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

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.