Broadcast Sea

Broadcast Sea began life in 2005. This is their debut album. Inspired, in the main, by the experiences of Trey Cash, brother of frontman Sterling, a U.S soldier serving in the Iraq war this record is as poignant as it is sometimes frantic. It’s a deep and meaningful lyrical journey that deserves to be listened to. Backdropped by crashing guitar riffs and swaggering drumbeats this debut album possesses some decent rock songs.

The album opens fiercely on ‘We’re A Dying Breed’, the emotionally gripping narrative of young soldiers dying for their country. The music is a resounding volley of edgy, capricious, post grunge bestowment. On ‘I’ve Seen Better’ we find all the elements required to make a good rock song. Feedback. Choppy guitar and thumping bass drum beat. There’s a slight distortion to the vocals too, which further enhances the momentum of this track. ‘Black Waves’ continues in the same vein as does the truly outstanding ‘ One Day We’ll Find You’ with its lyrically acerbic ‘may vultures spread their wings and devour you’ assault.

Broadcast Sea show their considerable passion for the broody end of rock on ‘Turning Heads’, the strongest track on this album by a country mile. ‘Heavy Heavy’ and ‘The News Came This Morning’ reveal the band as competent musicians and excellent songwriters. Ending with the brilliant drum led ‘As The Story Continues’ they’ve created a debut that will do them justice and shall continually stand up to be counted should such a need ever arise.

This may not introduce them to the whole of the world but it should definitely rattle at an impressively numerous amount of doors. Their strengths will be recognised and their abilities acknowledged in the shape of several more albums to come. Now that they’ve arrived I can’t see them having to go away any time soon. - Subba-Cultcha

Pluto Records seems to pride itself on having as eclectic a roster as possible. No band on the Texas-based indie-core upstart approaches rock ‘n’ roll the same way – not recent signees Sparks is a Diamond, not fellow Texans The JonBenet and The Dead See, and especially not HORSE the Band. When so many other labels are signing bands that are no more than cookie cutter copies of bands they’ve already signed, a label that actually makes a point to sign an eclectic force is more than refreshing.

Broadcast Sea call Dallas and Austin home but their sound is something far more industrialized than the wide-open country roads that connect these two Texas towns. And now I’m not talking about Ministry / NIN / God Lives Underwater “industrial” but the actual rusted wheels, broken windows, grey skies and cold concrete of an industry town. Wounded Soldier isn’t garage rock – it’s factory rock. It’s metal and concrete, coffee and cigarettes; it’s the sound of hard work and hard liquor. This wounded soldier isn’t a boy home from battle, it’s a broken down man who has given his life to the toil of labor.

“We’re a Dying Breed” is the wounded soldier’s ‘Dead or Alive’ anthem. “I’ve Seen Better” is These Arms Are Snakes on downers, a Sabbath-esque riff blasted from a Seattle basement. “Black Waves” – now stay with me here – sounds like The Bends era Radiohead, but, you know, like, pissed off at shit – hauntingly beautiful and jarring in the most perfect of ways.

“Heavy Heavy” is something like The Stooges at the end of a long day, a slow dance with hard drugs. “The News Came This Morning” is slow to unfold but eventually reveals itself to be the most developed tune on Wounded Soldier. A truly great album would have been loaded with gems like this one. Instead it is buried seven songs deep, which is why Wounded Soldier, though full of promise, is mediocre at best.

I feel the same way about this record as I do any of Quicksand’s seminal output – in the right frame of mind, the slow, prodding rhythms, steady swing and constant drive can be soothing (“One Day We’ll Find You”). Or it can bore you to tears (the stuck-in-the-mud “As The Story Continues”). Broadcast Sea are blessed to have been signed by a label that seems committed to exploring that proverbial ‘something different.’ Wounded Soldier is a solid listen, but I’ll be waiting for the sophomore session to make my final judgment on this band.

--James Taylor - Decoy Music

Like the subject matter at the heart of its lyrics, Wounded Soldier is almost too much to bear. The ghosts of fallen soldiers and the traumatic memories of warriors still living seem to haunt every song in this brutal tour-de-force from Broadcast Sea.

A press release notes that singer Sterling Cash was "inspired by the experiences of his brother, who is a U.S. soldier serving in the war in Iraq." Inspired, sure, but "enraged" is probably more accurate. Cash screams cathartic lyrics about pointless death and destruction over harsh, jagged, post-punk riffs, feedback and skull-pounding drums that thud like too-close-for-comfort mortar shells.


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More About
War and ConflictPunk Rock
Consisting of just eight tracks that clock in at 37 minutes, this disc is great from beginning to end. It's hard to single out a standout track, but "One Day We'll Find You" contains what might just be the album's thesis statement. Over a quiet-LOUD-quiet din of twisted guitar melodies reminiscent of Polvo and June of '44, Cash alternately screams and chants the terrifying chorus "We're dead, we're dead, we're dead/One day we will find you." - The Dallas Observer

Anyone with a casual interest in music can take the time to study an instrument and start a band. But you can't teach unadulterated passion – the kind that forsakes everything rational in favor of articulating the sounds in your head, the kind that makes life worth living.

In that respect, the members of Broadcast Sea (myspace.com/broadcastsea) are proud lifers. Everyone in the Dallas post-punk act has done time in various local bands (Ugly Colors, Constance, Man Is Mostly Water) over the past decade. The biggest lesson learned? Rock doesn't pay.

No matter; that's why the good Lord invented day jobs. So the guys keep doing what they love in their free time. Lost Generation, the group's recently completed six-song EP, looks to assert the defiant, hard-headed ethos that's kept the members of Broadcast Sea vibrant.

Since releasing its 2008 debut album of taut, wiry rock on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Wounded Soldier (on McKinney's Pluto Records), the band has rarely performed live. Vocalist/guitarist Sterling Cash assures us this has all been for the best.

The time in between its two releases has given Broadcast Sea a chance to grow more into its own skin, allowed its members' disparate styles to coalesce. Cash sees the new EP as the band's strongest songwriting yet.

"I learned how to write within a realm that I'm comfortable with and make things flow," Cash said in a recent phone chat. "I really focused on being a lyricist first."

The urge to create and progress the group's sound translated well in the studio. Lost Generation was recorded in just six days this summer in Waxahachie with friend Alex Bhore (the drummer for San Marcos' This Will Destroy You).

With the added bonus of Chris Owens, vocalist/guitarist for the Louisville band Lords, mixing the record, Cash concedes they were fine with paying out of pocket as long as they could be proud of the final product. The record screams for those who work tirelessly, but are overlooked in the music scene.

"This is me saying, 'We're not perfect. We just want to write good music, and we just want to rock,'" Cash said.

Lost Generation is scheduled for release early next year, in vinyl and digital formats. - By Cole Garner Hill / Liner Notes