"Never Trust the Chinese" by Mr. Meeble was an excellent listening experience for me, especially in the wake of a relationship gone terribly awry. It's been a great soundtrack for me, and the most amazing thing of all is that the title and even the (awesome) album art couldn't mesh more perfectly with the irony of my situation. Which is one that I refuse to elaborate on as I've promised myself this blog won't become another collection of me whining so here I go with my review/wordy walk through the album.
Mr. Meeble is fairly new, and fairly behind-the-scenes. They first dropped NTTC in July of 2008, and released a limited version of it again in 2009, but it's their only work thus far and I stumbled upon it by chance just a few days ago. The trio sticks to a trip-hoppy vibe and swirling electronic noise as their home sound, but they wander away often and to great effect, and color their music with a wide range of effects and emotions.
The album opens with soaring glitches and beeps, then jumps right into the first groove. Two voices bent by distortion and accented with electronic embellishes swap turns singing while a traditional drum sound keeps things moving along. "raindrops" is a fantastic track that incorporates an echoing, ever-so-slightly altered "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" among a plethora of other electronic beeps and instruments, including a bass guitar and hip-hoppy beat. And with this sound setting the stage, it moves seamlessly from this funked-up tribute to a classic song, to a relaxed Rhodes piano and slammed poem. In writing, that probably sounds like it wouldn't work, but damn it if it does.
raindrops
Following this impressive mashup, the album travels into darker, glitchier territory, and temporarily ditches the vocalizing for a little ethereal background sound along with some scratched up samples. "dragonfly" returns to singing, with a very poppy and slightly R&B sound, and "it all came to pass" is a distinct turn into soul territory with a dark beat. Then the vocalizing goes back to being nothing more than repeated samples, set against quiet, melancholy sweeps that swell into a purposeful drumbeat.
"every thing is good (part 1)" seems to be the precursor to an actual story. While tracks 1-5 seemed to recount the feelings and experiences of how it all began, "every thing is good (part 1)" quickly rehashes a time when things were calm and happy, then sets off into a steady series of telling vocal tracks that mourn the way it all fell apart. They talk of being "left with something I can't fix," of "leaving something beautiful," of how it's "hard to swallow, all gone south, fucked up for real." Finally, the album closes with a bittersweet, speechless instrumental, appropriately titled: "forget this ever happened."
100 pills
I could really feel the love and loss happening behind this album. It was thrilling, hopeful, and heartbreaking - in other words, it was full of the crazy, beautiful, inconsistent stuff that life is made of. Maybe what it has made me feel is more acute because of all that I'm going through now, but I think whether you can relate or not, Never Trust The Chinese will still manage to pull you by the skin of your teeth into its story.
Wired.com: What do you have against the Chinese? Don’t you know they own all our debt?
Devin: We love the Chinese. But my ex was Chinese, and she kinda fucked my world up, that’s all.
Wired.com: Who is Mr. Meeble?
Devin: Mr. Meeble is not a person. He just sounds like a person. And we talk about him like he’s a person. I think he’s this super big-hearted guy that occasionally has very, very bad thoughts. I wish I had a good answer to that question.
Blain: Mr Meeble has many arms and many legs. Quite a few people collaborated with us on this record.
Michael: Mr. Meeble is an idiot savant.
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