The Dissociatives: another reason to procrastinate from studying

Image courtesy of The Dissociatives.

Hey all, sorry for the absence, studying for finals is taking up most of my time. I'm in college, you see. After I finish studying, I'm too burned out to concentrate on reviewing music. I can only sit in a semi-passed out state and quietly absorb it. But I have a good thing going here and it would be a shame to abandon it now, so here is a brief post with some sonic goodies.

Does anybody remember the Dissociatives? It's Silverchair guitarist/vocalist Daniel Johns' band with musician/producer Paul Mac, who is known for remixing songs for bands like Placebo, Gorillaz and Silverchair, as well as for his own music. To date, they've had two releases: 2000's I Can't Believe It's Not Rock EP and self-titled The Dissociatives in 2004. Their sound is experimental art-rock electronica that, instead of merely combining each member's individual musical styles, MUTATES them to create an entirely new creature.

The Dissociatives' music is disarming, in a very good way. With both EP and album, it's hard to guess what the next song is going to sound like because no song is stamped with a "trademark Dissociatives" sound. One thing is for certain, however. The Dissociatives sees a happy and relaxed Johns, the sound of uncontained joy, of someone who has shed their personal demons and is finally enjoying life and freely exploring music.

As a duo, Johns and Mac have are currently on hiatus and have not as of yet stated plans for new Dissociatives releases- they did, however, join forces again when Mac toured with Silverchair as keyboardist to support 2007's Young Modern.

Though this project may appear as nothing more than a credibility notch to some, the Dissociatives is no vanity project- it's more like the love child of two perhaps unlikely musical partners. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

mp3: The Dissociatives- Take Her Out from I Can't Believe It's Not Rock EP

mp3: The Dissociatives- Aangry Megaphone Man (imagine an umlaut over the second "a") from The Dissociatives

Dissociatives official site

Dissociatives myspace

Silverchair official site

Silverchair myspace

Paul Mac official site

Paul Mac myspace

Paul Mac & Daniel Johns myspace

Damn, this post was meant to be brief. I think it was all the links that made it go on for ages.