Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megaguide.

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Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megaguide.

Post by shadowplay » Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:15 am

Back in the Vanishing Twin thread I mentioned that I might do a thread on bands influenced by Broadcast, cadres and bands with a complementary aesthetic, received some encouragement and so here goes.

Beyond this I'm going to do some further listening sections on relevant influences, record labels and a short list of more library influenced acts for people to check out.

Some acts have bandcamps, so you can listen to whole records but some posts will be just a few youtubes but hand on heart everything here would be a good blind buy anyway.

The name link is to the discogs page and they are in no particular order.


Hong Kong In The 60s

Make the most exquisite retrofuturist pop as evidenced by gorgeous tracks like A Foxes Wedding with it's heart piercing organ. A gem.

Hong Kong In The 60s - Willow Pattern Songs

Hong Kong In The 60s - My Fantoms

The Advisory Circle with Hong Kong In The 60s - Seasons Change

Even full on meanies can enjoy them since there's a free instrumental album to download.



Plone.

I think For Beginner Piano is something of a minor masterpiece and important influence and signifier. Contained live Broadcast members and later became Seeland

Plone - For Beginner Piano

PPlone - Unreleased Second album. I wish someone would press this up.




Mitland Och Leo

Really beautiful sounding gauzy and romantic interludes from Antwerp.

Mittland och Leo - Optimists



Pram

Were around before Broadcast and also from Birmingham and did a lot of establish the aesthetic but were also more Messthetic in nature and often rode on a cloaked dub undercarriage. Live Pram were brilliant with a real children's music workshop feel and a floor quirky instruments and percussion. IMO Rosie Cuckson has a compelling and unique voice and if you don't won all their records, remedy that pronto.

Pram - Sleepy Sweet

Pram - The Empty Quarter

Pram - Track of The Cat

Pram - Beluga

Pram - The Owl Service

Pram - Play of the Waves




Movietone

Contained members of Flying Saucer Attack and Crescent.

Movietone - Day and Night (Full Album)




Seeland

Tim Felton and Billy Bainbridge, were in this band and later on Tim was one half of Hintermass

Seeland - Wander

Seeland - Call The Incredible

Seeland - Black Dot, White Spider




Turn On ‎

Stereolab spin off

Turn On - s/t




Le Superhomard

Transforms a rainy drive to the supermarket in your Toyota into a sun-dappled sweep down the Corniche in your Giulietta Spider.

Le Superhomard - Maple Key




Virginia Wing

Virginia Wing - World Contact

Virginia wing - Donna's Gift

A little like Still Corners, they've slightly moved away from the early template and into more electronic forms but they still retain some of the feel on their new album

Virginia Wing - Forward Constant Motion (whole album)




Cavern of Anti-Matter

Tim Gane's post Stereolab band

Cavern Of Anti-Matter - Blood-Drums

Cavern of Anti Matter - I’m the Unknown




Death and Vanilla

Swedish band that some find a little too close to their influences but one who I really enjoy.

Death and Vanilla - To Where the Wild Things Are

Death And Vanilla - Death & Vanilla




Black Channels - think a queasy mix of Broadcast and BOC

Black Channels - Oracles

Black Channels - Two Knocks For Yes




S. McLoughlin/ A Cooper Natural Lancashire / Supernatural Lancashire

Alison Cooper of the wonderful Magpahi and Sam McLoughlin who trades as N Racker among others.

Supernatural Lancashire Volume Two (split with the amazing Emerald Web)

S. Mcloughlin / A. Cooper - Supernatural Lancashire - The Astronomy Centre

S. McLoughlin and A. Cooper - Snowfall




Happy Meals Keeping the home fires burning are Happy Meals, who originally made deliciously, lo-fi slow-motion kosmische disko but are recently spreading their wings over stranger waters.

Happy Meals - Apéro

Happy Meals - Fruit Juice EP

Happy Meals - Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony (Volumes IV - VI)



Lake Ruth

Stylistically sitting under a parasol with Jacco Gardner style baroque Hofner bass psyche, finger poppin' retrofuturist Yé-yé and a few selections from your collection of Library breaks . I could totally see Lake ruth helming the soundtrack for Love Witch 2.

Lake Ruth - The Inconsolable Jean​-​Claude seven inch

Lake Ruth - Actual Entity album




Gulp

Moonlighting Super Furry Animal and his Mrs, make a lovely form of gently Radiophonic pop, which flirts with gentle nods to the more whistful Lee and Nancy and homegrown early 60's studio pop.

Gulp - Season Sun

Gulp - Search For Your Love single on Tim Burgess O Genesis




Jane Weaver

One of those artists that deserves their own thread and indeed they have one. Her last three albums are the most relevant to our interests in here and all of them are superb. As comfortable with epic prog folk concept albums, as she is with stroboscopic space disko, as she is with space motorbikin' kosmische,as she is with a basement Morricone score to a Vampire flick. Jane is the real deal and she's got a rolodex of collaborators to die for; Malcom Mooney, Damon Gough. David Holmes, Dave Brock, Wendy Flower of Wendy & Bonnie, Susan Christie!

Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology

Jane Weaver - The Silver Globe (Full Album)

Jane Weaver- The Fallen By Watch Bird

Jane Weaver - Le Rose De Fer track 9 one (it's a split)




Still Corners

The album most relevant to this thread is Creatures of an Hour and tracks like I Wrote in Blood, The White Season and Demons would do excellent service in a creepy pastoral drama like a modern Robin Redbreast. The subsequent records are great but Strange Pleasures is jetting off into gauzy dream pop and Dead Blue specialises in the sort of neon slow dance 80's synth balladry that should be playing over the end of teenage dramas but sadly seldom does.

Still Corners - Creatures Of An Hour [FULL ALBUM STREAM]

Still Corners - Strange Pleasures [FULL ALBUM STREAM]

Still Corners – Dead Blue



Faten Kanaan

In some ways she stands outside all this, she's a different sort of retrofuturist, coming on like a powdered wig fugue queen for futurist drawing rooms. A major find for me.

Faten Kanaan - The Botanist & The Archaeologist

Pye Corner Audio/Faten Kanaan - The Darkest Wave I''m calling it already...seven inch of the year!




Gwenno

Former Pipette's vehicle for Welsh language 'blissful kraut pop'

Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf




The New Lines

Semi novel in here since they are male fronted. They first got caught up in my long lines when I bought their split with Still corners (SC track is a belter)and the Please Fall In Love single at roughly the same time. Please Fall In Love reminded me of NMBP era Broadcast but they've recent been pedalling a rather charming line in baroque psychefolk.


The New Lines - Please Fall In Love (7")

The New Lines - Love and Cannibalism

The New Lines ‎– Fall In Line



The Soundcarriers

Started off as a quite orthodox and still excellent blend of 60's pop classicism, library psyche and MBP but as time has passed they found more of their own ground to stalk.

The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia There's a sister record which introduces a lot of this records themes on the most wonderful The Great Pop Supplement Label (later trading as Deep Distance and Polytechnic Youth two of the best labels there is), called The Other World Of The Soundcarriers.

The Soundcarriers - Celeste

The Soundcarriers - Harmonium




Roj

For Broadcast and current Children of Alice member Roj Stevens. A true Radiophonic, library spindizzy.

Roj ‎– The Transactional Dharma Of RojFULL ALBUM




Beautify Junkyards

Exquisite Portuguese hauntologial folk band, with an absolutely picture perfect sound, honed through their first album of well chosen covers and perfected in The Beast Shouted Love, which is an amazing record.

Beautify Junkyards - The Beast Shouted Love

Beautify Junkyards - s/t debut cover album.




The Pattern Forms

Mini supergroup comprising must hear musical doyen Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle, The King of Woolworths, Hintermass, Clesse, D. D. Denham, Georges Vert etc.) and Friendly Fires. The record flies ts between bombastic 80's synth pop, delicate library bucolia and smeared up BOC style super 8 flicker.

The Pattern Forms - Peel Away the Ivy



Hintermass

Another supergroup of Jon Brooks and a stray Seeland. Hintermass pedal beautiful clockwork folk, that reaches maximum heart string plucking on Pattern's Somewhere. This record had a peculiar effect on me, since it was dishearteningly close to the sort of thing I was attempting myself with less success.

Hintermass - The Apple Tree




The Dandelion Set(& Alan Moore)

The album is an incredible mix of pastoral psyche, dread infused spoken word and lurid Canterbury prog jazz.

The Dandelion Set & Alan Moore - A Thousand Strands 1975-2015




Jacco Gardner

Dutch baroque psyche pop with that unmistakable Hofner thump. Less deconstruction than most of the bands in this thread but very much worth hearing.

Jacco Gardner - Hypnophobia

Jacco Gardner - Cabinet of Curiosities




Revbjelde

Brilliant band with a kaleidoscopi sense of genre, one minute they are dancing your round the maypole, the next they're pulling the stops out on an acid jazz groove, indulging in cut and splice or firing up the zither for some medititative spangling.

Revbjelde - Revbjelde



Paul Isherwood & Wayne Burrows

Stray Soundcarrier and writer collaborate on a brilliant record which builds a Wickerman to the hithertoo undocumented British Polynesian folk culture.

Paul Isherwood & Wayne Burrows - Exotica Suite




The Memory Band

Evocative, hauntological folk band, giving new shape to traditionals and recontextualising folk heritage.

The Memory Band - A Fair Field

The Memory Band with Belbury Poly and Grantby - Further Navigations EP

The Memory Band - On The Chalk (Our Navigation Of The Line of The Downs)




The Left Outsides

Remind me of of a post Broadcast Fairport Convention.

The Left Outsides - The Shape Of Things To Come




Grantby

Dan Grigson was a notable remixer and artist who has had a low profile recently until a surprising and amazing return. An amazing EP that spins the bottle between; kickstarted motorik rock, indescribably beautiful imaginary lost folk, and lush cinematic glower.

Granby - The Beast System




Leisure Birds

Retrofuturist kosmische psyche band.

Leisure Bird - Tetrahedron




The Lost Tapes Record Club

Clinic members in Blair Witch style found tapes project.

The Lost Tapes Record Club EP​-​4




Cats Eyes

Combination of Faris Badwan of the Horrors and the brilliant in her own right Rachel Zeffira

Their regular albums are much more along the lines of a Danielle Dax does a baroque garage Lee and Nancy affair but the true gem is the soundtrack for Peter Strickland's brilliantDuke of Burgundy film which IMO outshiners everything else they have done. To be honest I was astonished they could ever come up with anything as good s Coat of Arms.

Cat's Eyes - The Duke of Burgundy Original Soundtrack Album

Cat's Eyes - Face in the Crowd single song off debut album.



The Simonsound

Weirdly I've had Simonsound reords for years and didn't know he was also in Black Channels. This is heavily infuccenced by space music of the 50's and 60's but blended with a sleepy library break feel, that reminds me of Earthing or Alpha or even Dj Shadow.

The Simonsound - Reverse Engineering





Relevant (loosely) library/soundtrack influenced acts


Listening Center

Jon Brooks

The Hardy Tree

Vic Mars

Pye Corner Audio

House in the Woods (PCA related)

Pentagram Home Video

Stratus (PCA related)

Plinth




Land Equivalents

Groovy music for schools and colleges feel but has this spangly Dif Juz thing hidden behind its test card.

Good Morning & Alpha Numeric Routines





Labels


Ghost Box buy everything, more than worthy of their own thread and then some.

Folklore Tapes amazing label, with incredible sense of detail

Trunk

Buried Treasure

Public Information

Clay Pipe one of those buy blind record labels

Deep Distance ditto^^^

Polytechnic Youth ditto^^^

Front And Follow

Finders Keepers

Death Waltz Originals



Influences (a very rough and ready and hopefully not presumptuous list)


Film/TV list possible later if there's interest.

The United States of America

Elephant's Memory

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Silver Apples

Fifty Foot Hose

The Chocolate Watch Band

Ennio Morricone

Bruno Nicolai

Lubos Fiser

Hal Blaine - Psychedelic Percussion

Ravi Shankar (Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack)

Mort Garson/The Zodiac

Paul Giovanni

Basil Kirchin

Raymond Scott

The BBc Radiophonic Workshop

The Group (Feed back)

Carl Orff

The Free Design

Tender Buttons period

Rosa Yemen

Weekend

Young Marble Giants

Minimal Compact




Disclaimer; I'm not claiming this is exhaustive or even particularly authoritative, it's a personal insight and some stuff is borderline relevant but included because it's good music and I've got pretty sick of doing it, which probably leaves some glaring ommisions but it's a start. I might update it when I get the energy.


If anyone wants to chip in feel free or post stuff they found in this thread and liked, I would be grateful.

D
Last edited by shadowplay on Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:23 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:22 am

Amazing! You've clearly put your heart, time & effort into that post. Thank you.

It's officially added to my ever-growing "must listen to" list.
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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by Singlebladepickup » Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:35 am

Thank you for this.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by mezcalhead » Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:57 am

Well that sorts my music purchases for the next six months, thank you!

Some stuff there I already have, some I knew of, some totally new to me; so overall very interesting. I don't have much to add though unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an Australian/colonial branch, it's quite a UK/European thing. Unless Carla dal Forno/F ingers/Tarcar fits in here, certainly You Know What It’s Like is fairly haunted if not very pop.
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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:52 am

This is a great effort. I love it. Bravo!

Shadowplay has been aiding in this, my same exact quest, for a while now.

There are enough bands here that just about anybody who appreciated even a small part of what Broadcast was about will find some gems. I know I have. 8)

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by InLimbo » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:09 am

I've been listening to hardly anything else than Vanishing Twin for the couple of weeks or so thanks to that other thread. A while back, I was recommended Broadcast in another thread, and have been really enjoying this retro-futurism since. For some reason I don't really "get" Stereolab. Dunno if I will come around or not.

Anyway, this thread, while I have no idea what awaits, looks to be an absolute gold mine. In particular, "Black Channels - think a queasy mix of Broadcast and BOC". This sounds of major interest.

Shadowplay, as always, thank you for your contributions.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:37 am

InLimbo wrote:For some reason I don't really "get" Stereolab. Dunno if I will come around or not.
They really changed over the course of their career. They might sort of fall into that realm of culture where you have to be at the "right place, right time" to hop on board. The fact that I really liked their early stuff made it easier for me to follow them along their journey. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard Stereolab and Broadcast.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by mediocreplayer » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:59 am

Holy shit what an incredible effort!

Cannot give a more articulate response at this point. It will take me a long time to go through this. I am especially excited because I really like the handful of acts I know from the megaguide (and have fallen blissfully asleep to Death and Vanilla several times) . Will report back as I listen!

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by mediocreplayer » Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:08 am

InLimbo wrote:I was recommended Broadcast in another thread, and have been really enjoying this retro-futurism since. For some reason I don't really "get" Stereolab. Dunno if I will come around or not.
I know these two bands are often mentioned together, perhaps because of the Duophonic association, but I have always experienced their music as vastly different in style and substance.

For me, The Stereolab Radio One sessions compilation (I think called ABC music) is what made them click for me. I am not sure why, but I enjoyed that a lot and went on to the proper records from there. Laetitia has another band, Monade, which I also enjoy.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:47 am

Pram...massively underated. gonna check out the other stuff...thanks for the post

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by InLimbo » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:02 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
InLimbo wrote:For some reason I don't really "get" Stereolab. Dunno if I will come around or not.
They really changed over the course of their career. They might sort of fall into that realm of culture where you have to be at the "right place, right time" to hop on board. The fact that I really liked their early stuff made it easier for me to follow them along their journey. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard Stereolab and Broadcast.
mediocreplayer wrote:I know these two bands are often mentioned together, perhaps because of the Duophonic association, but I have always experienced their music as vastly different in style and substance.

For me, The Stereolab Radio One sessions compilation (I think called ABC music) is what made them click for me.
Thanks for the replies, guys. Whenever I think about listening to them, I'm not sure really where to start. Jaguar018, I've not tried a chronological order yet, now that I think about it (which is weird for me). Actually, I think the only way I've really tried is by just picking one at random, based either on album art or album name, haha. Really though, I only think of them in comparison to Broadcast and listen to them when I really just need to listen to Broadcast. Mediocreplayer, that's probably great advice, trying to disconnect the two and think of them as independent of one another.

Edit for second thoughts: Reading your response again Jaguar018, the "right, place, right time" actually registered, but maybe not in the same way you meant it. Broadcast seems still relevant to my ears, as if both Tender Buttons and Haha Sound could have been 2017 releases, despite being over a decade old. Stereolab definitely has a sort of quote unquote dated sound that I can't seem to transport myself to. Granted, some of those albums are 20+ years old, though. I'll keep trying them though, because I do want to like them.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Jul 24, 2017 11:35 am

InLimbo wrote:Thanks for the replies, guys. Whenever I think about listening to them, I'm not sure really where to start. Jaguar018, I've not tried a chronological order yet, now that I think about it (which is weird for me). Actually, I think the only way I've really tried is by just picking one at random, based either on album art or album name, haha. Really though, I only think of them in comparison to Broadcast and listen to them when I really just need to listen to Broadcast. Mediocreplayer, that's probably great advice, trying to disconnect the two and think of them as independent of one another.

Edit for second thoughts: Reading your response again Jaguar018, the "right, place, right time" actually registered, but maybe not in the same way you meant it. Broadcast seems still relevant to my ears, as if both Tender Buttons and Haha Sound could have been 2017 releases, despite being over a decade old. Stereolab definitely has a sort of quote unquote dated sound that I can't seem to transport myself to. Granted, some of those albums are 20+ years old, though. I'll keep trying them though, because I do want to like them.
Broadcast, with it being retrofutrist/hauntological, or whatever, really does have a timeless quality. Stereolab does not; the way their albums were recorded and sound are tied more to 'where they were.' Stereolab clicked for me the very first time I heard them. It was their "Switched On" album which is a compilation of their early stuff. Generally speaking, I like most (but by no means all) band's early output when they were still figuring things out. Some of their later albums are a little tiresome to me. They are not 'bad' but there isn't enough different musical textures for my ears.

This was never an issue with Broadcast. The songs, for me, have a lot of variety. I guess it speaks to the skills and quality of Trish, James et all that they were able to weave together so many sounds and manage sound like "Broadcast" and very distinct.

"Wanting" to like something is usually not rewarding. It can be done. Usually I just want it to grab me right away as I don't have the time to let something slowly build into an appreciation over time. Having said that, I've noticed that with the later Beach House albums that there is a lot more depth than my initial reactions. My love of Broadcast has come from being able to listen to the entire albums as well.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by shadowplay » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:27 pm

mediocreplayer wrote:. Laetitia has another band, Monade, which I also enjoy.
I had that on the list but it appears to have vanished. She has a new side project I just bought on 10' ;Modern Cosmology - Summer Long/.

Morgane Lhote trades as Hologram Teen and she has a record coming out soon on Polytechnic Youth.

I'm happy that some folk have found this thread useful.

D
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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by NickD » Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:14 am

Sorry, arriving a bit late to this thread, but I haven't logged on in a few days.

A massive plus one to Ghost Box - I buy them completely blind now, the output is consistently excellent and I don't think I've heard a duff release from them. There is plenty in the thread I haven't explored, so some rabbit holes to go down.

Thanks Shadowplay for putting this thread together.

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Re: Broadcast, retrofuturist pop & hauntological pop; megagu

Post by shadowplay » Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:21 am

NickD wrote: A massive plus one to Ghost Box - I buy them completely blind now, the output is consistently excellent .
Even back when they were only doing CDR's it was clear they were establishing something that was really going to resonate with people. I'm pretty sure not many labels have had as great an influence on the records I buy.

D
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