11 Oct 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

No Broadcast - Album Review: The Common Thread

11 May 2023 // A review by roger.bowie

No Broadcast started out in the noughties and started releasing their music in 2011, when commonly regarded as a three piece.

Two EPs and three albums later the band has evolved into a musical collective which is predominantly the vehicle for musician and vocalist Josh Braden’s eclectic soundscape experimentation. Josh loves the sound of sound and the space between us, and his latest effort seeks to establish a common thread. The thread which is between us as a link and between us as a space. A common thread which identifies common ground. All & Now is a segue between the thread and the ground in common.

And whereas 2022’s Lie in Orbit embraced big progressive movements with frenetic jazzy and electronic beats, The Common Thread, which was written and recorded around the same time, takes us on a more mellow, dream like psychedelic journey through the times of sound.  

In a nutshell, it’s where Radiohead might encounter Yoshi up against the Robots with the Flaming Lips, and that is indeed some space between the two albums as we follow the Road Signs to the End of the Road.

Dreamy synth sequences between lush string landscapes underpinned by gentle guitar and the soaring falsetto of Josh take us to The Shore where staccato drums crash like waves before a gentle Genesis-outro grounds us safely, if not commonly.

Only for Wayne Coyne to morph into Thom Yorke and we revert to the Terrified radio head, this is indeed music for the mind and whatever help is needed. An immediate segue into another progressive phase is Etched into our consciousness as we drift on through the space between us. Or maybe there is no space, just a thread, or maybe a theory about string which supports time travel in one direction but not both. We can go back in time but not come back again which is why we don’t try. Instead, we ground ourselves in The Understanding that a simple melody advancing slowly and layered with sound is all we need to stay safe and sane in the simple conclusion that this is just beautiful music which flows and flows without any further need to broadcast.

Josh Braden writes and produces the music and plays guitar and keys and sings. Thomas Isbister is clever and subtle on drums and bass. Tom Harris orchestrates the strings, both real and synthetic, and Ryan Fisherman steals in sideways on lapsteel.

The Common Thread is out now and there’s vinyl as well so don’t rush to download but prepare yourself for a journey through time space which is both endearing and ultimately safe. My only disclaimer is to assure you that there were no substances consumed in the crafting of this review.

Rating: ( 4 / 5 )
 

About No Broadcast

No Broadcast, spawns out of the environmental influences of Christchurch and New Zealand. They combine this with a particular perspective and draw sounds from the likes of Jakob, Mogwai, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, HDU and The Veils. Their sound is surpassed only by the embrace of live experience. Since 2007 the name No Broadcast started to appear on posters in reviews and on the NZ music scene as a band with the ability to move audiences with their emotive, free-flowing music. Playing various festivals and shows nationwide with various local and national artists, they have played alongside rockers Beastwars; post punk heavyweights Die! Die! Die!, Bauhaus,
Skinny Hobos, Clap Clap Riot and Mountaineater.

No Broadcast in its true essence is a vision of sonic expression stemming from the mind and soul of singer songwriter and producer Josh Braden. No Broadcast have produced and released 5 album to date.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for No Broadcast

Releases

The Common Thread
Year: 2023
Type: Album
Lie In Orbit
Year: 2022
Type: Album
Defined & Divided
Year: 2022
Type: EP
The Blueprint
Year: 2015
Type: Album
No Broadcast
Year: 2014
Type: Album
Live At The Dux
Year: 2014
Type: EP
1736
Year: 2013
Type: EP
Null And Void
Year: 2011
Type: EP

Other Reviews By roger.bowie

Album Review: Subset BC
16 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Here’s an interesting little thing from Gisborne. A funky little band with three bass players.
Read More...
Gig Review: The Best of Come Together @ The Civic Theatre, Auckland - 9/12/2023
12 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Get your heads around this line-up:  The singers: Jon Toogood, (lead and backing vocals), Julia Deans (lead and backing vocals), Dianne Swann (lead and backing vocals and occasional guitar), Samuel Flynn Scott (vocals and guitar), James Milne (lead and backing vocals), Milan Borich (Mick vocals) The players: Jol Mulholland (guitars and vocals), Brett Adams (lead guitar and vocals), Mike Hall (bass), Matthias Jordan (keyboards), Alastair Deverick (drums), Finn Scholes (trumpet, clarinet and percussion), Nick Atkinson (sax and percussion).  Stopped spinning?
Read More...
A Crude Mechanical - Album Review: Discourse
08 Dec 2023 // by roger.bowie
Shane Warbrooke doesn’t believe in lyrics, because of the risk of lyrics being hi-jacked and meanings bent to suit ideologies which he doesn’t like. Well, such ideologies which most of us don’t like, truth be known, but then again, Beethoven didn’t write lyrics, so the freedom of speech counter argument only goes so far.
Read More...
Gig Review: The Phoenix Foundation @ Hollywood Avondale, Auckland - 24/11/2023
26 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
This is a first of many things. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen The Phoenix Foundation play live.
Read More...
Velvet Arrow - Album Review: Songs of Solitude
17 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
A Song Of Hope & Fear would normally be a contradiction in terms unless darkness prevails and light shines through, which is an appropriate metaphor for the debut album from Whangarei’s Velvet Arrow and the opening song, with Dan Stenhouse’s husky voice helping us through the night against a ghostly horror wail from Hannah Jane. After all it’s just a song to help you through the night, just the words that speak, it’s not real.
Read More...
Gig Review: Atomic: Women of Rock @ The Civic, Auckland - 11/11/2023
13 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
What a feast of nostalgia we’ve had from Liberty Stage (Simone Williams) these past few years, as New Zealand’s finest have Come Together to cover the classic albums which made the soundtracks of our youth. In addition to this, there have also been special tributes like Tami Neilson’s rock ‘n roll party with Dinah Lee, just last month.
Read More...
Dimmer - Album Review: Live At The Hollywood
09 Nov 2023 // by roger.bowie
Wow, not very often that we see alive album these days, an unusual beast, but that’s we have, a 14-track monster from Dimmer, recorded from last year’s sold-out trilogy at the Hollywood Avondale. Which, if you didn’t get to go last year, you can still see on December 2nd at the Powerstation, unless, like me, you are going instead to The War on Drugs.
Read More...
Killergrams - EP Review: Lonely Nights In A Little Town
27 Oct 2023 // by roger.bowie
Someone walked out, and Tom Maxwell has lost his mind, in a gentle, acoustic way. Then his mind explodes in a cacophony of chaos, which might just be what it feels like, losing something that important.
Read More...
View All Articles By roger.bowie

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TIMELESS
    The Weeknd And Playboi Carti
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • TOO SWEET
    Hozier
  • BEAUTIFUL THINGS
    Benson Boone
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem