Broadcast: The Future Crayon Vinyl 2LP

if for some reason you're curious: you want this!for starters its 75 more minutes of one of the most underrated bands of their kind, and its also ostensibly the last of its kind we will ever see. a kind of melancholy mood settles over the tracks while i listen in 2018, the death of patricia still leaving a wound in the world that will scab over but never be as it was.these are b-sides collected from various singles and other sources, but all run in a sequence that makes it seem at least to me like an LP, similar to how Work and Non Work felt. but these are deeper cuts. you have the sudden stops and subsequent angelic wails of "Where Youth and Laughter Go"; the cut-up wings of insects likened from a high hat in pop-grandeur "Locusts"; the crunchy fuzz leads of go-go atmosphere on starter "Illumination" and a piercing hal blaine psych jam gem in "Hammer Without a Master"."Small Song IV" and "Poem of Dead Song" dig into library music melody with the former being a sister song to distorted balladry like you heard with "Valerie", the other a v-c dichotomy with a chorus section that showcases Trish's reverby "oohs" almost narcotic, and a backing beat thats a real hip-shaker.and then there is "Chord Simple", a Lewis Carroll dream state of hypnosis, living up to its name with a piano melody that is as simple as it is nostalgic and affecting. two versions are heard here, the second bookending "Unchanging Window" (from where it borrows its oneiric riff) here heard in a version even more amazing than their LP! the way it builds and builds on its four notes shared between two songs is unlike anything i've ever heard from a psych revival act, a true how-did-they-do-this moment, it forever cements their status as king of surreal 60s revivalist pop madness, their absence from this world of tepid byrds copycats growing bigger every year. Oh I miss her so.this could be an introduction to the band just as any lp could, the quality control and precise vision of their style as reverent as it is unchallenged by their peers. the songs, the heavenly spring reverb, trish's voice being at possibly a career best around these times, and an biting nerve on the back half of this release make this just as mandatory as any of the many radiophonic psych pop slabs that inspired them. she wasn't some temple follower, but Oracle itself.

As other reviewers suggest, this is a pretty amazing collection. I understand why they'd be labeled b-sides, but they are a lovely (and sad, as I write this in 2013) complement to the rest of Broadcast's solid catalog. Kinda ambient, kinda moody, definitely worth the purchase.

wow. such an underrated band.

It's out there but I like it!

Love it!!

It's every collector's worst nightmare: all the singles and EPs and rarities we've been hording finally gets compiled in one place. So be it: Broadcast's _The Future Crayon_, while it doesn't hold together as an album, per se, still has moments of heartstopping beauty. For instance, the haunting "Illumination" is like a a break-up in gorgeous slow motion, while "Where Youth and Laughter Go" feels like the soundtrack to a 60s Antonioni film. The spare "Distant Call" relies, initially, on Keegan's voice until it gives way to a lovely tonal melody in its second half. Elsewhere, the sweet and romantic "Locusts" also rubs elbows with a long, dissociated outro. Indeed, Broadcast indulges its instrumental side, with the thickly sonic "Hammer Without a Master" or the more melancholic "Chord Simple" (which only gets better when paired with "Unchanging Window"). For those who like tropicalia, "Daves Dream" is a curious confection. They also get to highlight some of their more experimental moments, like the strange feedback that infects the delicate "Small Song IV" or the random detritus of "DDL." And is that a 60's girl group piano-chord rhythm I hear in the background of "A Man for Atlantis"? "Belly Dance" closes the album on a driving note, leaning on Middle Eastern influences like it's playing beneath a _Laurence of Arabia_ battle sequence. My only quibble: no Two Lone Swordsmen remix of "Come On Let's Go"? For shame.

I stumbled across this band on another site, and sort of picked this album at random. I started listening to the samples and pretty quickly took a liking to it. But just now I found out that this is a b-sides/rarities compilation! Wow, I can't wait to hear what an actual album sounds like!The songs themselves are mostly laid-back experimental pop songs with synth and vintage-sounding live instruments. They strike a good balance between tunefulness and experimentation, keeping it fresh and interesting but still goes down smoothly.

Broadcast has always been a big favorite of mine. They have been in California many times in the past few years. There are two great albums, and now like a collection of b-sides and rarities. Maybe not so new to the hardcore Broadcast fan. A majority of the material was done in 1999-2001. There are some songs from the Pendulum EP too. This CD represents the more experiment and more non-commercial side of the band. Most of it comes from rare and hard to find releases, mostly on Warp Records. It is an excellent bunch of songs. I am glad that Broadcast is able to show off their many sides.

Always a surprise or two and always welcome... Trish, you are still very much missed.

Uno dei dischi di sempre.

Excellent