Broadcast: The Noise Made By People

"PRAM WANNABES", "indie milksops", "poor man's Stereolab"... these are just some of the cruel insults heaped upon Broadcast's head when they first poked it above the parapet at the tail-end of the Britpop era. Their aesthetic hardened in the heat of public derision, the band have re-emerged two and a half years on as a formidable fighting unit. It's all very well claiming musical allegiance to John Barry, Ennio Morricone or the Forbidden Planet soundtrack, but if you're going to pull it off, you have to supply a narrative worthy of the missing pictures. This is exactly what the fine single 'Papercuts' does: the pure vocal tone of Trish Keenan cuts through the rippling musical backdrop like a Stanley knife through satin, and the chorus's unease about "the writing for pleasure you wouldn't let me read" is oddly infectious. Imagine the Bronte sisters trying to play Yo La Tengo music on Air's instruments with Joe Meek producing.