Graphic design for William Basinski by ACRDStudio

In 2002, William Basinski released a collection of 4 ambient albums, spanning a total of 296 minutes, entitled The Disintegration Loops I—IV.The story behind the music is a famous one. In the 1980s, Basinski was recording music from local radio stations in New York onto cassette. He would find small snippets in the music, which was often classical, and loop them into small motifs. Then he left this cassettes in storage until the early 2000s, which unbeknownst to him, let them decay.

When he tried to transfer the cassettes to a digital CD in 2001, they had deteriorated to the point that, as they passed by the tape head, the ferrite detached from the plastic backing and fell off. As Basinski realised what was happening, he allowed the loops to play for extended periods as they deteriorated further, with increasing gaps and cracks in the music.

He finished recording the album on the morning of the September 11 attacks. He sat on his rooftop in Brooklyn, playing his magnum opus, and watched the World Trade Centre collapse before his eyes.

ACRD have proposed a 2019 reissue of the 4 albums that would bring them back to cassettes for the first time, closing their Format Loop by returning them to the format from which they were born. The physical packaging of The Disintegration Loops takes inspiration from a cross, taken from the spindles inside a cassette player. This form holds one of the four albums in each of its arms. This iconic form becomes a symbol for the music itself, without reliance on a specific image.Every piece of type for this project was designed by ACRD. The typefaces Notice, Saisho and Luxman were primarily used, as well as small typographic elements such as the MMLXII logo that that were based on old hifi equipment. Saisho & Luxman were specifically developed for use on The Disintegration Loops.