Broadcast – In session for John Peel – recorded January 23 – aired February 9, 2000 – BBC Radio 1 –
Broadcast, in their second session for John Peel tonight. Recorded on January 23, 2000 and aired on February 9th. Broadcast were formed in Birmingham in 1995 by Trish Keenan (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blends elements of 1960s American psychedelia with experimental electronica, incorporating samples from various sources, and earned the band a cult following.
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 release in 1996, was the 7″ single “Accidentals” (issued on Wurlitzer Jukebox Records), which was written based around a sample from Joseph Losey’s 1967 film Accident. The same year, they released The Book Lovers EP (issued in November by Duophonic Records). In 1996, the band recorded a Peel Session.
Warp released a compilation album, Work and Non Work, in June 1997, compiling the EP and two singles. The 1999 Broadcast track “You Can Fall” was included on the soundtrack album for the film Morvern Callar, released by Warp in 2002.
The group’s debut studio album, The Noise Made by People, was released by Warp in March 2000. It was self-produced in the group’s own recording studio after having been through three producers to get a particular sound. Regarding the expensive two year production of the album, Keenan said, “There were no financial benefits in getting it right.” The band issued two EPs in the same year, Extended Play and Extended Play Two.
Keenan died on 14 January 2011 at the age of 42, following complications with pneumonia, which she suffered from after earlier contracting H1N1. Cargill, the sole remaining member, said in a 2011 interview with Under the Radar that a new Broadcast album was in the works, featuring vocals recorded by Keenan shortly before her death. He later said: “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. The next thing I release with Trish on it will be more like a monument and a tribute to her rather than this obsessive thing I used to have about making albums.” As of 2020, however, the album has not been released.
For a reminder of Broadcast during those formative years, here is their second session for John Peel as it was aired in February of 2000.
Play loud.
