The Search Engine

This article is about a studio album by DJ Food. For other uses, see Search engine (disambiguation).

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]

The Search Engine
Studio album by DJ Food
Released	23 January 2012 (2012-01-23)
Length	55:24
Label	Ninja Tune
DJ Food chronology
Kaleidoscope (2000) The Search Engine (2012)

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
Source	Rating
Metacritic	69/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Clash	5/10[8]
MusicOMH	[9]
PopMatters	6/10[10]
Record Collector	[11]
The Skinny	[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.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"All Covered in Darkness Pt. 1"	K. Foakes K. Nordine D. Dragon	4:23
2.	"Giant" (featuring Matt Johnson)	M. Johnson	8:30
3.	"Intermission: A New Language"	P. Carpenter	0:59
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. Foakes	2:57
8.	"Outermission: Sheer Fiction"	K. Foakes	0:52
9.	"Percussion Map Pt. 1"	K. Foakes	3:18
10.	"Magpie Music" (featuring 2econd Class Citizen)	K. Foakes A. Thomason	11:18
11.	"A Trick of the Ear"	K. Foakes	9:02
12.	"Colours Beyond Colours"	K. Foakes	2:53
Total length:			55:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.^[14]

• 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
• Henry Flint – illustration
• Will Cooper-Mitchell – photography