Mr. Meeble
"Never Trust the Chinese" CD
self-released
Genre: pop, electro-pop, trip-hop
Paris, France
Feb 10, 2009 |
The pristine electro-pop of Never Trust the Chinese's opening
track, "Fine," is both the pinnacle of this album and one of the
finest songs I've heard in awhile. The digitally modulated vocals mesh
perfectly with the slick, airy instrumentation -
lending the track a rare beauty that's matched by hooks that
will require a drill to get out of your
head. The funky upright bass bounce of "Raindrops," a modernized
rendition of "Raindrops Keep Felling on my Head," maintains the appeal
in a loungey mode. But from there on, things drop off. It isn't that
the rest of Never Trust the Chinese is bad; it's just a little
inconsistent, and not as fantastic as the first two tracks. There are
still several strong moments - the Air-esque
keys and soulful vocals of "Dragonfly" are simply sublime, and lush
"100 Pills" is irresistibly pretty. However, other songs have certain
strongpoints but would have overall been better left off the album. "A
Ton of Bricks," for example, has a decent trip-hop rhythm/chord
progression but goes on too long and becomes too brashly loud to
maintain listenability. Also bland are plodding "It All Came to Pass"
and glitchy "Cultivation of the Imagination." As a result, Never
Trust the Chinese is occasionally great, often
good, though somewhat inconsistent.
mr. meeble's
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Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 12 tracks, distributed by
CD Baby,
released 2008] |