Broadcast

Microtronics - Volumes 1 & 2

Microtronics Volumes 1 & 2’s initial availability alone makes it some of the group’s most curious releases, released first as tour-only 3” CDs in 2003 and 2005 before being offered exclusively via mail order. True to its name, Microtronics offers miniatures of Broadcast’s experimental spirit, the majority of the 21 tracks coming in under 2 minutes.

Thankfully, its brief runtime doesn’t restrict any of the group’s sprawling ambition. If anything, those hoping for a consistent through-line from track to track or some semblance of a particular Broadcast era might want to tread carefully with this one. ‘Microtronics 1’ opens the set with jazz percussion underpinning skittering synths before making a hard pivot into a distorted, driving beat on ‘2’. From there, Microtronics is a frenetic free-for-all of creative ideas, building instrumental sketches of the group’s signature psychedelic pop before dissolving them in brief baths of unsettling noise, ambient passages, glitchy beatwork or free jazz-adjacent explorations depending on where the groups exuberant minds drift to next.

Microtronics Volumes 1 & 2 drifts furthest from anything sounding like the band’s other work, ultimately makes for a fascinating addition to any completist collection. Capturing the band between two of their most beloved records, Microtronics fashions a scattershot bridge between the band’s final releases out of lighthearted sonic exercises and inspired glimpses into the creative minds of Broadcast.

Mother Is The Milky Way

Released as a tour only CD limited to 750 copies supporting their collaborative album with the Focus Group in 2009, Mother Is The Milky Way takes on a retrospective weight as Broadcast’s true final release before Trish Keenan’s passing in 2011. The release contains some of Broadcast’s warmest, most personal recordings as a group.

Trish Keenan was known for her dreamily distant delivery on Broadcast’s records, but before connecting with James Cargill, Keenan was a part of another duo in Birmingham: the more folk-leaning Hayward Winters. While virtually nothing from that project made it onto the internet aside from a few mentions in interviews, it provides some explanation for how naturally Broadcast slipped into sample-heavy psych folk for Mother. The EP properly opens on ‘In Here The World Begins’, unfurling woozily but proving to be the closest Keenan and Cargill come to a standard issue Broadcast song here. Highlight ‘Elegant Elephant’ is more telling of the project’s aim, crafting a pastoral folk song in what sounds like the belly of a beast, soothed only by the reverberations of Keenan’s voice inside.

Sketches of songs quickly give way to tripped out field recordings, woodwind interludes, and excited chatter underpinning Keenan’s singing, giving Mother a certain wide-eyed, psychedelic Alice in Wonderland-esque whimsy. Considering Keenan was a known lover of the children’s book, it’s hard not see Mother as a bittersweet, unintentional tribute to Keenan’s life, but far more enjoyable to just enjoy the ride down one last rabbit hole from Broadcast.

Maida Vale Sessions

The Maida Vale Sessions compiles four of Broadcast’s live performances at the famed West London studios between October 1996 and August 2003, charting the band from their first year together to near-international recognition as their sound continued mutating.

Even in their embryonic state, Broadcast appear fully formed on their first session for John Peel in 1996, performing three early singles along with a near-complete sketch of ‘City In Progress’ four years before its proper release. Less than a year later, Broadcast were already toying with the public’s perception of them in their 1997 Evening Session. Known for her cool, withdrawn delivery and hesitancy towards live performances, Keenan brings a sweeter, more confident warmth to the live version of ‘Come On Let’s Go’ alongside three propulsive performances of the band’s work between their Work and Non Work and The Noise Made by People eras.

The latter sessions, recorded in 2000 and 2003, audibly track their psychedelic pop transitioning into exhilarating, noisy decay as the group pared down to the core duo of James Cargill and Trish Keenan. ‘Pendulum’ and “Colour Me In” come off even more brassy and commanding here than on HaHa Sound, while their cover of Nico’s ‘Sixty Forty’ ends the collection on a shoegazing high, signalling the experimenting to come with Tender Buttons. More than cementing their chameleonic sound though, this compilation stands as both a career-spanning look and introduction to Broadcast’s powers as a live act.