Jack Dangers
, who has recorded alone or with co-conspirators since 1987 under the name
Meat Beat Manifesto
, has never been willing to confine himself stylistically -- with the result that
albums have gone in any number of musical directions including industrial, dub, hip-hop, and jungle. On
Answers Come in Dreams
you'll hear all of those elements at one point or another, but here the emphasis is on a reverberantly grim and bottomlessly dark dubstep groove.
Dangers
frankly does not sound very happy on this album, but the music is consistently spectacular, from the bat-cave one-drop ambience of
"Luminol"
to the dubwise techno burble of
"Mnemonic"
and the creepy funk of
"Please"
and the bat-cave reprise of
"Chimie du Son,"
which suddenly blossoms into subtly frenetic jungle breakbeats to end the program.
"Let Me Set"
is built on a deeply eerie sort of zombie-reggae groove -- call it "undeadstep," maybe -- and
"Waterphone"
starts out like a slog through a dark swamp before suddenly (after six minutes) slipping into a funk groove. When he records with
Mike Powell
and
Ben Stokes
under the name
Tino
,
shows a more happy-go-lucky side, but none of that is in evidence here -- though the bongos on
do quietly recall a happier time. Everything else, for all its frequent grooviness and serious rhythmic virtuosity, is grim and dark, though it's worth noting that
' grim darkness is more listenable than many lesser producers' joyful celebrations. Fans of
will want this album without question, but newcomers may want to start with some of his earlier work. ~ Rick Anderson