Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio OST

[Brundle-Fly]

Sneak preview
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/30/168144618/first-listen-broadcast-berberian-sound-studio?ps=mh_fl

[BlodwynPig]

Might settle down and watch the DVD before Borgen this weekend.

[Serge]

I listened to it yesterday - the trouble is, it's 36 tracks in 34 minutes, so it's almost too piecemeal for you to really enjoy it. Probably works very well in the film, though, which I'm going to get around to seeing in the next week or so.

[BlodwynPig]

I listened to it yesterday - the trouble is, it's 36 tracks in 34 minutes, so it's almost too piecemeal for you to really enjoy it. Probably works very well in the film, though, which I'm going to get around to seeing in the next week or so.

I imagine the soundtrack to the film within the film is on there too...?

[Serge]

I was listening to it at work, so I didn't really get a proper chance to see what was what. Bits of it did sound like they could be from a Goblin-esque soundtrack, so very probably.

[BlodwynPig]

I was listening to it at work, so I didn't really get a proper chance to see what was what. Bits of it did sound like they could be from a Goblin-esque soundtrack, so very probably.

Excellent - I could listen to that for days on end.

[Brundle-Fly]

I listened to it yesterday - the trouble is, it's 36 tracks in 34 minutes, so it's almost too piecemeal for you to really enjoy it.

Heaven.

[Vodka Margarine]

Broadcast were just exceptional. Trish Keenan's death was just one of those simply awful tragic things that has no logic, no explanation and no reason. One day here, next day gone.

I'm not sure about this soundtrack but this has sent me rushing back to their splendid back catalogue.

Look Outside is so perfect, I could almost die happy knowing I heard it.

[Norton Canes]

14th January, 2011. Two years ago tomorrow.

[G.C.]

It flows surprisingly well, despite the tiny tracks. There's a kind of unified feel of low key terror which ties it together. That, and the occasional manic babbling voices.

So is this to be the last thing ever from Broadcast? Weren't they working on an album proper when Trish died, or did that material go into this?

[BlodwynPig]

A Goblin is probably the greatest non-music track of all time.

[Theremin]

It flows surprisingly well, despite the tiny tracks. There's a kind of unified feel of low key terror which ties it together. That, and the occasional manic babbling voices.

So is this to be the last thing ever from Broadcast? Weren't they working on an album proper when Trish died, or did that material go into this?

Not sure, but I do know that James Cargill has some kind of archive of unreleased/unused material. No idea of its size, though.

[Norton Canes]

"Trish left a lot of tapes, four-tracks and stuff, and I've been going through those. It's difficult, and I'm connected to it at the same time. It's wonderful, but I'm also feeling a sense of loss."

Here's a link to a live performace of one of the new songs that the band performed in their last year or so of touring. I saw them play it at Manchester's Deaf Institute, and it was breathtaking. I'm sure it would have found a place on their planned studio album, and I hope it will be included on James Cargill's collection.

From a review of another date on the Winter Sun tour:

"Ms. Keenan picked up a dulcimer and strummed an insistent drone and a folkish melody paced by a synthesizer pulse and a hissing percussion loop. 'What you need is not what you want,' she sang, with her voice leaping to high yips; the video sped to a strobing spectrum as the performance reached a neo-psychedelic peak that needed no pop framework"

[G.C.]

I can't believe how good that live track is. Broadcast were constantly redefining themselves, and always getting better and stranger. Such a tragedy they were cut short.

Hopefully that music will see the light of day. I think the Berberian soundtrack is great, but I really miss Trish's voice.

My favourite Broadcast is their version of Nico's 'sixty/forty', which was tucked away on the Warp boxset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvq9kDlIXNw

[Johnny Townmouse]

That live track is amazing, as is that Nico cover.

I am having trouble finding rare Broadcast stuff, such as the Peel sessions. Can anyone help me? I have tried looking around for them!

[Norton Canes]

I've had a dig around and managed to find their 1998 session from Queen Elizabeth Hall. More details on the BBC's Peel Session page.

I use Soulseek a lot for rarer stuff, but you'll get an awful lot of extraneous results if you search for 'broadcast peel sessions'. I would suggest posting on the Broadcast forum, hinting that you would like some download links.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Thanks Norton - I've only just realised that it was you that actually posted the live track, rather than just linking to it. I have that on repeat at the moment.

The Broadcast forum is something I have dipped into, but having a concentrated look around (before posting) there is a wealth of gems - many of them non-Broadcast material. So thanks for that.

[hedgehog90]

So I listened to The Future Crayon for the first time a few days ago, as I was under the impression it was a compilation of material from their previous albums.
I'm enjoying it a lot but in particular, this track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFqqU5UuwXI
I'm resisting the urge to play it to death, it's so bloody good! I'm so happy to have found this so long after my initial exposure to them.
Anyway, I remember hearing that James Cargill was working on some unreleased Broadcast material and I was curious to see if there was any news on this, which lead me to his soundcloud account.
There's some pretty interesting stuff on there, particularly the last 3 uploads, the last one was put out on Trish's birthday 3 months ago.
https://soundcloud.com/james-broadcast

It's still upsetting listening to Broadcast since Trish died (almost 3 years ago)
Their songs are now imbued with a genuine melancholia which seems oddly appropriate, but ultimately it's what stops me from re-listening to their stuff more often.
When the last song ends it just reminds me of her death, and usually a little googling session follows (like right now).

[Johnny Townmouse]

Bizzarely, I realised just today that I have neglected The Future Crayon after the track Misc popped up on my shuffle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6n2UREnDWc

And I have now listened to the album twice through. Wonderful stuff.

Yeah, that James soundcloud page is equal parts magical and sad - as time goes on and we are on top of the third anniversary of her death, I can safely say I still feel as gutted about this as the day it happened. With the exception of John Peel's death, I don't think another has affected me like this. Both because it is tragic, and she was so young, and because they were making their best work. I'm really looking forward to James taking the music forward though, perhaps with Julian GB.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Just found out that the film is on the US Netflix, gonna give it a watch tonight.

[thraxx]

Broadcast were just exceptional. Trish Keenan's death was just one of those simply awful tragic things that has no logic, no explanation and no reason. One day here, next day gone.

I'm not sure about this soundtrack but this has sent me rushing back to their splendid back catalogue.

Look Outside is so perfect, I could almost die happy knowing I heard it.

Man, I love this band.  They were an astonishingly brilliant and neglected.  I had pneumonia the year before she died of it, and it was fucking horrible - I had no idea it was a such a nasty illness before I got it and it must have been a horrible way to die.  I shed a tear the day I heard the news.

Broadcast rare stuff, in fact, any stuff outside the albums is very hard to find - it was always my one issue with the band.  There never seemed to be much extra stuff about. I was annoyed at the time in 96 when the first album (easy one of my favorite ever), was basically just all the singles and B sides stuck together.  There's a clip of them on MTV on you tube somewhere playing Lights Out and The Booklovers: it's either Ray Cokes show, or Toby Amies.

I always preferred the stuff they did as a group (the drummer was great), and the post broadcast stuff that the various guys have done (Seeland), is just not the same style or quality.  Hey ho.  With the Berbarian record I was just so happy to have some new Broadcast material to listen to.

I was always disappointed with them live - they never quite managed to recreate their sound on stage when I saw them.  I managed to see them on an NME (brat pack?) tour at the Astoria with Mogwai, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Broadcast and then Pavement headlining.  The best line up I ever saw at a single gig.

[Phil_A]

Bizzarely, I realised just today that I have neglected The Future Crayon after the track Misc popped up on my shuffle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6n2UREnDWc

And I have now listened to the album twice through. Wonderful stuff.

Yeah, that James soundcloud page is equal parts magical and sad - as time goes on and we are on top of the third anniversary of her death, I can safely say I still feel as gutted about this as the day it happened. With the exception of John Peel's death, I don't think another has affected me like this. Both because it is tragic, and she was so young, and because they were making their best work. I'm really looking forward to James taking the music forward though, perhaps with Julian GB.

Thanks for reminding me of "misc", I haven't heard that in a while. In fact, it wasn't even on The Future Crayon, was it? Just on that one NME cover tape in 1997. I wonder how many other oddments there are like that one that fell through the cracks? Another I know of is "Forget Every Time", performed once for a Peel Session and then apparently never again.

I notice Roj Stevens has an album out on Ghost Box, might be worth investigating.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Just finished watching it. It looked great, sounded great, acting was top notch.... but the core of it just felt completely hollow, superficial and without any meaning or purpose. Such a shame because the premise had promised originality.

[stunted]

Misc isn't on the version of Future Crayon I have, hadn't heard it before so thanks for that. If you like mash ups Warp released a mash up compilation that contained a few Broadcast samples, Poem of Dead Song mentioned up thread stood out on this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsnrGzmoDv8

Edit: The compilation if you're interested is called, Watch and Repeat Play.

[Johnny Townmouse]

I have the tracks Misc and Stupido on my album - either I have added them myself as somewhere to slot a couple of rare songs without having to make a separate album, or someone else did because I don't see them on other versions.

Edit: Actually, it looks from the download dates like I did exactly the former with the Misc track (adding it to The Future Crayon), but not Stupido. I'm a bit confused, but sorry for the confusion about Misc. Serves me right for fucking around with official releases.

By the way, that Misc video I posted was made by the terrific Wonder Muddles who makes tons of videos for songs using found footage - much of it of it in a 70's UK Scarfolky vein, or weirdly old European films. Broadcast feature heavily. I can watch them for hours:

http://www.youtube.com/user/wondermuddles/videos

[Bored of Canada]

Bizzarely, I realised just today that I have neglected The Future Crayon after the track Misc popped up on my shuffle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6n2UREnDWc

And I have now listened to the album twice through. Wonderful stuff.

Yeah, that James soundcloud page is equal parts magical and sad - as time goes on and we are on top of the third anniversary of her death, I can safely say I still feel as gutted about this as the day it happened. With the exception of John Peel's death, I don't think another has affected me like this. Both because it is tragic, and she was so young, and because they were making their best work. I'm really looking forward to James taking the music forward though, perhaps with Julian GB.

I listen to Future Crayon all the time and I have literally never heard this track before. Amazing! Was it on a special edition?

But yeah, Broadcast. I always absolutely adore all their stuff. It's one of those rare bands that I always maintain the same enthusiasm and can just tune out and listen to their stuff over a couple years, and still love it even then. Sometimes bands and tracks gets you at a certain time, and you burn out on them. I just can't burn out on Broadcast. Even the newer stuff without Trish I love. It's tragic that she's gone, but it does add an extra dimension and weight to the sounds that gives it a tragic and melancholy feel that benefits the tracks, as someone above remarked. Agreed.

FAKE EDIT: Just read down a couple posts and saw the NME thing. I've not heard Stupido either! This is exciting that I've missed out on some tracks. I fucking love it when this happens. Boards of Canada are another band that I never tire of, and they're fantastic for this kind of stuff. All kinds of mysterious tracks popping up when you least expect it. 

Just finished watching it. It looked great, sounded great, acting was top notch.... but the core of it just felt completely hollow, superficial and without any meaning or purpose. Such a shame because the premise had promised originality.

There's an actual film thread about the movie itself. I'm not saying that to scold you for writing in a different thread, this seems an alright place to discuss it, I just wrote a bit on it and can't be arsed writing it out again, but I remember writing a lot back about it when I first stopped lurking and actually started posting on CaB. But most people here seemed to say the same I think. It does feel like a short film stretched out to a feature that needed a stronger core, a point that could fuel it and then offer a substantial conclusion. And by substantial, I don't mean it needs to answer any questions. It can remain completely ambiguous, but it just sort of ends so suddenly in such a lame way. It feels like the filmmaker just didn't have enough ideas or a point to make. I was enjoying it so much to that point, but it ended in a way that made me question if there was any point or substance in the film at all. It was such an beautifully executed film on all fronts, except for the script, which just wasn't substantial enough to make the rest of it satisfying. The best sound design I've ever seen in a film ever though. The fact that it is a horror film without visuals in a way, and maintains the tension and scares without ever seeing anything scary is truly something to be applauded. Guess I can actually be arsed to write about it, apparently.

http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,34737.0.html

[Johnny Townmouse]

Yeah, there are a few rarities out there but if you burrow around with zeal, as I did about two years ago, you will find treasures, in particular some wonderful live sets.

I really prefer their later work, when they moved away from a trad band format to just the two of them knocking out songs live, or the album with The Focus Group. This is what makes it all the more horrible, as the albums for me were getting stronger and stronger each time.

Misc is a lovely, haunting, hypnotic track. I fucking adore it.

[hummingofevil]

The only thing I can add it us that I saw Broadcast in the Buckley Tivoli supporting Gorkis Zygotic Mwnki in about 1996 when they had their first ep out (before Work and Non Work). They were lovely and I am ashamed that I never saw them again (apart from maybe at a chalet festival somewhere). I fucking loved that early sound, especially as all I knew was Oasis/Nirvana at the time.

Actually it's probably a little inappropriate but having Trish and Mary from Stereolab die young in totally innocent circumstances is particularly coincidental and shitty.

[gabrielconroy]

I just listened to that late live track and, wow - shivers all over. Beautiful.

[Norton Canes]

Thanks for all the recent posts here, especially those linking to tracks I hadn't heard. Very timely. My annual tear-stained Broadcast binge has come a few days early.

[Edit: Fucking hell. Followed a few YouTube links and found this footage of their 2005 gig at Manchester's Night And Day Cafe, on which the back of my head features very prominently throughout much of the set.]