March 2000 ReviewsCopyright © 2000 Erkki Rautio. Reprinted with permission.
Broadcast: The Noise Made By People
CD, WarpFor those people, who think The Cardigans have gone too far with their masses-pleasing populism, and Björk's and Portishead's music far too electronic, one can recommend this debut album proper by Broadcast, already having some EPs of their own behind them (the track 'The Book Lovers', from one of those, still being a big pHinnWeb favourite).
This Broadcast has nothing to do with the yesteryear Finnish AOR band of the same name, but we are rather talking about a little sister of Stereolab, in a way. The inspiration has been found from the 1960s art-pop and film soundtracks.
The foggy moods of the solo albums of Scott Walker and Nico, Pet Sounds and the jazz of Astrud Gilberto, John Barry's film music at its most ethereal, combined to the sound experimentations of Joe Meek - those might give some sort of hint towards the direction of Broadcast melancholia.
This is music for those art school students, who want to be seen at trendy cafés sipping their cappuccinos and reading Sartre's books. Style above all: this design product has been packed in a coloured carton sleeve.
This is pleasant background music for the living rooms of trendy intellectuals, which only fault is actually its excessive stylishness and self-consciousness. Some occasional sharp edges and even actual mistakes would have made this a far more interesting album.
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