''The Disintegration Loops'' is a series of four albums by the American

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

composer

William Basinski William James Basinski (born June 25, 1958) is an American avant-garde composer based in Los Angeles, California. He is also a clarinetist, saxophonist, sound artist, and video artist. Basinski is best known for his four-volume album '' The Dis ...

, released in 2002 and 2003. The albums comprise

tape loop In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...

recordings played for extended time, with noise and cracks increasing as the tape deteriorated. Basinski discovered the effect while attempting to transfer his earlier recordings to digital format. The completion of the recording coincided with the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, which Basinski witnessed from his rooftop in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

; the artwork features Basinski's footage of the New York City skyline in the aftermath of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

's collapse. He dedicated the music to the victims of the attacks. ''The Disintegration Loops'' gathered critical acclaim. It was initially released in four parts, and was reissued in 2012 on its tenth anniversary as a nine-LP box set. Two orchestral renditions have also been performed and were included in the reissue.

Background and recording

In the 1980s, Basinski recorded from

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

sources,

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30& ...

and

delay Delay or DeLay may refer to: People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and movie stunt pilot * Dorothy DeLay (1917–2002), American violin instructor * Florence Delay (born 1941), French academician and actor * Jan Delay, stage name ...

systems, influenced by musicians such as

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

. Decades later, while transferring the recordings from

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

to digital format, Basinski found that the tape had deteriorated; as it passed the

tape head ''Tape Head'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band King's X, released in 1998 via Metal Blade Records. A music video was made for the song "Fade". "World" is a reworked song from the band's ''Sneak Preview'' demos. The controv ...

, the ferrite detached from the plastic backing. He allowed the loops to play for extended periods as they deteriorated further, with increasing gaps and cracks in the music. He further treated the sounds with a spatializing

reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

effect. Basinski finished the project the morning of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in New York City, and sat on the roof of his apartment building in

with friends as the

collapsed. He filmed the fallout during the last hour of daylight from a roof, and the following morning he played "Disintegration Loop 1.1" as a soundtrack to the aftermath. Stills from the video were used as the covers for the set of four CDs, and several weeks later Basinski dedicated the work to the victims in a postscript in the liner notes. He said that "the events gave new meaning to the musical pieces created by catastrophic decay in my studio a few weeks before."

Music

''The Disintegration Loops'' has a long runtime, and is composed of what are described as "repeated snippets." According to Matthew Schnipper of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', "you hear the piece fall apart, literally." Basinski said in 2011: "I’m recording the life and death of a melody. It just made me think of human beings, you know, and how we die."

Reception and legacy

'' named ''The Disintegration Loops I–IV'' the 30th-best album of 2004 and the 196th-best album of the 2000s. In 2016, ''Pitchfork'' named it the third-best ambient record of all time. It was named the 86th best album of the decade by ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

'', and the 10th best by ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

''. On September 11, 2011, Basinski's work was performed at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York City as a live orchestration to mark the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. In 2022, Basinski's work served as the soundscape of ''Lashing Skies'', a 45-minute immersive journey of five fictional stories unfolding amidst the events of September 11. The artwork, exhibited at Centre Phi in Montreal, was designed and directed by multidisciplinary artist

Brigitte Poupart Brigitte Poupart is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is most noted for her performance in the film '' Ravenous'' (''Les Affamés'') and for directing the 2012 film '' Over My Dead Body.'' Early life Poupart was accepted both to law school ...

.Lashing Skies, A poetic audio immersion, Centre PHI
/ref>

2012 reissue

On September 4, 2012, New York-based record label

Temporary Residence Temporary Residence Limited (shortened TRL) is a Brooklyn, New York–based record label. TRL was started in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1996 by Jeremy DeVine, and initially concentrated on releasing music by Louisville-based bands.

reissued the entire ''Disintegration Loops'' as a nine- LP box set, marking the project's 10-year anniversary and its impending induction into the

National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks in 2001 which k ...

.Temporary Residence to Release Vinyl Box Set for William Basinski's Disintegration Loops Series, Pitchfork
/ref> The collection, which was

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

, was released in a limited edition of 2,000 copies, with a 5xCD version, 63-minute DVD, and 144-page

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and which can serve to inspire conversation o ...

with photos and liner notes by Basinski, Antony,

David Tibet David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is an English poet, artist and musician. He is best known for the musical group Current 93, which he founded and is the only consistent member of, along with his contributions to the b ...

, Ronen Givony and Michael Shulan.

Track listing

References

External links

* * * *
AllMusic

Amazon.comNPR article about the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disintegration Loops 2002 albums William Basinski albums Music about the September 11 attacks Experimental music albums by American artists 2002 compositions Ambient albums 2003 compositions 2003 albums Hauntology