Customer Reviews

Tender Buttons

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Broadcast is down to two members now, Trish Keenan and James Cargill. I saw them play a few years ago and it was great. They definitely have their own sound. It's sort of this 1960s sound that never existed, and 1984 futuristic vibe. Tender Buttons is a novel by Gertrude Stein. It is one of the most difficult books and I am not sure that anyone ever figured out what it meant. So Broadcast has created word and sound collages. Things are really stripped down. In songs like "Black Cat" moogs go wild and there is something claustrophobic too. Of course there are some quiet folk moments in songs like "Tender Buttons" and "Tears in the Typing Pool." The song "America's Boy" almost sounds like Ladytron. There is interesting phrasing in "Corporeal." The beats are simple. The synths are out of control. The vocals remain the same. Broadcast is good at what it does. If it was easy, other people would be making good records. I guess they mourned Dr. Robert Moog's recent passing away. This is a tribute that these sounds will live on.

This album is GREAT, but not as wholly captivating and as entrancing as HaHa Sound, which had much deeper underlying goins-on than Tender Buttons. Furthermore, I do not understand why they even waste running time with tracks like "Minus 3", "Bit 35," and "You and Me in Time." They are nothing compared to the instrumentals proceeding old favorites like "The Book Lovers" and "Message from Home." But as to the actual songs "The Goodbye Girls" is probably my favorite, having this real icy sheen and very smooth vintage synths with a classic 60's vocal melody. The rest are superb as well.

I bought this album on a whim, having had recieved favorable reviews and solid reference points. At first, I thought, well this is qualified early Stereolab-sounding stuff, which isn't bad. But on further listens I was able to differentiate, realizing that this album is totally amazing. It's able to evoke various periods and continents of influence, all at the same time. MBV: check. Kraftwerk: check. I'll let you do the math. Most of all, this record is noisy, in the way that I want to guitars to be noisy, and messed up-sounding.
The misses are few. Check this out.

My 57 year journey as a music lover has led me down some interesting corridors & moderne electronica has become a fab fave. Broadcast (& Hooverphonic) have provided a wonderful soundtrack. "Tender Buttons" by Broadcast is a delicious voyeuristic journey into the myndz & hearts of 2 hipsterz from Birmingham, England. The lyrics are intimate yet surreal. The music? My God, this music is so kool! It's like some kind of an electronic "Moonshine Still", where the essence of soundz from the past (60's/70's/80's) is distilled into a unique moderne formula all their own. With just Trish 'n' James now...well, I say, less is more. Well done, kidz! You make life on Planet Earth a bit more bearable. DJ Kidd Squidd

First off, I'm not sure where some of the negative reviewers of this album are coming from. I've only heard their previous record, which does have a significantly different sound than this one, but a few have described this album as some sort of descent into white noise and experimentation. This is hilarious, because this album is from start to finish a melodic delight.

The overall sound of the record is dominated by the fuzzed-up synth leads and ethereal female vocals, while simple drum-machine programming and what sounds like baritone guitar comprise the rhythm section. Hovering in the background supporting these other elements are often more textural synthesizer sounds, which must be the "atonal" elements that some complain about. Rather than dominating the mix, however, those elements simply add some interesting textures to the songs. Even though some of the individual elements are fuzzy and occasionally "noisy," the overall sound is peaceful and cloudlike.

Down to only two members, this band is certainly a different beast than the one that recorded their older albums, but if you look at this album as a synth-pop project rather than a live band, I think you'll find it very rewarding. If this isn't the Broadcast that you fell in love with, give it another name, and enjoy it for what it is. Because it is a delightful record.

The musical prowess of Broadcast is not to be fully appreciated until you've listened to a goodly portion of their catalog. They certainly know how to convey a message poignantly. And though I always feel like I'm listening to a fusion of specific other favorite bands when listening to them (I won't name names), I've come to learn that they frequently transcend the sounds that they seem to be emulating. Broadcast is the real deal, and Tender Buttons is a tremendous addition to their body of work -- definitely going one better than Haha Sound and approaching, if not equalling (yeah, equalling), their older stuff.

Broadcast continue their microtonal takeover of the pop world with their 3rd album, _Tender Buttons_. Their skewed melodies are still in full effect, with more feedback and distortion to haunt Trish Keenan's icy vocals. "Black Cat" tips its hat to an acidic Alice in Wonderland, while "America's Boy" has a keening beauty to it, like Saint Etienne sent through an echo chamber. For those who want more delicacy, "Tears in the Typing Pool," has that in spades, as well as a white-collar melancholy that you don't hear too often in songs. "Arc of a Journey" has a bleeping spaciousness to it that hint at their earlier work, even as the modulated steel drums come in, but overall, Broadcast seems to move further and further into abstraction -- not a bad thing, by any stretch of the imagination. They hold a bit of pop in their hearts, as evidenced by "Michael A Grammar" and "Goodbye Girls." The lullaby-like "You and Me in Time" helps cement their status as some of the more forward-thinking pop bands around.

I heard "American Soldier" on the radio, bought the album, and have listened to the song over and over. The album is quirky, haunting, at times beautiful; techno-influenced, but not techno--post-techno?

I really love this album. It marks the a change for Broadcast, as its mostly recorded without the live drumming that is a big part of their prior releases. Black Cat is catchy and powerful. Tender Buttons is hypnotic and soothing. America's Boy features really awesome dirty keyboards. Tears in the Typing Pool is poetic. Corporeal is good but has pretty strange lyrics. Bit 35, Arc of journey are okay. Michael A Grammar is oddly catchy. And, it goes on. Another masterpiece from probably the greatest band ever.

Broadcast for me can be hit or miss. The Noise Made by People and last years Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age are two of my standouts in a large collection. Some of the early eps are good, but don't grab me the way those two gems do.

Tender Button's cuts it down the middle. It is not Broadcast's absolute best, but it is an excellent experiment in new wave forms. This is a major break from the band's usual rocket trips to the outer reaches of psychadelia.

I have always known Broadcast is dually diagnosed: great sound collage experimenters but great song writters as well. This album shows their ability to master more straight material.