Trip-Hop Beat Meeters
I like the whole Pop Art aspect of finding things which were already available and famous, already used, explains Jack Dangers, leader and founder of electronic outfit Meat Beat Manifesto. I always have. Because youre doing something youre not supposed to do. Its dangerous. Its punk rockfor me, anyway. Dangers is referring specifically to a particular approach to visualswhich have always been an essential component of MBMs live presentation. Since 2005, Dangers has been cataloging video footage that hes sampled in the past as audio in his own work. On top of that, hes also collecting video that other bands have used.
Ive been searching out video samples which have been used in songs I grew up listening to, he says, citing Cabaret Voltaires sampling of Beatles footage from Memphis, and Husker Düs use of the famous American GI, fuck you! line from Apocalypse Now as two recent finds that fans can expect to see in the current live show.
So essentially what hes doing is sampling samples and making collages out of existing collages.
Yeah, he agrees, chuckling.
Dangers is particularly excited about the exploding-head scene from the film Scanners.
I like manipulating that one live, he says. Someones head exploding; its brilliant! The Fury is another one with a great exploding-head scene. Me and Ben [Stokes] both do video sampling live. Sometimes we have the same sample and go off of each other.
Like a symphony of exploding heads?
Exactly! laughs Dangers. Its DJ style, an all-in-fun type of thingbut with exploding heads. Theres definitely a lot of humor in what we do. Thats what Im like. I just dont know if people get it. But its like the way Kraftwerk deliver their humor with those head-scratching moments.
Ten years ago, he continues, We couldnt do this at all. But there still isnt a video-sampling box out there. The nearest thing is a D-VJ, which is sort of like a C-DJ, where you can actually scratch with CDs. But its sort of like just having a turntable without a mixer. You have to put it through a mixer, but then you realize thats not enough.
To meet his needs, and in keeping with his digital DIY punk ethic, Dangers has software custom designed by a friend of the band. All told, MBMs visuals rig requires four high-power laptops, while the music requirements are all covered by... one.
Oh yeah, the music, Dangers jokes.
Essentially consisting of Dangers triggering samples, loops and beats along with drummer Lynn Farmer (with Consolidateds Mark Pistel on sound manipulation and the aforementioned Stokes), MBM sets out to toy with the flexibility inherent in the music, a rousing swirl of gut-level dub grooves and heady trip-hop atmospheres spiked with Dangers playful, kitchen-sink, anything-goes textural sensibility. Live, Dangers favors an element of improv and likes to elongate the material, which is a new possibility thanks to the Ableton Live program.
And how much of a challenge does this pose to Farmer?
Lynn can do bloody anything, Dangers enthuses. Hes a jazz drummer, so this is a breeze for him to be able to play solid beats. Weve always worked that way. But this time, weve got more freedom to change the tracks as were playing.
April 26, Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St. (betw. 9th & 10th Aves.), 212-414-5994; 9, $18.50/$20.