Jack Dangers & The Orb from igloomag

Combined a couple of related-releases in this review.

Jack Dangers - Loudness Clarifies / Electronic Music From Tapelab
Orb Vs. Meat Beat Manifesto - Battersea Shield

Jack Dangers certainly seems like he's been doing much of late. Between remixing his own work ("RUOK...in dub"), having others do it for him ("Storm the Studio R.M.X.S."), and re-scoring classic sci-fi films ("Forbidden Planet Explored"), it would be natural to assume that a little break was in order. Stuff the idea; Jack returns with two full albums (packaged together, but not of a piece) and a collaborative EP with his mates iThe Orb. So although he never really left, now that Jack's back, how's he doing?



Loudness Clarifies
Judging from the opening track's name alone ("Annihilating Rhythm"), he's doing pretty good. Carrying on in the same minimalist vein of "RUOK?" and "Variations Espectrales," this new one presents Jack in beats/breaks/bass mode, and opens with a bang. The trademark deep, bouncing bass, and precise, snare-dominated drums roll out of speakers as components of well-oiled machines are apt to do. Fans will know what they're getting here -- plenty of not-quite-meant-for-the-dancefloor tracks, a little ambient, some dub, plenty of melody. While it does, in places, sound interchangeable with tracks from other recent MBM/Dangers outings, when the quality of material is so high, this is not really a criticism, as much as it is a recognition that an artist is working at the top of his game, and needs to get as much material heard by as many people as he can. Seriously great material is to be found here, much more so than on the second cd of the set.

Electronic Music From Tapelab
This is a collection of electro-acoustic music created in the Dangers home studio, Tapelab, the pieces of which were recorded for film, radio and television over a period of 10 years. Billed as ultra-complex audio collages, in truth the album is fifty minutes of seriously amelodic ambient music, smacking of pretension of the highest order. Seriously, this album is not for the old-school MBM fans or fans of Jack's more recent minimal direction, but for beard-twirling record-store academics that try to out-hip each other by listening to noise cds found in the avant-garde section and name-drop Morton Subotnick. This only thing to compare this album with would be the second cd in the original pressings of 1996's "Subliminal Sandwich," which showcased the band's more experimental sensibilities, but kept both a beat, and your attention. Thankfully, this album appears appended to "Loudness Clarifies," and the package price is not that of a double album, so the feeling of being shorted isn't as great. One does feel, however, the pang of the loss of an hour spent listening to it that cannot be recovered, and does not enrich the spirit.



Battersea Shield
This one purports to be from two live jams recorded in 2001 and 2004, with Jack, Lynn Farmer (MBM's drummer), and LX Paterson (or however he's spelling it this week). It’s about 32 minutes long, dominated by a long piece, 1855 BC, which runs 18:55. The EP is a fair collaboration; everyone seems to contribute ideas equally throughout, with Farmer's excellent drumming, Jack's bass and synths, and Orb's general ambient "samples, spliffs, and bongos" weirdness. They're firmly in the dub tradition on this release, stretching melody out to the breaking point, leaving plenty of space inside of the beats, with everything inside an echo chamber that just goes on and on and on. Opener "Matron" and "1855 BC" are excellent, and provide the trainspotting fan the opportunity to play "spot the sample," some of which are recycled from previous Meat Beat tracks. "Matron" appears to be a live version of "Horn of Jerico" from "RUOK?." The downside is "Insane," a track from 2004 that plods and stomps in the right places, but feels tired and tacked on. Imagine a 4x4 beat with a shuffle, and the same three vocal samples being repeated ad nauseum, and you're close to both describing this song, and forgettable dance floor fodder. Dangers doesn't appear in the writing credits for the track, actually, making this yet track another unfortunate entry in the Orb's recent discography. Still, worth your money for the first two tracks.