Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
| Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Studio album by Broadcast and The Focus Group | |||||
| Released | 26 October 2009 | ||||
| Genre | Library music, dream pop, hauntology | ||||
| Length | 48:31 | ||||
| Label | Warp | ||||
| Broadcast chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| The Austin Chronicle |  [3] |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10.0[4] |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10[5] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[6] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | 4/5[7] |
Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age is an album collaboration by Broadcast and The Focus Group, released by Warp Records on 27 October 2009.[2]
Reception
Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age was voted one of the best 50 albums of 2009 by The Wire.[8] Allmusic reviewed "The whimsy and strangely familiar feel of '60s and '70s library music could also be heard in their music from the beginning, but never more clearly than on this mini-album."[2] The Austin Chronicle was critical stating Witch Cults "has a lot of room for experimentation, but it comes off more like the soundtrack for a 1960s Hammer film."[3]
BBC Music Review reviewed the album favorably stating "Witch Cults Of The Radio Age is laced with enough wonder and intrigue to keep you coming back. It doesn't make perfect sense, but the sense of mystery is a key in itself."[9] Drowned in Sound called the album "chaotic, overstimulating, like opening a dusty wardrobe and having an entire childhood tumble down on your head" as well as carrying "the same trapped-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-mirror allure as Tender Buttons, with Keenan channelling some inner kaleidoscope through her outwardly blank, coolly regretful vocals.[5] In their retrospective on Warp Records, Noisey of Vice reviewed Witch Cults as "perhaps Broadcast's finest achievement, with intimations of Pink Floyd circa Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, as well as the horror film The Innocents and a whole, macabre toybox of colourful, arcane devices."[10]
Pitchfork critiqued the album "predictable" and the collaboration between Broadcast and The Focus Group like "trying to cast their spells at the same time: Some of the record is great, plenty of it is cross-chatter."[4] PopMatters reviewed Witch Cults with "The entire album is an exorcism of an dead universe. Nothing can stay together here. It’s hauntology as a pasture of incidental tones and half-ripped photographs. The video footage is unable to focus. The lens’s view is eternally obstructed. The wild blurs of compounded biographies come off like a fever dream of a memory play."[6] Rookie praised Witch Cults with "The vast array of chopped and screwed samples–drawn from horror movies, nursery rhymes, and something that sounds like a long lost mantra-like ritual from some faraway place a hundred years ago–create a dynamic, haunting, but still pleasant mood, which is what makes it so thrilling. It’s dark, but you kind of want to savor that darkness."[11]
Tiny Mix Tapes commented "Witch Cults goes even further, drifting between fleeting moments of obscured 'songs' and strange haunted house soundscapes. Melodic themes are introduced and later reprised in various forms, but more importantly they often sound as if they’re coming from some out-of-sync universe."[7]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro / Magnetic Tales" | 0:39 |
| 2. | "The Be Colony" | 4:32 |
| 3. | "How Do You Get Along Sir?" | 1:11 |
| 4. | "Will You Read Me" | 1:20 |
| 5. | "Reception / Group Therapy" | 1:20 |
| 6. | "A Quiet Moment" | 0:58 |
| 7. | "I See, so I See So" | 2:09 |
| 8. | "You Must Wake" | 1:36 |
| 9. | "One Million Years Ago" | 2:16 |
| 10. | "A Seancing Song" | 2:19 |
| 11. | "Mr Beard, You Chatterbox" | 1:25 |
| 12. | "Drug Party" | 1:28 |
| 13. | "Libra, the Mirror's Minor Self" | 2:45 |
| 14. | "Love's Long Listen-In" | 1:48 |
| 15. | "We Are After All Here" | 2:32 |
| 16. | "A Medium's High" | 2:29 |
| 17. | "Ritual / Looking In" | 4:21 |
| 18. | "Make My Sleep His Song" | 2:41 |
| 19. | "Royal Chant" | 2:14 |
| 20. | "What I Saw" | 1:03 |
| 21. | "Let It Begin / Oh Joy" | 3:28 |
| 22. | "Round and Round and Round" | 1:39 |
| 23. | "The Be Colony / Dashing Home / What on Earth Took You?" | 2:30 |
References
- ↑ "'Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age' reviews, Metacritic". Metacritic.
- 1 2 3 Phares, Heather. "Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
- 1 2 Schroeder, Audra (6 November 2009). "Fun Fun Fun Fest - Review: Broadcast & the Focus Group - Music - The Austin Chronicle". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- 1 2 Powell, Mike (27 October 2009). "Broadcast and the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- 1 2 Bliss, Abi (26 October 2009). "Album Review: Broadcast and the Focus Group - Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- 1 2 Gabriele, Timothy (12 November 2009). "Broadcast and the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age - PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- 1 2 Davenport, Joe (2009). "Broadcast and The Focus Group - Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age - Music Review - Tiny Mix Tapes". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ↑ "2009 Rewind" (311 (Jan 10)). The Wire Magazine. 2010-01-12. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
- ↑ Pattison, Louis (2009). "BBC - Music - Review of Broadcast and The Focus Group - Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age". BBC Music Review. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ↑ Stubbs, David (19 July 2013). "A HISTORY OF WARP RECORDS IN EIGHT RELEASES - YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS - NOISEY & PHILIPS". Noisey. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ↑ Hardwick, Eleanor (15 August 2013). "Rookie » Built to Thrill". Rookie. Retrieved 6 August 2014.