There's something intensely satisfying about an artist who alwaysdelivers the expected with a high level of quality. It's like having afavorite meal and a favorite restaurant and knowing that every time yougo, the experience will be slightly different, you will bring your own,different perspective each time, but there will always be somethingcomfortable and familiar. By now, Meat Beat Manifesto are finepurveyors of musical comfort food. There are no brash surprises orabout faces on In Dub, which is part dub/remix record based on RUOKand part experiment with bong hit delays and rubbery bass. The elementsof a classic Meat Beat record are all here, from the meticulouslyconstructed beats to the rolling basslines to the spacious ambiencethat creates a space so unique that even the moments without beats aresignature Meat Beat moments. For crate-diggers, sample jockeys andother boys and girls with samplers trying to unearth the wittiest,weirdest bits of sound ever to be recontexturalized into booty-movingtunes, Jack Dangers has once again beat everyone to the punch. Theextended sample of an engineer explaining a missle guidance systemhands down eclipses my previous favorite samples that are all,appropriately enough, from other Meat Beat records. While In Dubtakes a more particular look at the Meat Beat sound through the dubmicroscope, there's always been a hefty dose of expected rattling highhats and percussion ringing out into space so this doesn't soundsignificantly different than most other Meat Beat records. It has amore 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. The real revelation with In Dubcomes with the 5.1 surround sound mix found on the DVD. I've alwaysbeen amazed at the deft placement of sounds in Meat Beat Manifestomixes, and with the extra channels of sound, the whole affair becomesan opportunity for Dangers to show off. There is no one better atsculpting sound into an immersive, breathing, pulsing atmosphere whilemaintaing 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 Dubwill contain full-on videos for the album's tracks, I would stress thatthe visual accompaniment provided by Ben Stokes is more along the linesof highly stylized visualizations than music videos proper. Some tracksfeature pulsing graphics not unlike a quirky WinAmp viz, while othershave a slightly more developed video presentation, but all in all thevisual side of the DVD is more of a special feature than a mainattraction. The reason to get the DVD is the 5.1 mix, something thatwill become more and more common, but may not be done much better thanit is here. In Dub won't likely change anyone's perception ofwhat Meat Beat Manifesto is at this point, but it's a welcome newrelease from an old standard that continues to refine, innovate, andsatisfy. Read More
