Broadcast - ‘The Future Crayon’ (Warp) Released 21/08/06

 

Over the next 11 years Broadcast will release 3 albums and countless singles and EPs – with the highlights of the latter making up the bulk of this retrospective. Everyone will know who they are, what they do and why it matters, but much of the material brought together here – some of the most definitive of the Broadcast oeuvre - will have passed under the radar. ‘The Future Crayon’ seeks to dust off these neglected gems.

 

At their most melodic and lyrical, Broadcast combine the lithe simplicity of The Velvet Underground (‘Small Song IV’) with the analogue wobble of Stereolab (‘Still Feels Like Tears’). Elsewhere, exotic lounge lullabies such as ‘Poem Of Dead Song’ and ‘Where Youth And Laughter Go’ sit next to the abrasive, alien jazz of ‘One Hour Empire’ and ‘Hammer Without A Master’, while minimal eastern-tinged arrangements of ‘Belly Dance’ and ‘Distant Call’ become counterpoints to the atonal ambient landscapes of ‘Violent Playground’ and ‘Test Area’.  Such a range of influences would seem incongruous if the results weren’t so undeniably Broadcast.

 

And so we find ourselves in 2006, and what’s changed?  A lot, it seems: dance music is apparently "dead" (a suggestion that, much like the myth that punk "killed" prog rock at the back end of the ‘70s, is much overstated) and Warp have signed a proper platinum-selling indie band. One thing remains constant, however: Broadcast are still operating on a different wavelength to practically everyone, and they’re untouchable for it. ‘The Future Crayon’ is a fine articulation of their vision so far. Long may they scribble.