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January 27, 2004
US CDx2 :/Run 33783
Jack Dangers - all instruments
Lynn Farmer - Drums and percussion (6)
DJ Collage - mic (2, 4, 6, 9, 12)
Taking the starting point and cues from several of the songs on last year's R.U.O.K? album, ...In Dub re-imagines and reinvents these, emerging well beyond the core ideas and with all the deep grooves, fx and rumbling basslines of the genre and then some! Five songs feature the one-take toasting talents of DJ Collage on the microphone, linking this ultra-modern music back to its Jamaican roots to express a unique continuum. The CD also features four new tracks and two alternate versions for a full dose of shattering electro-dub. The album also includes several completely fresh tracks along with new alternate versions for a double dose of sensory-shattering electro-dub. ...In Dub 5.1 Surround finds Jack Dangers controlling the joystick on six channels of sound to juggle, pitch, and place against the visual backdrop of original motion graphics created by longtime Dangers collaborator and video director, Ben Stokes (DJ Shadow, Meat Beat Manifesto, Public Enemy, De La Soul, The Orb). Jack invokes true sound-clashing sorcery within this wholly new medium and space-busting technology. The end result: sound unleashed and the listener placed at the heart of Meat Beat Manifesto music as never before possible.
The master of spacey dub tracks compiles a whole album of them! There's something intensely satisfying about an artist who always delivers the expected with a high level of quality. It's like having a favorite meal and a favorite restaurant and knowing that every time you go, the experience will be slightly different, you will bring your own, different perspective each time, but there will always be something comfortable and familiar. By now, Meat Beat Manifesto are fine purveyors of musical comfort food. There are no brash surprises or about faces on In Dub, which is part dub/remix record based on RUOK and part experiment with bong hit delays and rubbery bass. The elements of a classic Meat Beat record are all here, from the meticulously constructed beats to the rolling basslines to the spacious ambience that creates a space so unique that even the moments without beats are signature Meat Beat moments. For crate-diggers, sample jockeys and other boys and girls with samplers trying to unearth the wittiest, weirdest bits of sound ever to be recontexturalized into booty-moving tunes, Jack Dangers has once again beat everyone to the punch. The extended sample of an engineer explaining a missle guidance system hands down eclipses my previous favorite samples that are all, appropriately enough, from other Meat Beat records. While In Dub takes a more particular look at the Meat Beat sound through the dub microscope, there's always been a hefty dose of expected rattling high hats and percussion ringing out into space so this doesn't sound significantly different than most other Meat Beat records. It has a more narrow scope than albums like Subliminal Sandwich and Actual Sounds and Voices, but it nails just about every track in a that has come to be expected. - Matthew Jeanes, Brainwashed
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January 27, 2004
US DVD :/Run 33791
5.1 Surround DVD edition with visuals by Ben Stokes and a slightly different tracklist.
Taking the starting point and cues from several of the songs on last year's R.U.O.K? album, ...In Dub re-imagines and reinvents these, emerging well beyond the core ideas and with all the deep grooves, fx and rumbling basslines of the genre and then some! Five songs feature the one-take toasting talents of DJ Collage on the microphone, linking this ultra-modern music back to its Jamaican roots to express a unique continuum. The CD also features four new tracks and two alternate versions for a full dose of shattering electro-dub. The album also includes several completely fresh tracks along with new alternate versions for a double dose of sensory-shattering electro-dub. ...In Dub 5.1 Surround finds Jack Dangers controlling the joystick on six channels of sound to juggle, pitch, and place against the visual backdrop of original motion graphics created by longtime Dangers collaborator and video director, Ben Stokes (DJ Shadow, Meat Beat Manifesto, Public Enemy, De La Soul, The Orb). Jack invokes true sound-clashing sorcery within this wholly new medium and space-busting technology. The end result: sound unleashed and the listener placed at the heart of Meat Beat Manifesto music as never before possible.
[continued from above] The real revelation with In Dub comes with the 5.1 surround sound mix found on the DVD. I've always been amazed at the deft placement of sounds in Meat Beat Manifesto mixes, and with the extra channels of sound, the whole affair becomes an opportunity for Dangers to show off. There is no one better at sculpting sound into an immersive, breathing, pulsing atmosphere while maintaing head nodding rhythms and a sense of humor than Jack Dangers, and In Dub demonstrates that. For those hoping that the DVD edition of In Dub will contain full-on videos for the album's tracks, I would stress that the visual accompaniment provided by Ben Stokes is more along the lines of highly stylized visualizations than music videos proper. Some tracks feature pulsing graphics not unlike a quirky WinAmp viz, while others have a slightly more developed video presentation, but all in all the visual side of the DVD is more of a special feature than a main attraction. The reason to get the DVD is the 5.1 mix, something that will become more and more common, but may not be done much better than it is here. In Dub won't likely change anyone's perception of what Meat Beat Manifesto is at this point, but it's a welcome new release from an old standard that continues to refine, innovate, and satisfy. - Matthew Jeanes, Brainwashed
