Meat Beat Manifesto - "ACTUAL SOUNDS + VOICES" Play
It Again Sam Records BIAS 345 CD (promo?)
This review June 26 - July 1, 1998
Pietro Da Sacco (mbm@netcore.ca),
Contributing Editor for "The Circular Cosmic Spot"
http://www.sdriver.com/spot/mbmasv1.html
"NEW METHODS, NEW MACHINES, NEW PRODUCTS" :
THE FABRIC BEHIND JACK'S MEAT BEAT.
--------------------------------------------
1. Everything's Under Control - 0:43
`Eerie sounding voices float around with spaceship sound-effects, scratchy
sample "We shall land, we shall land, we shall land." played in reverse,
then we hear some guy shout: "Translate", and the voices whisper: "We shall
land, we shall land, we shall land." This is MBM's intergalactic landscape
of ultra-phonic-smooth sounds: a slow track that leads us into the next
one.
2. Prime Audio Soup - 6:17
`Tapping electronic bleeps, + sample note "spinning, spinning, spinning,"
before the break-beated intro at 0:27 with the sample "Set me free."
Pounding drums with a break at 0:53, then some horn signals and the drums
roll back in. Twisted vocal extract of a woman moaning causes an ambient
effect whistling throughout. Another break at 2:10 with an "oh!" before
the drums kick in again, great effect! . The sample "Set me free" is played
throughout the track. Awesome breaks interlaced within the same beat. 3:10
we hear a James Brown possible sample of "Uh!", mixed between each beat.
There is a defining acid-twitched sound throughout this song (song?) which
is mean, furious and pulsating. There are some moments of solo-percussive
elements, then "Set me free" every eight seconds. 6:00 mark is a break and
we hear "spinning, spinning, spinning" with the drums decomposed and a few
sax notes mixed within the beat. Soup anyone?
3. Book Of Shadows # - 5:43
Engineered by Josh Tobias Roberts. Assistant Engineer: Deanne Franklin.
Recorded at Toast Studios, San Francisco.
`Sounds of a guy trying to yell, scream, cry or laugh at the same time.
0:12 we hear "New methods, new machines, new products" repeated four times,
and some light beats wrapping around the "New methods, new machines, new
products" sample. Subtle layers of tweeking effects start flipping around,
and another layered analog sounding bleep overlaps the previous, drums kick
in at 1:10, and a droning sound swishes around the bleeping ones. 1:55 the
heavily edged warped baseline lingers around a new layer of scratchy tweeks
and screeches. The original "tweek" sounds come back at around 3:00, the
baseline becomes chopped up, and a rhythmical trip-hop stretch leads us
into a relaxing yell of "Build a song." Sounds of water, and a totally
atmospheric feeling soothe the pulsating beats. 4:32 "Man's giving a false
importance to death. Every animal, plant, or man that dies, adds to
nature's composting" . . . "adds to nature's composting." You can also hear
a voice between that sample: "compost," voiced by Jack possibly. An overall
soothing, relaxing, atmospheric, pulsating trip.
4. Oblivion/Humans - 5:52
`This is the vocal killer of Meat Beat's manifestation. High hats start,
then a pounding drum loop sends us into Jack's opening vocals at 0:31 "I
don't want to go, take a trip to nowhere, I don't want to know what it's
like to be there, I don't want to go, and vanish into thin air, into
oblivion . . . " Excellent "Satryicon"/Depeche Mode sounding voice, with
subtle backing-voices for Jack's ultraviolet chords. The bass-line rings
within every pulse, and the beat is very similar to the "Storm the Studio"
styled chaos. "I may as well not care, but everyday's up in the air . . . "
Jack's melodic "Oblivion, somewhere" is inspiring to listen to, the drums
keep your head spinning around, while Jack's vibe makes you think about
what it means to be on this earth. He says things toward the end: "I don't
like humans, can't you see? When they laugh at me, Can't you see" There are
several ambient twisted metal stretches between the chorus: "I don't like
humans." Can't you see is slowed down, and amplified, and the entire tune
begins to loose volume continually until it reaches the end. "Hello" sample
at 5:39, with weird scratches, and sounds. It's in my brain now.
5. Let's Have Fun - 3:30
`Awesome tweeks and weird sounding loop, with high-hat snapping every
half-second. Beat pumps in at 0:15, and we are lead into a Nuclear Bomb
sounding bass-line. This track is hypnotic. At 1:18 there is a chorus
sounding vibe, the voice: "If it locks the parts of your mind, which you
don't particularly want to find", and the chorus vibe spins again, sounds
like an altered flute of some sort, very nice. The bass-line takes over and
the chorus line: "Without you, there's no fun" over and over again. There
is a layer of atmospheric ambient rings of bells toward the end, and that's
just it.
6. The Tweek ~ - 2:25
Mike Powell; Radio
`Many samples interlaced within this track. This is not a tune. It's the
Shortwave extract of Mike Powell's use of radio. "Using lyrics again, not
electronics" is the first sample, then we have two people talking about
"the tweek", "a mature tweek is one that is several miles away." There is a
voice at the end that is altered, and unrecognizable. Cool audio
frequencies here.
7. Acid Again - 5:47
`Interview with some woman talking about her problems, knowing about
drugs, and how she freaked out badly. Her voice is looped into "Acid
Again," when she says "I'll never use acid again." 1:03 we hear a wild cat
screech followed by the armed audio beat, "I dig that" sample. The track
really kicks in at 1:21, where the acid sounding twisted melody spins
around the ultra-phonic audio vibe. 2:36 and the break flips into both
channels, sending us into the next set of sounds, then the track continues
again, with added crispy melodies. There is a long break between 3:54 where
the beat continues to pound away, and a soothing melody rings continually,
until the 4:41 minute mark, and the original vibe scratches your minds eye
again, and again. 5:40 "acid again" last moment, and the track is done.
This is the beat-heavy single we've been waiting for, although i still
think the live version of this track is a little bit crazier, and more
refreshed then the album version.
8. Let Go - 4:44
`I don't recognize the sample, there's some guy screaming something, until
the jungle styled, drums and bass flip into each other, and a wonderful
throbbing melody rings around the drums. A distinguishable sample "Brain!"
can be heard underneath all the sounds. Jack's voice comes in: "Why did you
try . . . why did you try, why?...I need to know to let go." 2:19 the
pulsating jungle beat transforms itself as if it were its own entity, and I
can distinguish something like "That's the brain, that's the groove," while
these altered beats, and swishing twists of eerie ambient extract's flow
into the bass-line. "I need to know" is whispered again. This is a track
lead by its supreme audio beated vibe. Excellent use of twisted samples,
funked out crunch'n bass.
9. Where are You?/Enuff - 5:59
`The bass-line takes the sound-stage, while a subtle drum beat and
daunting swirl of sounds inter-mangles itself with the bass. 0:28 mark we
hear "where are you?". The flipped out speed of drums pulsate in every
direction. The bass-line remains the same. 1:28 break point, leads us with
a solo bass groove, until the beats wrap around again into the vocal sample
"where are you?". Jack has totally redefined the meaning of rough-edged
ultra-pounding drum use. This is definitely the beat heavy track of the
album, extensive use of bass. Then your mind get's blown away again with
the "Psyche-Out" version 1 sample found on the single dated 1990! The beat
pulsates again into a distorted vibe, and we hear "eh NO!" from
"Psyche-out" a few more times. 5:06 breaks into a flute/sax of some sort,
until the snippet at 5:51, and we hear another "eh NO!" from "Psyche-Out."
Fantastic rhythm for your culture all! (I'm not sure what the ".../Enuff"
title means for this track, perhaps after several more listens I might
figure it out)
10. Hail to the Bopp - 4:40
`I don't know where the sample "Join us" "I am one with you now" comes
from, but when mixed inside this ultra-beat heavy layout of drums in the
drum'n bass jungle flavor, you begin to wonder how Jack can mix a wonderful
ringing sound into a massive drum loop, serving elements of congo
extract's, ambient swishes of sound, all in a hypnotical transformation of
powerful music for the mind. 2:42, a break into a newly modified twist to
the drums, which is much heavier. Some odd sounds are flowing around, and
then some guy moaning, then he says: "Come join us," and a woman says:
"yes, I am one with you now," then there is the moaning effect while the
funky pulse of drums flip out again, and we hear the intro to the next
track. This is the fury reinitiated in Meat Beat's hard-edged pulse of
powerful musical sound-scapes. Unbelievable track.
11. Three Floors above You - 5:00
`Another beat-oriented track, deconstructing the way drums are used and
abused into new states of chaos. MBM mix these extensive sounds subtly with
the use of blips and bleeps feeding yours ears what they have always
wanted, the "meat of the beat." There's a sample that is of the German sort
at the 0:19 second mark, I cannot interpret it though. There is a light
bass-tone evident underneath the tweeking of sounds, and high notes with
percussive extractions of beated movements. 1:08 the German voice comes in
attached to The Roland VP-330 Vocoder that Jack uses quite often, I can't
distinguish what is said. Telephone sounding stretches of sound arranged
ever so coherently that the beat continues to amplify above you. Jack's
classic vocoder sample of "Three Floors Above You" reanimates itself a few
times, while a tranquilizing vibe sends us into orbit. Weird tweeks, blips,
bleeps, and scratches manifest themselves inside each other, then at 4:20
mark we hear a woman's voice gently shouting "Three floors," and the same
sample seems to be reversed at the end. Totally Dance-Friendly beats that
will have you on the edge of your sit. This track once again proves that
Jack Dangers is the "Audio-Architect".
12. Funny Feeling +- - 6:10
Brain; Drums, Bennie Maupin; Bass Clarinet, Dan Neilson; Werlitzer
`Another "nuclear-bomb" reggae bass-line, extensive use of drums,
scratches similar to "She's Unreal," bass clarinet and the werlitzer flow
in all directions. The vocal twister of Jack's lyrics display themselves at
0:51, similar to the lyrical patterns of Perennial Divide. "It's a funny
feeling, you wonder if it has a meaning, you know it's a funny feeling, now
that my wounds are healing." Slowed paced "Soul Driver" type beat, with
bass clarinet ambience and tranquility. "Only later did I see, what it did
to me." The break beat kicks in at 2:38, then the soothing chorus-line:
"What it did to me." There's a pulsating drum slap crunching around the
werlitzer from here on. Think of "Assassinator" meeting the ambient sounds
of "Subliminal Sandwich" side 2. It is definitely a funny feeling to hear
such chaos and calm simultaneously.
13: The Thumb #* - 10:47
Engineered by Josh Tobias Roberts. Assistant Engineer: Deanne Franklin.
Recorded at Toast Studios, San Francisco.
Dr. Pat Gleeson - Arp 2600, Echoplex
Bennie Maupin - Saxaphones; Bass Clarinet
Dan Neilson - Fender Rhodes *;
Mark Pistle - Serge *
Mike Powell - Theremin *
`A compilation of artists which result in a full-on jazz seminal of beat
organized ambience. This is the experimental wonder session we have heard
so much about. I cannot quite explain how soothing this track is both for
the mind and feet. The introduction is loaded with funk and jazz, and then
we're lead into the atmospheric pulsating sounds of ambient twists and
turns for about four minutes until the eight minute mark where Jack's art
of scratching audio enjoyment feed our minds into the casual laid back beat
of the "Thumb Session". These last two minutes remind me of "Tweekland."
Casual funk colliding with jazz, the meat beated way.
14. Wavy Line - 1:17
`Yes, this track is pretty short, but it is a full on dub'n bass tune that
should lead you into your wildlife experiences. The shortest quality
intelligent jungle track I've heard. Tripped out beats, oriented in the
fast-forward position, because "The God-Like position, is a Man-made
position".
15. Wildlife - 4:04
`Jack told me that this was his favorite track of the album, so i expected
something unexpecting: A calm experimental ambient tune that is both
mysterious and daunting. There are a few calming lyrics toward the end of
this track that will hypnotize you. You will have to figure them out. It's
a learning experience in itself, so close your eyes, your mouth, and your
ears, because your mind will clearly open itself to the mysterious world of
Meat Beat Manifesto.
Track Notes: Everything's Under Control
Prime Audio Soup
Book of Shadows #
Oblivion/Humans
Let's Have Fun
The Tweek ~
Acid Again
Let Go
Where are You?/Enuff
Hail to the Bopp
3 Floors Above You
Funny Feeling +-
The Thumb # *
Wavy Line
Wildlife
Album Notes: Jack Dangers - Voice, Bass, Stuff
Lynn Farmer - Drums, Percussion
Jon Wilson - Prepared Guitars
Additional Fire: Brain - Drums +-
Dr. Pat Gleeson - Arp 2600, Echoplex *
Bennie Maupin - Saxaphones; Bass Clarinet +- *
Dan Neilson - Fender Rhodes *; Werlitzer +-
Mark Pistle - Serge *
Mike Powell - Theremin *; Radio ~
Engineered by Josh Tobias Roberts. Assistant Engineer:
Deanne Franklin. Recorded at Toast Studios, San Francisco #
Other Notes: Written, produced and engineered by Jack Dangers. Recorded at
Black Lab Again.
Pre-mastered by Arjan Macnamara.
Mastered by Uwe Teichert at Electric City, Brussels. Illustration
and Design by Rich Borge, NYC.
Design Assistant: Craig Sosonka.
Additional Photos by Jay Blakesberg. Video still by Ben Stokes,
H-Gun.
Some extracts were recorded directly from shortwave radio.
Brain appears courtesy of Interscope Records
+ Contains element from "Congo Call" (C. Dodd.) Jamrec Music (BMI).
Performed by Bob Andy. Courtesy of Poly-Rhythm/Heartbeat Records.
"Thanks to everyone evolved."
---Overall Sound Compositon: (1-10) = 9.5
---Overall Percussion Composition: (1-10) = 10
---Overall Rhythm Composition: (1-10) = 10
Overall: 29.5 (...my highest score of the year!)
Summary:
`If you thought "Storm the Studio" was guilty of hard-edged funky drum
loops, then be prepared to indulge yourself into these pulsating rhythms,
ultrasonic bass-lines, calming ambient drifts, electro-magnetic waves of
sound's, and the ever soothing hypnotic lyrics of Jack Dangers manifesto.
Meat Beat have propelled themselves into a sub-bass cosmic audio collage of
sound and innovation. There are no restrictions on the quality of
beat-oriented tracks for this album. Pulling away from the usual drum'n
bass sector, Jack has re-distinguished a sound that amplifies itself into a
new meaning of the word "jungle." There are several elements of jazz fused
with electro-industrial rhythms that prove once again that this album is a
99% Meat Beat Production. "Actual Sounds + Voices" is the combination of
"99%" melded with the fury of "Storm the Studio", and tricked out with the
calming lyrics of "Satryicon" and "Subliminal Sandwich". Prepare yourself
for Jack's Audio-Arsenal which will reach store's October 6.
-Pietro
Copyright: The Circular Cosmic Spot -Archive Section
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