Search - Disjecta :: Looking for Snags

For My Grandmother, and Yours, to give to Us as A Gift

donkeye | all up in your face | 10/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The cover alone is worth the shelling out of hard earned pennies. A luxe edition by the inimitable Designers Republic, with all shades of silver and gold and dark, dental stuff going on amidst cartography and geological dreamscapes.
This is the guy who fronted Seefeel. He put out two albums as Disjecta, this being the first one (I think), the second one also adorned with a gorgeous sleeve, but a bit more carnival sounding, quite creepy.
This album is a truly dark world, full of hard beats and deep ambient noises, drain pipes, crime whispers, other stuff like that. Hard to describe.
Today I was driving my Chrysler Dynasty which I bought from my grandmother for a dollar and I was listening to this album on the stereo while little yellow leaves floated down. It is also the day that the new Aphex Twin album came out, October 23, 2001, and I thought about that album and what, if any, changes have ocurred in IDM since this album came out.
My conclusion? Not a lot. The prescience of albums such as this one, Tri Repeatae by Autechre, and the early ambient stuff by Aphex really set a gold standard that hasn't been conquered yet. For that reason alone, I think you should put this in your shopping basket, or your wish list.
Ask your grandmother to buy it for you as a gift for loving her so much. For taking care of her as she ages, living alone like she does, in that home at the edge of the road, with her jewelry fading."

Meditation of the dragon

loteq | Regensburg | 06/08/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Upon the dissolution of much-praised techno-rockers Seefeel, guitarist and band-leader Mark Clifford instantly launched his solo project Disjecta. The other three members went on to form Scala and released the album "Beauty nowhere", a collection of sporadic recordings. "Looking for snags" is a 47-minute EP which continues to explore areas of the same abstract music as Seefeel, but it isn't a refinement of previous concerns. The strange beauty that goes along with Seefeel's work has been replaced by a fairly abrasive, menacing undercurrent. With shattered bass lines, metallic splinters, and clinical production, "Looking.." is devoid of even the slightest hint of humanity. Still, the record's pivotal problem lies in its rhythms. On tracks like "Here", "Gyric", and "Skeeze", Clifford tends to mess up the otherwise well-rounded soundscapes with unpleasant anti-grooves and pointless drum loops. "Dormin" and "Facemaker" are the best tracks, with pulsating beats and brooding atmospherics. All of the music sounds intriguing, but much of it fails to be compelling. Disjecta's album "Clean pit and lid" is cut from the same cloth, but slightly more ambient-oriented and accessible. However, for all fans of Warp label artists, Disjecta's output will prove a worthwhile territory."