Subliminal Sandwich

Subliminal Sandwich
Studio album by Meat Beat Manifesto
Released 4 June 1996
Recorded 1993-1996
Genre Electronica, trip-hop, big beat, ambient, electro-industrial, experimental
Length 68:50 (disc 1)
69:03 (disc 2)
Label Interscope
Producer Jack Dangers
Meat Beat Manifesto chronology

Satyricon
(1992)		 Subliminal Sandwich
(1996)		 Actual Sounds + Voices
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
NME 8/10[2]
Almost Cool 8/10[3]
Rolling Stone [4]
Alternative Press [5]

Subliminal Sandwich is a 1996 double album released by Meat Beat Manifesto on Interscope Records. A stronger dub and reggae influence is felt here than on any other MBM album. The first disc is standard MBM fare, a highly energetic and densely packed collection of songs that meld a variety of genres together and make heavy use of sampling. The second disc, on the other hand, is far more experimental in nature, being composed of lengthier pieces that incorporate more ambient textures and drones and fewer samples or definable song structures.

Subliminal Sandwich was composed during the 1993 tour supporting the Satyricon album and would have been released in 1994 or 1995 if not for legal tangles with Meat Beat's Belgian label Play It Again Sam.[6]

The album received a "9" rating from the NME. The double disc did not sell well in America, despite being on Trent Reznor's Nothing Records and despite having a hooky single - "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" - which was accompanied by a big budget video. The record should be regarded as an artistic success, however, as it manages to combine dub, trance, drum and bass, and industrial sounds with truly rare and invigorating samples.

The song "She's Unreal" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, on a "mix tape" entitled Josh's Blair Witch Mix.

Track listing

Disc one

  1. "Sound Innovation" - 2:18
  2. "Nuclear Bomb" - 6:12
  3. "Long Periods of Time" - 4:33
  4. "1979" - 5:25
  5. "Future Worlds" - 4:56
  6. "What's Your Name?" - 2:47
  7. "She's Unreal" - 4:10
  8. "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" - 6:22
  9. "Mass Producing Hate" - 3:01
  10. "Radio Mellotron" - 1:07
  11. "Assassinator" - 5:22
  12. "Phone Calls from the Dead" - 3:13
  13. "Lucid Dream" - 2:09
  14. "Addiction" - 4:07
  15. "No Purpose No Design" - 2:18
  16. "Cancer" - 4:34
  17. "Transmission" - 4:09
  18. "We Done" - 2:07

Disc two

  1. "Set Your Receivers" - 0:23
  2. "Mad Bomber/The Woods" - 10:16
  3. "The Utterer" - 6:51
  4. "United Nations (E.T.C.)" - 4:05
  5. "Stereophrenic" - 13:03
  6. "Teargas" - 0:38
  7. "Plexus" - 3:29
  8. "Electric People" - 14:03
  9. "Tweekland" - 7:55
  10. "Simulacra" - 8:20

References

  1. ↑ Subliminal Sandwich at AllMusic
  2. ↑ NME (Magazine) (6/8/96, p.51) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Tricky-esque trip-hop, blissed out atmospherics, industrial hip-hop beats....jarring, infectious....the perfect party tape for the oncoming apocalypse..."
  3. ↑ http://www.almostcool.org/mr/745/
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone (10/3/96, p.74) - 3-1/2 Stars - Good/Excellent - "...What at first seems difficult to digest becomes more intriguing and intimidating with time--like an Escher drawing. The more you listen, the more you hear....The second disc is the pop-art coup de grace...ultraedited ambient excursions that veer well into get-out-the-butterfly-nets sonic territory..."
  5. ↑ Alternative Press (8/96, p.80) - 4 (out of 5) - "...seduces with more elastic funk grooves, dubbier bass lines and more exotic embellishments (theremin, Mellotron, waterphone, bass clarinet, e bow, etc.)....the dub funk that predominates will more likely chill your marrow than ignite a disco inferno..."
  6. ↑ "MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO :: It's all about the rhythm". Igloo Magazine. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-07.