 Echo’s answer
15 The Be Colony
16 Subject to the ladder
17 Lunch Hour Pops
18 America’s Boy
19 Black Cat
20 Ominous Cloud
21 Still feels like tears
22 Goodbye Girls
23 Colour me in
24 Where youth and laughter go
25 Winter now
26 “I See, so I see so”
27 The Little Bell
28 I found the F
29 Hammer without a master
30 Minim
31 Arc of a journey
32 Make my sleep his song
33 In Here the World Begins
34 Message from home
35 What I saw
36 Dave’s Dream
37 A Man for Atlantis
38 The Equestrian Vortex
39 According to no plan
40 O How I miss you


ALBUMS
1 Ha Ha Sound
2 Tender Buttons
3 The Noise made by People
4 Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
5 Work and Non-Work
6 The Future Crayon
7 Mother is the Milky Way

I had a lovely afternoon yesterday reading and listening through much of the Spotify playlist, starting at the top.

Yep, excellent work guys - threads like this refresh my faith in ILM :)

my mixed ballot!

Ranked
Come On Let’s Go
The Book Lovers
Before We Begin
City In Progress
Goodbye Girls
Man Is Not A Bird
The World Backwards
Black Cat
Where Youth And Laughter Go
Paper Cuts
America’s Boy
Unchanging Window / Chord Simple
Pendulum
Winter Now
Michael A Grammar
Tears In The Typing Pool

Unranked
The Little Bell
Echo’s Answer
Message From Home
Phantom
Poem of Dead Song
According to No Plan
Lights Out
You Can Fall
Until Then
Dead The Long Year
Lunch Hour Pops
Minim
Ominous Cloud
I Found The F
Corporeal
Bit 35
Subject To The Ladder
You And Me In Time
Test Area
Distant Call
Hammer Without A Master
Daves Dream
I see, so i see so
Long Was The Year

ALBUMS
Haha Sound
Tender Buttons
The Noise Made By People
Work And Non Work

Catching up with this belatedly (am abroad and have been w/o internet for a few days). Thanks to the poll runners for an excellent rollout experience and superb images. My #1s were Tender Buttons and "Echo's Answer" for the record.

My list. I still use Last.fm and it shows 500 plays for one band in a couple of weeks which is vv unusual for me. Brilliant poll - one of the best ever.

Until Then
Sixty Forty
We’ve Got Time
Corporeal
Echo’s Answer
Valerie
Goodnight Girls
Message From Home
Paper Cuts
City In Progress
Come on Let’s Go
I Found the F
A quiet word
Pendulum
Before We Begin
The Book Lovers
Accidentals
The Be Colony
Hawk
Make My Sleep His Song
Man Is Not a Bird
Forget Evertime
Lights Out
Living Room
Hammer Without A Master
Tears In the Typing Pool
Long Was The Year
Lunch Hour Pops
In Here The World Begins
Unchanging Window / Chord Simple
Teresa Lark of Ascension
Look Outside
Where Youth and Laughter Go
Tuesday’s Offering
The Aphid Sleeps
Microtonics 07
Elegant Elephant
The Equestrian Vortex
Illumination

watched Daisies and now i could see where a the influence in some TB era promo photos came from.

The results playlist on shuffle is currently my favourite thing in the world.
(up late, a little drunk/high, belly dance just hit)

I completely missed this poll and thread when it was live, but even a year later it's ILX at its best. good job everyone!