The Disintegration Loops I

William Basinski | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: November 30, 2000
• Label: 2062
• Copyright: 2008 2062
• Total Length: 1:14:28
• Genres: Alternative Rock/Singer-Songwriters
• ASIN: B0013TUO2G
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,563 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Earthly orchestral sounds decaying into interstellar dust, May 28, 2006

By 

dronecaster (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disintegration Loops (Audio CD)

William Basinski is a pioneer of ambient electronic music whose work goes back at least to the early 1980s, carrying the torch of an earlier generation of audio explorers whose primary tools were tape machines, feedback generators, and the like. His approach towards recording produces aural landscapes that are as alluring as they are austere. His most ambitious project thus far,The Disintegration Loops, is a 4 CD, 5 hour work dedicated to the victims of the 09/11/2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, is great enough not just in terms of its length but also scope, and solidifies Basinski's place in the pantheon of outstanding ambient/minimalist artists and composers.

The title of this review is the best way I can find to describe what this highly unusual music sounds like. Much has been said by previous writers as to the process by which these recordings were created, very few however have expressed the impact these loops have on the psyche while listening to them. Pastoral memories of childhood (dlp 1.1), slowly giving way to what sounds like static transmissions from another galaxy (dlp 2.2), with each piece becoming increasingly retrospective. The effect is hypnotic to be sure but also challenging, to listen to a 15-20 second loop being repeated for as long as one hour will be a test for many. But the manner in which each sonic landscape crumbles into nothingness is what makes each of these recordings so fascinating and hence lies its appeal. If you are turned off by minimalism, stay away from this, for it is minimalism in the extreme. But for everyone else, this is the best work of this type of music to be released so far this decade.

Postscript: This will also go well with your Oval and Bernard Gunter CDs.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hypnotically beautiful and haunting, February 24, 2006

By 

Donovan Burton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disintegration Loops (Audio CD)

This is truly a beautiful recording.As i understand, it was made 20 years ago, forgotten, and when re-discovered by the Mr.Basinski, it was literally falling apart. As he transfered it to a new medium, the tape disintegrated and it's perfect. The sound is like a more ghostly Brian Eno ambient release. It loops in and through itself and gradually falls apart as you listen. A special kind of Magickal music that reflects the passage of time like few pieces of art ever have.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In The Eye of the Beholder, March 4, 2008

By 

sao - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disintegration Loops (Audio CD)

While Stephen Dranger's review is a fair literal interpretation of the physical characteristics of this music, (except that I would defy him to create anything this organic and beautiful in ten years with his computer, much less in 15 minutes), he obviously lacks any imagination whatsoever: the crucial ingredient in enjoying any music.

Also these snippets are not of "classical music" but of simple synth music Basinski created over twenty years ago.

Also, the linking of the project to 9/11 is hardly arbitrary or a ploy to emotionalize it. Basinski lives less than a mile from the Twin Towers and was creating the Disintegration Loops as they fell. He and his friends listened to these loops disintegrate on his rooftop through those strange, smoke filled days when it seemed the world was ending. But this music would be profoundly sorrowful without the connotation.