Review

Broadcast

Maida Vale Sessions

Warp • 2022

Crazy: it’s been eleven years since Broadcast singer Trish Keenan died far too early due to an infection with the swine flu and the band broke up soon after. When Warp records then made available rarities by the other great English indietronica band Stereolab (“Electrically Possessed – Switched On Volume 4”) last year, it was only a matter of time before old material of Broadcast come to shine. Alongside »Microtronics – Volumes 1 & 2« (originally from 2003 and 2005) and »Mother Is the Milky Way« (from 2009), you can now finally enjoy the four BBC radio sessions. Recorded between 1996 and 2003 in London’s Maida Vale Studios (three sessions of which were for John Peel), alternative versions of well-known songs are collected here, especially from the first two albums and the EP »Book Lovers«. In addition, there are rare collector’s items such as the Nico cover »Sixty Forty« and the song »Forget Every Time«, which was officially recorded exclusively in the first session of 1996. Trish Keenan’s sensitive vocals together with influences from 60s psychedelia, soundtracks and experimental electronica also form the unmistakable Broadcast sound on these live recordings. Due to its harmless, optimistic, partly sugar-sweet orientation, it doesn’t really want to fit into the current, much darker times. At the same time, however, the »Maida Vale Sessions« show that playful and confident trends in pop music are not too far in the past. This should not only fill collectors’ hearts with hope for a sunnier future.