Public service broadcasting continues to operate in a something of a political and social dichotomy: on the one hand, conservative columnists and media magnates throw rhetorical grenades in the direction of national broadcasters across the world, hoping that the shrapnel will disturb the foundations upon which public service broadcasting has been built; on the other hand, in a media landscape in which news and entertainment are increasingly indistinguishable, public service broadcasting remains a source of notionally credible information – even if it is coming from a pack of raving left-wing partisans.
You can hear a bit of that charged policy atmosphere in Public Service Broadcasting’s Inform – Educate – Entertain. The opening title track sets the scene for the rest of the album: a grooving post-rock-meets-electronic beat, punctuated with samples drawn from training films, obscure pop cultural material and Margaret Thatcher’s ideological musings; Spitfire is a nature documentary with a radical soundtrack courtesy of Carter USM and the Sand Pebbles. Theme From PSB channels the Tom Tom Club to celebrate the pioneering spirit of public service broadcasting, lest that be forgotten in the deluge of commercial media invective; Signal 30 offers dirty rock’n’roll for a worrying educational narrative.
Night Mail is a reminder of the central role the humble postal service once played in our lives: safe, repetitive, reliable; there’s not much to Qomolangma other than the quietness that would be left were the ABC, BBC or, in the United States, PBS leave our airwaves. ROYGBIV gives us the colours of the rainbow and a catchy pop beat, The Now Generation is as quaint as a weekend pop music show on the cusp of the 1960s social revolution and Lit Up could the lights of the big city, or maybe an institution under attack. Everest takes us for an electro-psychedelic expedition to the peak of the world’s highest – and most famous – mountain; Late Night Final is the end of transmission, the foreboding conclusion to Public Service’s journey.
Some people would have us believe we wouldn’t miss public service broadcasting if it disappeared – we would, of course. And you don’t want to miss Public Service Broadcasting.
BY PATRICK EMERY
In A Word: Informative.
If You Like This, You’ll Like: Mr Floppy, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine.
Best Track: Theme From PSB
