3 out of 5

Label: Fonolith

Produced by: Neal Scrivin

The nonstop party of Meatbingo’s The Error of My WAVs is rather exactly that: nonstop, and this has pluses and minuses. On the positive side, despite the breathless disco beat-making of Neal Scrivin across these eight tunes, it’s not exhaustive to the ears. This is really impressive: imagine a full album’s worth of heavy and consistent BPMs thumping outside of a club environment; this is often good for a workout or some other distracting / active activity, but can be too much for a more engaged listen. Scrivin, as Meatbingo, excels at hovering at a level of, like, party funk that’s always on the go, but not so rushed or aggressive about it. All of the extras on top of that beat (chopped up voice samples, Aphex-y synth squiggles) are ever-shifting, making it an ideal blend of being both repetitive and never repetitive.

But the negative side is maybe wrapped up in that: there’s almost so much going on in Error of My WAVs that beyond that core beat, it’s hard to settle into any given song. Scrivin will often start with a really great core hook or sound (Quoting To Be Clever’s robot funk; Contrarian Kid’s hip-swinging shuffle), but after a few bars with that, the samples and squiggles kick in and the songs become – at a macro level – moderately indistinguishable. Micro level, it’s jaw-dropping production and composition, the as-mentioned blend that makes sure the album is never boring, and also always danceable.

The overall effect of this plus and minus is, logically, somewhat neutral, though: so much fun while the jam is going, but it can become a wash of background once you’ve digested the general sound, and there isn’t really an identifiable single you hang on to after its over. Not something I ever regret listening to… when I remember to.