First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
Some of the most interesting musical experiments are conducted by members of the 'musical omnivore club'. Membership requirements usually involve some combination of wide-ranging tastes and a talent for "pre-hearing" the correct combinations. This is what I'd normally refer to as the "big ears" phenomenon.
My favorite omnivores include Beck, who brews up big fun with funk, blues, soul and hip-hop, Adrian Belew (a guitarist equally at home playing snarling rock, chiming, Beatle-esque pop, and twisted, avant garde-isms), Bill Frisell (country, straight-ahead jazz, soundscapes and shattering noise) and David Byrne (pop, rock, funk and various Latin musics).
Jack Dangers is definitely in "the club". As the brain (and ears) behind Meat Beat Manifesto, Dangers has produced an extremely influential blend of industrial and hip-hop styles. He went on to lend his remixing and production skills to a wide range of projects with diverse group of artists including David Bowie, Tower of Power, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and, most recently, DJ Spooky and Dave Lombardo's Drums of Death.
Now Dangers brings Meat Beat Manifesto to Thirsty Ear's Blue Series. For At The Center, a decidedly modern and jazzy (emphasis on modern) lineup (Craig Taborn on keys, Dave King (from The Bad Plus) on drums and Peter Gordon on flute) is wrapped around Danger's post-industrial shadings (some folks have referred to what Dangers does as "sound-sculpting"....it kinda fits). The result is surprisingly cohesive despite playing around with tense ambiance on the one hand and pure funk on the other.
The funk comes on tracks such as "Blind", where Taborn's chromatic piano flies over a bass ostinato and King's syncopated drums and "Murita Cycles", which swings with a very sparse pulse held together with bits of snare work, Gordon's flute providing the color. Some of this stuff reminds me of Miles' Bitches Brew with a little less 'density'.
Soundscapes and tension-inducing moments are many, but the best bits come from the two tracks entitled "Want Ads One" and "Want Ads Two". Both feature a disembodied voice reading various types of want ad copy over the music. On "Want Ads One" the music kinda sounds like post-apocalyptic 2nd line rhythm section. On the latter, a more dark ambient sound takes over, with the ad copy ranging from funny to disturbing:
- Young man, successful, 30, wishes to scrap everything and start in a new field. Any suggestions welcome. All replies answered. Box 909.
Or...
- Willing to exchange unborn baby for cottage.
At The Center closes with Dangers in full-on soundscape mode. My kind of thing. "Graduation 1" has scrapey little metallic noises, detuned and plucked notes from the piano and one last bit of sampled voices. It's so good...and good for you.
Today, I cast my vote for Jack Dangers as president of the Musical Omnivore Club.
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