Broadcast (band)

History

Keenan (formerly of folk duo Hayward Winters) and Cargill met in the mid 1990s at the Sensateria psychedelic club, and formed Pan Am Flight Bag in 1995, renamed Broadcast after several concerts.

The band's first releases, both in 1996, were the "Accidentals" 7" single (issued on Wurlitzer Jukebox Records) and The Book Lovers EP (issued on 25 November by Duophonic Records). They attracted the attention of Warp Records, who compiled the single and EP as a compilation album, Work and Non Work, issued on 10 November 1997.

The 1999 Broadcast track "You Can Fall" was included on the soundtrack album Morvern Callar, released by Warp in 2002. This soundtrack accompanied the Lynne Ramsay film Morvern Callar, based on the Alan Warner book of the same name.

The group's debut studio album, The Noise Made by People, was released by Warp on 20 March 2000; the band also issued two EPs that year, Extended Play and Extended Play Two.

Second album Haha Sound was released on 11 August 2003, preceded by two EPs, Microtronics Volume 01: Stereo Recorded Music for Links and Bridges and Pendulum. Felton departed after Haha Sound to form a new project, Seeland, with Billy Bainbridge (formerly of another Birmingham Warp act, Plone), leaving Broadcast as a duo of Keenan and Cargill, who released their third album, Tender Buttons, on 19 September 2005.

Warp issued a second compilation of B-sides and rarities, The Future Crayon, on 21 August 2006.

In October 2009, Broadcast released a collaborative album with the Focus Group (aka graphic designer and Ghost Box label co-owner Julian House) called Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age. In late 2009, their song "I Found the F" was covered by Gravenhurst on the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation.

The band was chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, Somerset, England.

Keenan died on 14 January 2011 at the age of 42, following complications with pneumonia, which she suffered from after earlier contracting H1N1.

Broadcast were credited with providing the soundtrack Berberian Sound Studio for Peter Strickland's 2012 film of the same name; the soundtrack was released 7 January 2013.

Cargill, the sole remaining member, revealed in an 2011 interview with Under the Radar that a new Broadcast album was in the works, featuring vocals recorded by Keenan before her death. This was confirmed by Cargill in an interview in the April 2013 edition of Shindig! magazine, although as of 2017, the album has not been released.

Style

The band's style, a mixture of electronic sounds and Keenan's 1960s-inspired vocals, was heavily influenced by the 1960s American psychedelic group The United States of America, using many of the same electronic effects. It was also reminiscent of Stereolab. However, despite the similar musical pedigree, Broadcast's music is often darker and edgier in sound – with amorphous samples and analogue dissonance giving it a retro-futuristic sci-fi edge.

Discography