Friday 21/07/06 Broadcast @ Bush Hall, London

Bush Hall is a grand venue and Broadcast are worthy guests, they pack the venue out with fans eager in expectation for their celestial sounds. Everything tonight is civilised. The crowd are quietly appreciative, no shouting, no moshing; the band are calm and collected and the venue is a respectable choice. On the surface, all this would seemingly point at an average gig, just another Friday night. But that would be overlooking the chaos and complexity of the experimental pop music produced by this Warp Records band.

What Broadcast have to offer for the discerning music fan is located somewhere in the musical space created by bands like Ladytron and Stereolab. Tonight, however, Broadcast are peddling their wares live so they have come well equipped, with intricate stylings on the auto harp, manic drumming, subtle rumblings & stirrings produced by an engine of effects pedals, choice Korg cuts and innocent lullaby vocals provided by Brummy Trish Keenan, who wears an old skool Blue Peter presenter dress. And if that wasn't enough, on 'Recorder Mass', Trish whips out her recorder for a good toot. The sounds resonant tonight range from song intro minimalism to full on audio assault from the likes of Hammer Without Master taken from their latest collection of EPs Future Crayon.

Tonight, strangely the majority of their songs come from 2003's album 'Haha Sound' with the transcendental 'Colour Me In', 'Ominous Cloud' and 'Man Is Not A Bird' all making appearances. But later they roll out 'Black Cat', one of the highlights from more recent album 'Tender Buttons' and there are samples firing off all over the place, with the lyrics "awkwardness happening to someone you love" emanating from the bed of noise and electronic melodies. Broadcast are truly mesmerising to see onstage whether it be from watching their live setup of six people all doing different, often intricate things or their overall sound that draws the listener into to an other worldly experience. It’s no wonder then John Peel had them in for a session or two.