The Search Engine

Last updated

The Search Engine
The Search Engine.jpg
Studio album by
DJ Food
Released23 January 2012 (2012-01-23)
Length55:24
Label Ninja Tune
DJ Food chronology
Kaleidoscope
(2000)		The Search Engine
(2012)

The Search Engine is a studio album by DJ Food, a project of Kevin Foakes who is also known as Strictly Kev. It was released on 23 January 2012 through Ninja Tune. [1] It received generally favorable reviews from critics. [2]

Contents

Background

DJ Food originally started as a collaborative project between the Coldcut duo Matt Black and Jonathan More. [3] They were subsequently joined by Kevin Foakes (also known as Strictly Kev) and Patrick Carpenter (also known as PC). [3] Black, More, and Carpenter left the project, and Foakes became a sole member of the project. [3]

The Search Engine is DJ Food's first studio album since Kaleidoscope (2000). [4] It includes tracks from three previously released EPs: One Man's Weird Is Another Man's World (2009), The Shape of Things That Hum (2009), and Magpies, Maps and Moons (2011). [5] It features guest appearances from The The vocalist Matt Johnson (on a cover version of The The's song "Giant") and Foetus' JG Thirlwell (on "Prey"). [4]

The album's cover art is an illustration by the comic book artist Henry Flint. [6] Kevin Foakes asked him to draw "a cosmonaut, hanging in space, strapped into an unfeasibly large backpack, the kind you could only wear in zero gravity." [6]

A limited edition of the album comes with a comic-sized booklet, a CD, and a 7-inch flexi-disc. [4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 69/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [7]
Clash 5/10 [8]
MusicOMH Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
PopMatters 6/10 [10]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
The Skinny Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Spin 4/10 [13]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic , The Search Engine received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 from 7 critic scores. [2]

John Bergstrom of PopMatters stated, "Though the interludes have been added to help smooth things out, the album still comes across as a hodgepodge, albeit a pretty good one." [10] He added, "If you have enjoyed previous DJ Food or Ninja Tune releases, The Search Engine has plenty of elements that will sound comfortingly familiar, if not exactly fresh at this stage." [10] Alan Ranta of Exclaim! commented that "The style is mature, intensely smoky and cinematic, recalling trip-hop, gamelan, vintage propaganda, film noir, sci-fi and stag films." [5] Phil Freeman of AllMusic stated, "Surprising as it may be, coming from masters of the quick-cut DJ collage, The Search Engine is a journey worth taking from beginning to end, uninterrupted." [7] Meanwhile, Will Salmon of Clash called it "a tired, conservative and weirdly insular album." [8]

Track listing

The Search Engine track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."All Covered in Darkness Pt. 1"
  • K. Foakes
  • K. Nordine
  • D. Dragon
4:23
2."Giant" (featuring Matt Johnson)M. Johnson8:30
3."Intermission: A New Language"P. Carpenter0:59
4."The Illectrik Hoax" (featuring Natural Self)
  • K. Foakes
  • N. Pearn
  • Ashton
  • Stansfield
  • Kaffinetti
  • Gould
3:42
5."Sentinel (Shadow Guard)" (featuring DK)
  • K. Foakes
  • D. Knott
3:26
6."Prey" (featuring JG Thirlwell)
  • K. Foakes
  • JG Thirlwell
4:04
7."In Orbit Every Monday"K. Foakes2:57
8."Outermission: Sheer Fiction"K. Foakes0:52
9."Percussion Map Pt. 1"K. Foakes3:18
10."Magpie Music" (featuring 2econd Class Citizen)
  • K. Foakes
  • A. Thomason
11:18
11."A Trick of the Ear"K. Foakes9:02
12."Colours Beyond Colours"K. Foakes2:53
Total length:55:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. [14]

References

  1. ↑ "The Final Frontier - DJ Food Interview". Clash . 16 January 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Search Engine by DJ Food". Metacritic . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Cooper, Sean. "DJ Food". AllMusic . Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Lynch, Will (3 November 2011). "DJ Food compiles full-length for Ninja Tune". Resident Advisor . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  5. 1 2 Ranta, Alan (7 February 2012). "DJ Food - The Search Engine". Exclaim! . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  6. 1 2 Montgomery, Angus (12 January 2012). "Comics, illustrations and music". Design Week . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  7. 1 2 Freeman, Phil. "The Search Engine - DJ Food". AllMusic . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  8. 1 2 Salmon, Will (18 January 2012). "DJ Food – The Search Engine". Clash . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  9. ↑ Walsh, Fintan (23 January 2012). "DJ Food – The Search Engine". MusicOMH . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Bergstrom, John (4 April 2012). "DJ Food: The Search Engine". PopMatters . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  11. ↑ Needs, Kris (21 January 2012). "The Search Engine | DJ Food". Record Collector . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  12. ↑ Wiseman, Sam (3 January 2012). "DJ Food – The Search Engine". The Skinny . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  13. ↑ Sherburne, Philip (6 March 2012). "DJ Food, 'The Search Engine' (Ninja Tune)". Spin . Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  14. ↑ DJ Food (2012). The Search Engine (CD booklet). Ninja Tune.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.