The Dissociatives - The Dissociatives

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Free Music Notes for The Dissociatives

Free Music Review: Happy. Funky. Genius. This album is everything.
Hit: 5 Stars

Like Silverchair's Diorama, I was really unsure of what to make of it to begin with, purely because the music is so different to anything you're likely to have heard from any other artist in recent memory (apart from certain tracks from Silverchair's Diorama). But as I said before, if you persevere with it, you'll get utterly enthralled by it. I'm not saying that musically this is exactly like Diorama, because it's not. The only similarity between the music I've noticed (apart from Mr. Johns' vocals) are some song styles: `Tuna in the Brine' Vs `Horror with Eyeballs' for instance.

The album opens with "We're Much Preferred Customers", a pounding and building intro to the album. It's strangely basic on first listen, but has more layers to it that you first think: a great opener to the album. Next are "Somewhere Down the Barrel" and "Horror with Eyeballs", the former being the first single off the album. Both songs are hugely captivating, and if given half the chance on radio (in the UK) they would be fantastic sing-a-long summer tunes. The happy feel to this album really shows on "Lifting the Veil from the Braille", and just goes to imply how much fun both artists had in recording this album. A song compiled of whistling, `nah-nah-nahs' and some great backing samples makes this one of the happiest damn songs I've ever heard: put this track on in the morning and you're sure to start the day a happy chappy. On about 4 or 5 of the tracks on this album, the guys have used a backing choir; such is the case on "Forever and a Day", and it really does work. It reminds me of the Gerard McMann song `Cry Little Sister' from the film "The Lost Boys" when you hear the kids singing `Thou shall not fall....'. You'll know what I mean if you've seen the film. "Thinking in Reverse" is another pounding and enormously catchy tune... and the song blatantly tell us where some of his inspiration came from `... the hospitals my favourite church'. "Paris Circa 2007slash08" is another instrumental. Odd title, as are most of the track names on this album, but it's catchy, which is pretty hard to achieve from an instrumental song. "Young Man Old, Man (you're not better than the rest)": what a great song. It was a favourite right from the beginning, and had me singing along to the chorus pretty much from the word go. Daniel even does some beat boxing at the beginning, sounds odd but my God its cool. Strange title: "Aaängry Megaphone Man"... again, catchy, up beat and fun. More rockier moments in this one as well, which is fine in my books. The album closes on a song called "Sleep Well Tonight", a song that they had remixed for a b-side the Somewhere Down the Barrel single. I actually like the remixed version of it better than the album version (it's got a kind of bluesy feel to it), but the album version totally fits in and closes the album off just as well as After All These Years did on Diorama.

Both guys have produced an amazing album here that'll appeal to people of all ages, and it's great to hear something different than the tired, repetitive output release over the past half decade. I hadn't heard much of Paul Mac work, but the guy has my respect. And Daniel Johns... an amazing songwriter bordering genius. Actually, he is a musical genius; Paul Mac (more than 10 years his senior) even thinks so.

Don't think twice about buying this album, get it. But dear God, don't make the mistake a lot of people make by dismissing it on first listens. You won't realise what a happy, great record you've missed out on.

10/10 on every track.

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