More info here:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New blog posted "Thank you, Phoenix" on meeble.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hello folks,

******* UPDATE ******* The AcidPlanet.com "A Ton of Bricks" remix contest has lauched! ******* UPDATE ******* The PeaceLoveProductions "Raindrops" remix contest has lauched!

So now we have two remix contests that have launched, and one that will be starting on March 24th. The three contests are as follows:

1. 'A Ton of Bricks' remix contest @ acidplanet.com - LAUNCHED 2. 'Raindrops' remix contest @ PeaceLoveProductions - LAUNCHED 3. 'Every Thing Is Good (part 2)', 'It All Came to Pass', and 'I Fell Through' remix contest - LAUNCHED

Keep checking back here for updated information on all of these contests. They are all FREE to enter, and will have their own prizes for the most popular remixes.

***UPDATE*** Here's the Prizes for the PeaceLoveProductions Raindrops contest:
• First Place 8gb iPod Touch
• Second Place $100 gift certificate from zZounds.com
• First & Second Place Remixes released
• First, Second, and Third Place 2 PLP downloads of choice

************************************************************

NOW, the third contest is something we are hosting ourselves. If your remix is selected, we will be releasing an enhanced version of Mr. Meeble's NTTC album to include YOUR remixes! Also, the winners will get to take a magical hot air balloon ride with Mr. Meeble across the Atlantic Ocean!! Although not quite as cool as the ride, whoever submits the most popular remix will win a new iPod touch.

We graciously received a write up about the contest already on Laptop Rockers!

Here's how it works:

1. Take a listen to the original version(s). "I Fell Through" (117 bpm) and "It All Came to Pass" (122.25 bpm @ 6/8) are on this profile's music player. "Every Thing Is Good (part 2)" (100 bpm) is on the music player over HERE. 2. You must agree to use the Mr. Meeble audio samples only for the purpose of creating a remix (i.e. you can't use Mr. Meeble sounds in other compositions). Also you must agree to give us ownership and rights to fully use your remix. (meaning we can play/distribute/sell/promote your remix however we choose). You will always be given credit as the remixer, however. 3. If you agree to these terms, go to our website and sign up for the mailing list. Check the 'I agree to the terms of the remix agreement' checkbox. Then, write something about the remix contest in the comment field. Once you successfully sign up with valid info, you will be given a link to download the audio files. 4. Download the audio files for 'Every Thing Is Good (part 2)', 'It All Came to Pass' and/or 'I Fell Through'. 5. Create a remix. Any genre/style/tempo is acceptable. We lean more to experimental forms of electronic, rock and hip-hop, but if its good, its good. Get creative. See how FAR you can take it. Make something completely new! For example, why not take the vocals and chop them up, glitch them, granulize them, make pads out of them, vocode with them, change the melody of them, distort them, and generally destroy them? 6. Email us the remix (or remixes if you want to try more than one). All remixes must be submitted by May 1st, 2009. 7. Once we have all the submissions, we will create a voting page where people can vote on their favorites. 8. We will then select the winning tracks that will appear on the enhanced album. 9. Once you are done, why not check out the "Raindrops" and/or "A Ton of Bricks" remix contests?

If you have any questions, please message us or leave a comment below.

Thanks!

mm

Q: Can I use my own sounds, or do I have to only use the ones supplied? A: You can use any combination of your own sounds along with the original sounds provided by us. I would say that the original vocal *should* be used in some manner, at least. the more original, the better! Q: What types of remixes are you most into? A: Check out the "non assault message" single on Last.FM. The original track is on there along with 8 remixes. Each one of them takes the original in VERY different directions, which is what we like.

PREFACE: this post is targeted primarily at musicians/bands/producers/etc.

We all know that the music business is in flux. Record labels are dying, physical CD sales have plummeted, nothing that used to work works any more, and we as independent artists have to keep adapting to have any chance to find some level of success. Yet, there are still tremendous opportunities at our fingertips.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much potential there is for us helping each other gain more exposure, traffic, hits and eventually, fans. Does this sound attractive to you? If so, read on. Now, these ideasI'm writing about aren't exactly original or new - in fact I have read about them on the web. So the concepts already exist - but they usually fall flat in practice.

We as independent artists need to start working together. (And yes, it is work. None of it is particularly hard, but it all takes time and consistent effort). These ideas WILL work, as long as we as artists figure out a way to Connect, Collaborate, and be Consistent. (Let's call them the 3 C's). I will walk you through the rough idea below:

1. First off, let me specify that I will only cross-promote artists that I actually like or are of extremely high quality, and I would ask that you feel the same about our music. This is about raising awareness of quality independent music, not tricking people into buying mediocre or bad music. Besides, its actually quite difficult to write a good review of something you consider bad.

2. Second, this idea focuses on the iTunes music store and Amazon.com. Why? They are the top online music retailers IN THE WORLD.

3. That said, you must have a CD on Amazon.com or a digital album on iTunes - preferably both. (Getting your music on these two sites is another topic; it's really not that difficult.)

4. For the purposes of collaborating with us (Mr. Meeble), your music should be *somewhat* related to the music we create - for simplicity's sake, let just say anything electronic and/or experimental.

5. The first step is getting some positive ratings and reviews for both of our albums. I can post three 5-star reviews of your album on both iTunes and Amazon. You simply need to be able to do the same for our album, in return. All you need to do is have 3 accounts setup on Amazon.com and 3 on the iTunes store. Easy. If 3 sounds like a lot, let's just trade 1. If you want to trade 5 reviews, even better. Here's another idea: If we both like each other's music, we can insert a brief mention of the other project in the reviews! Not a good writer? No worries. These reviews can be 50-100 words long, i.e. just a few sentences. If you *really* can't write, perhaps one of your friends or fans can write a few small reviews for you.

6. Now, with Amazon.com, there are a few other things to take into consideration. One, is establishing credibility in the system. The more 'helpful' reviews you post, the more weight your reviews will carry. One way that we can help each other is to mark all of each other's reviews as 'helpful'. The other factor is establishing a history of music preferences. For each account on Amazon you should go to lots of similar artists and mark that you own the album and rate it with 5 stars. Thirdly, make sure to use plenty of appropriate tags along with your reviews: genres, descriptive words and phrases and similar artists (there is a separate field for tags). Lastly, you should use the "insert product links" feature in your reviews. If you mention Massive Attack, for example, you can make that be a link to a Massive Attack album in the Amazon store.

7. The next step is to create iTunes iMixes and Amazon ListMania lists. What are they, you ask? An iMix is a play list or collection of songs found on the iTunes music store. Any iTunes user can create them, and any iTunes user can vote on them. The more votes they get, the easier they are to find on the iTunes store. The secret is to create an iMix that has some well-known artists included and then slip in one or two of your tracks. Amazon ListMania lists are similar, except they usually are collections of complete albums, versus songs in an iMix. The same effect is achieved - more exposure for our music!

8. Now, if you have an iMix and a ListMania list published, I can give you 3 positive votes for each. You would then give me 3 positive votes for each in exchange. (As of this writing, we haven't published our lists yet - but as soon as we do, I will update this and post the links.)

9. I am also open to the idea of creating hybrid iMixes and ListMania lists - i.e. iMixes with a track of ours AND a track of yours in it. I have no problem adding your album to one of our ListMania lists as well.

10. Now, you should ask all of your friends and fans to help with the process. Many of them would be willing to write a short positive review of your music on both sites. And voting on an iMix or ListMania list is easy.

11. Consistency comes into play here. Obviously, making one or two trades won't help much. With perseverance and consistency, though, you will see real results.

Remember, this is just my first draft of this promotion strategy. I will be refining this thread over the coming days/weeks - hopefully adding more blogs with more specific discussion on what I've hinted at above. I think the REAL secret to our success is building a massive interconnected network of artists and fans helping each other. Imagine if we had 500 iTunes accounts and 500 Amazon accounts that could be used to promote ALL the artists involved. This really could become something quite substantial. I am certain that there are enough quality electronic independent artists out there to make this a reality.

If you have ANY comments, questions, etc. please post them below. I will do my best to respond promptly.

If you are a band or music artist interested in this promotional collaboration - post a comment stating so. We can then proceed via private messages or email.

Regards,
Devin
Mr. Meeble

Most of these link to the original review articles - let us know if you find any others out there. So far, only one has been fairly negative, I highlighted it in red. If any of you happen to be decent writers, we'd love to have you write up a little something about the album. don't be shy or polite - let us have it.

For those of you who don't know, you can buy the CD at Amazon.com and CDbaby.com. High quality mp3s are available from iTunes and directly from us at the meeble.com store.


Scott Thill at Blog.Wired.com
"Coded into the musical matrix somewhere between Depeche Mode and Massive Attack, Mr. Meeble's sonics are dark, digital carnivals."

Martin Cizmar at Phoenix New Times
"There's something to be said for a band that can reimagine the Burt Bacharach classic "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," then sound like Halo 14-era Nine inch Nails a few songs later, but Mr. Meeble manages it."

Chris Merriman at Subba-Cultcha.com
"Mr. Meeble spans the entire gambit of music from balleric chillout to ambient and all points in between with a sense of grandiose that emphasises the epic nature of their sound."

Scotto at Comfort Music
"All about romance gone horribly wrong, but the record never seems maudlin... moody, sure, but in a lush and textured fashion"

Jason at What to Wear During an Orange Alert
"they swirl a bed of sound, deep and dark, around their lyrics of denial and despair of lost love."

BBQCHICKENROBOT.com
"It's poppy enough to catch even the squarest of ears but it contains the right amount of darkness."

esdmusic.com
"Never Trust the Chinese has all the trappings of a debut album by a band who has not yet found their sound."

Nicole Coxe at Evolution of Media
"It weaves in and out of bedroom space electro-pop, glitchy IDM-fuzzed up cuts and darker electronica. A very soulful and sensual dark electronic album, which is sure to find it's way into onto more than just an astronaut's iPod."

Casper Johansson at LostAtEMinor.com
"It will prick your ears, then spin them around and burn the damn things to the ground"

Jason Farrell at Fender Guitar
"Mr. Meeble conjures up the comforting subconscious sounds of '70s-era pop magic mashed within songs destined for next millennium's soundtrack for space travel"

Scott Lemerand at dailyvidette.com
"This is music that exists outside the stereo, it manipulates the mind and brings forth images both eerie and enjoyable. This music sticks to things, climbs the walls and stays there. This is sonic science fiction."

JeanPierre Chigne at JP's blog
"Slow-paced soulful songs that reflect on a broken relationships and reminisce on past mistakes."

WeHeart Music.com
"This Phoenix-based band intrigued me because they are a band, but utilize guest vocals, like electronic artists like Tricky and the Chemical Brothers."

Christy Bharath @ Footprints...
"It's almost as though they have taken Portishead's blueprint for trip-hop and given it a soulful and glitchy twist."

Vish Iyer @ Daily Vault
"The album doesn’t shy away from showing off its pizzazz with its catchy pop items, but at the same time isn’t afraid to challenge the sophistication of listener’s palate and challenge its own eccentricity by conjuring up something indiscernibly wonderful."

Jeff Perkins @ BlogCritics.org
"It’s atmosphere is both undeniably poppy and yet also darkly intimate. It is this blend that becomes their triumph with the latter sensually soaking into your subconscious and taking root before you realize."

This party is going OFF. Wanna be a part of our live HD video shoot? Come to this event. Better yet, bring your camera and shoot whatever you want! (digital cameras, video cameras, whatever!) If we use some of your footage on the finished DVD, we'll give you a shout out in the credits. Yes, there will be a director and crew with pro gear, but we're also looking for the lo-fi shots. Two of our favorite local DJs Epidemic and Bigie will be spinning ultra mad tracks. Special guest hip-hop performance by Chauncey True Love. We will be providing free beer - that is correct - free beer. If you don't like beer, you can bring your own fancy beverage! 21 and over obviously.


You can RSVP this event HERE.

Mr. Meeble
Never Trust the Chinese

Flying in the face of earthly convention, Mr. Meeble issues a warning to everyone who checks out their indie debut album: Never Trust The Chinese. Between its title and content - this Phoenix based trio’s sensual and soulful pop meets dark electronica record is bound to drop jaws, turn heads and offend, oh, maybe about a billion people.

But it’s nothing personal… well, except for the one nameless female who inspired this collection of songs that tell stories of the denial and despair of lost love, personal accountability, remembering, mourning and finally, just maybe, a glimmer of hope.

Like their nearest ‘sounds kinda like’ cousins, Mr. Meeble incorporates both stellar instrumental work and an ethos of lyrical authenticity. Reminiscent of fellow French band Air, NTTC has moments of smooth, breathy vocals over spacey synths, chilled-out Rhodes and orchestral strings. At other times, it sounds similar to Thom Yorke’s Eraser with its emotive, pained vocals over minimal, tense electronics. Those familiar with Massive Attack’s Mezzanine will identify with NTTC’s dark, plodding and ominous vibe. The curious mix of stops, glitches, pops, whizzes, bleeps, stutters, and scratches together with sweeping, sometimes unnerving, visceral emotion is as close to opposites becoming singularly effective as you will find in music, or any art form, for that matter.

Named after an accidental sound made from Styrofoam, Mr. Meeble has developed a hybrid style so unique that critics are having to dig deep into their creative well to describe it. Jason Farrell, of Fender Guitars, hits the nail on the head when he says of Chinese: “At once deliciously vintage and über-futuristic, Mr. Meeble conjures up the comforting subconscious sounds of 70’s one hit wonders mashed within songs destined for next millennium’s soundtrack for space travel… modern, filmy and altogether otherworldly.” Scott Lemerand adds: “This is the music of rust colored skylines and forgotten alleys, the shimmering reflection of streetlights in rain puddles… that exists outside the stereo, it manipulates the mind and brings forth images both eerie and enjoyable. While NTTC is, in one vein, a very unusual, experimental record, it is also a very smart pop record. This is pop music for people who don’t like pop music.”

Mr. Meeble was born as an electronic echo of the cosmos for those who are to travel through it, and not because any one member professes to being an accomplished musician. They are all native Parisians who met through their work developing Styrofoam accessories for the French National Space Agency (CNES). When cosmonauts in the CNES requested music for their maiden voyage, Devin Fleenor volunteered for the project and recruited Blain Klitzke and Michael Plaster. 'Releasing albums and playing concerts was an unexpected consequence of our work. Our primary allegiance will always be to the CNES,' proclaims Fleenor, who is the band’s front man, producer, and vocalist. “We're noise manglers and sound benders,' explains Klitzke, evoking an image of the trio dressed in lab coats, maniacally assaulting a phonograph with an assortment of bizarre utensils and melted rubber. He and Plaster provide the rich, intricately placed mortar to Fleenor’s track-building vision; Klitzke co-produces, designs sounds, and crafts beats, while Plaster contributes with lyrics and songwriting.

The first track on Never Trust the Chinese, “Fine”, introduces listeners to the band by featuring Devin’s faraway, dreamy vocals explaining away his inevitable cynicism within a cushy, extremely hum-able melody. “Dragonfly” is a more upbeat, optimistic tune displaying the album’s lighter pop and soul sensibilities. The blissful mix of instruments and quirky vocal arrangements are not unlike their retro-rocking, electronics-infused counterpart, Stereolab. Moby and his use of vintage blues elements comes to mind with “It All Came to Pass”. The song issues forth a slow, lamenting, soul-filled groove founded on an unpredictable beat that meanders into bursts of electronic bites, evoking an image of a New Orleans Bayou thrust a century into the future. The emotional apex of NTTC is “A Ton Of Bricks,” where the calm of an amazing love is slowly smashed into bits by chaos and pain. “The lyrics are dark, introspective, vulnerable, and simple without sounding common or cliché,” says Fleenor. “The album runs like a progression of feeling imminent doom, to that doom hitting you straight in the head, and on through the aftermath.”

Whether it is the lifelong battle between practicality and ideology within the human soul; the disparities concerning men vs. women; or the epic struggle between life and death, our desires, proclivities, and emotions are significantly influenced by the push and pull of every day dualities. Experimental bands like Mr. Meeble add to the stockpile of yin and yang in our brains via an auditory profusion of diverse implications. “It is a dichotomy of extremes: both futuristic and retro, both technical and organic, both earthy and otherworldly,” says Fleenor, “We’re bringing two very different worlds together: the world of electronica, founded on space age sounds and cutting edge French technology, and the world of pop/rock where artists connect with listeners through strong melodies and down to earth lyrics. Sometimes it’s very minimal and pristine; sometimes a chaotic tsunami of sound.” The diverse fearlessness of their music is a fitting representation of who they are: like the original beneficiaries of their sound, Mr. Meeble is set on breaking away from earthbound restrictions.

hello friends,

our new album is now available on

also, it's available on Amazon.

if you can't find it at Amazon, you can buy the CD at CDbaby.com.

finally, you can listen to the album on Last.FM *** PLEASE go to Last.FM and play our tracks there - we need your help to get our songs into rotation!

If you have any interest in helping us out, please go review the album on one or all of these sites - it would mean a lot to us.

Also, check out the new album review for Stinkweeds Records:

Mr. Meeble
Never Trust the Chinese

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… That just about sums up monsieur Meeble's debut effort, Never Trust the Chinese. At once deliciously vintage and über-futuristic, Mr. Meeble conjures up the comforting subconscious sounds of '70s-era one-hit wonders mashed within songs destined for next millennium's Cyborg Hot 100. Born from the ashes of longtime Valley alternative/electronic outfit Zeta, Mr. Meeble is the brainchild of Devin Fleenor, Michael Plaster (Soul Whirling Somewhere) and Blain Klitzke. Drawing from a Grand Canyon-esque's landscape worth of sounds, influences and ideas, Mr. Meeble's finest moments include: "Fine," an infectious groove layered deep within a collective of Air-inspired androgynous vocal tracks; "Raindrops," true Chicken Soup for the Soul brotha in you; the cathartic wailing of "A Ton of Bricks," reminiscent of Trent Reznor's salad days on TVT; and "Forget This Ever Happened," a must-be-heard track for any Soul Whirling Somewhere fan. And while the songs run the gamut of genres, their exquisite sonic qualities, infectious melodies and Richard D. James-influenced break-beats tie them together seamlessly – not unlike This Mortal Coil's finest works. Modern, filmy and altogether otherworldly, Mr. Meeble's debut album has drawn a fresh and distinct sound from the fractured remains of some of our lifetime's most outstanding musical efforts. A New Hope indeed. – JASON FARRELL


*******
Also, we are still looking for producers to remix a few of the NTTC tracks.

*******