Dusted Reviews Artist: Meat Beat Manifesto Album: In Dub Label: Tino Corp Review date: Apr. 7, 2004

Dub is alive and well in the hands of the incomparable Jack Dangers, a.k.a. Meat Beat Manifesto. Complete with his signature low bass beats, the Jamaican rhymes on In Dub are lip-quick and smack of dread and rebellion.

In collaboration with DJ Collage, "Spinning Round Dub" is peppered with samples of MBM of yore, with the familiar yelping "oooo, alright!" from "Radio Babylon" making an encore performance. "Super Soul Dub’s" Wolfman Jack-like DJ ending make for a perfect precursor to "Caramel Dub," which references latter-day Kraftwerk's "Musique Non-Stop". The piece features reverb and all-out funk that both touches on trance and plays on simple techno riffs. Dangers uses the beloved vocoder in a way that shows a fond reference to the former electro giants of the computer world; while far from "Radio Babylon" or "Psyche Out," it is infectious nonetheless.

As prolific as they have become, Meat Beat Manifesto has in essence developed into the adjunct lil' brother of Cabaret Voltaire, with a penchant for techno-pop doom.

By TJ Norris

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