CD Review: Meat Beat Manifesto - At The Center - Page 2

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.

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He is an editor and writer for Jazz.com. He also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org and produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

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