''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 Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

. It received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Background

DJ Food originally started as a collaborative project between the

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

duo Matt Black and Jonathan More. They were subsequently joined by Kevin Foakes (also known as Strictly Kev) and Patrick Carpenter (also known as PC). Black, More, and Carpenter left the project, and Foakes became a sole member of the project. ''The Search Engine'' is DJ Food's first studio album since ''Kaleidoscope'' (2000). 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). It features guest appearances from

The The are an English rock band from London, formed in 1979 by singer-songwriter Matt Johnson, the only constant member, and often the sole member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles, seven reaching ...

vocalist Matt Johnson (on a cover version of The The's song "Giant") and

Foetus A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Prenatal development is a ...

' JG Thirlwell (on "Prey"). The album's cover art is an illustration by the comic book artist

Henry Flint Henry Flint is a British comic book artist who has worked mainly for British science fiction comic '' 2000 AD''. Biography Flint has established a following for his work on series such as '' Judge Dredd'', '' Zombo'', ''ABC Warriors'', '' ...

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

Critical reception

John Bergstrom of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' 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." 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." Alan Ranta of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' commented that "The style is mature, intensely smoky and cinematic, recalling trip-hop, gamelan, vintage propaganda, film noir, sci-fi and stag films." Phil Freeman of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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." Meanwhile, Will Salmon of '' Clash'' called it "a tired, conservative and weirdly insular album."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. * Strictly Kev – music, mixing (7, 10) * Dr Rubberfunk – drums (1) * Jeff Knowler – remixing (1, 4), mixing (2, 5, 6, 9, 10), slide guitar (2) * Mike Pelanconi – remixing (1, 4) * Matt Johnson – guest appearance (2) * Mr. P – remixing (3) * Natural Self – guest appearance (4) * DK – guest appearance (5) * King Cannibal – mixing (5) * JG Thirlwell – guest appearance (6) * 2econd Class Citizen – guest appearance (10), mixing (10) * Bundy K. Brown – mixing (11) * Jon Reynolds – mixing (12) * Kevin Metcalfe – mastering * Openmind – design *

– illustration * Will Cooper-Mitchell – photography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Search Engine, The 2012 albums Albums by English artists Ninja Tune albums