Meat Beat Manifesto
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| Meat Beat Manifesto | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Swindon, UK |
| Genre(s) | Techno Industrial Alternative dance Trip-Hop Industrial hip-hop |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Jack Dangers Lynn Farmer Mark Pistel Benjamin Stokes |
|
| Former members | |
| Marcus Adams Colin James Craig Morrison Mike Powell Jonny Stephens Jon Wilson |
|
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music outfit originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early Years
Swindon was also the hometown of the band XTC, who helped Meat Beat get started.
Dangers and Stephens left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record an album, but the tapes were destroyed in a studio fire before the album could be released. They then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because of its release by Wax Trax Records.[1] In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August of the same year, they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes designed by artist Craig Morrison[2] and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". However, "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, remains the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
[edit] Nothing Records Years, 1994–1998
In 1994 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases.
After Subliminal Sandwich and before the next MBM album, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and guitarist Jon Wilson to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
[edit] RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" Meat Beat EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
[edit] At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released in May 29, 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon, Dave King, and Craig Taborn.[3] While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well-received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre."[4] An EP of B-sides and remixes titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star.[5] Live video footage of the band performing was projected onscreen alongside the triggered samples. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack
In May, 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.[6]
[edit] Autoimmune, 2008–Present
MBM's 9th studio album, Autoimmune, was released on April 7, 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on April 8, 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records.[7] The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip and MC Azeem. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work.[1] The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on March 18, 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same double video screen setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
[edit] Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have put out albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Primary releases:
- 1989 Storm The Studio
- 1990 Armed Audio Warfare
- 1990 99%
- 1992 Satyricon
- 1996 Subliminal Sandwich
- 1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
- 2002 RUOK?
- 2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
- 2004 ...In Dub
- 2005 At The Center
- 2007 Archive Things 1982-88
- 2008 Autoimmune
[edit] Selected Remixes
- Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
- Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
- Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
- Bush "Insect Kin"
- Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
- Deepsky "Stargazer"
- D.H.S. "House of God"
- Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
- Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
- Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
- Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
- The Shamen "Hyperreal"
- Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Meat Beat Manifesto interview". Prefix Magazine. 2009-02-06. http://www.prefixmag.com/features/meat-beat-manifesto/interview-with-jack-dangers-meat-beat-manifesto/24531/. Retrieved on 2009-04-07.
- ^ http://www.cmd.co.uk
- ^ "Meat Beat Manifesto Biography". Artist Direct. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/bio/0,,466841,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-02.
- ^ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19388
- ^ "Autoimmune review/Jack Dangers interview". Wired. 7 April 2008. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/04/meat_beat. Retrieved on 2009-05-02.
- ^ "MBM News page at Brainwashed". 21 May 2007. http://brainwashed.com/mbm/. Retrieved on 2009-05-02.
- ^ "Meat Beat Manifesto returns with 'Autoimmune' on Metropolis Records". Side-Line. 11 April 2008. http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=30722_0_2_0_C.
