The Dissociatives is the sole album by the Australian duo of the same name, released in April 2004 by record label Eleven. It peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Three singles were issued from the album, "Somewhere Down the Barrel" (March 2004), "Young Man, Old Man (You Ain't Better Than the Rest)" (May) and "Horror with Eyeballs". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004 they won Best Video for "Somewhere Down the Barrel", directed by James Hackett and Best Cover Art for the album, also by Hackett.
Background
Daniel Johns (of Silverchair) and Australian dance music producer, Paul Mac, met when Mac remixed Silverchair's song "Freak" off the Freak Show album. The two worked on an experimental extended play, I Can't Believe It's Not Rock, released in 2000.
Recording and production
In mid-2003 Johns and Mac collaborated to record an album, The Dissociatives, starting with basic tracks in London and finishing off in Sydney and Newcastle. The pair provided all the instrumental tracks and vocals themselves with Johns writing the lyrics and recording them in Newcastle.
The duo described the music and lyrics in the April 2004 Australian edition of Rolling Stone, "The music is, for me, a combination of excitement, happiness, rambunctiousness and vicaciousness, done to whimsy," Johns said. "I'd add with a hint of melancholy, but it's more outweighed by joy," added Mac. The magazine's writer described the sound of the debut single, "Somewhere Down the Barrel", as a "happy sort of Radiohead."
Release and reception
The Dissociatives was released on 4 April 2004, by record label, Eleven. It was fitted with the Copy Control protection system in some regions. "Somewhere Down the Barrel", their first single, entered the ARIA Singles Chart on debut at No. 25 on 15 March 2004.