If - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
New York's Mindless Self Indulgence (MSI) returns with If, an addictive and chaotic mixture of punk rock attitude, heavy riffs and driving electronic music.

Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Mindless Pandering May 1, 2008
9 out of 13 found this review helpful

I've been a long time MSI fan. I've seen them twice since first hearing "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy" 8 years ago. Tight was a good record... a band getting it's footing and setting itself up. "Frankenstein Girls..." eschewed the idea of the sophomore slump happening. Then came the change. The move away from the spastic, ADD-riddled music that they were experimenting with and into a more metal driven sound. "You'll Rebel To Anything" was a good record, even if it was (in my opinion) not a step forward or backward, but kind of a side-step. Now, with "If", I feel that the band has taken a huge leap backwards. The album on whole sounds as though the band was creating a blueprint for a live show, putting in singable songs with repetitive grooves and hand claps at every opportunity. It's a sound that just doesn't work for a band that has so much potential. I was anxiously anticipating this record from the day I heard they were going into the studio, and my wait has proven to be a waste (though not entirely as the new Portishead album more than makes up for this one).

Now, I feel it necessary to point out that I am not one of those people who thinks that every album should sound like "Frankenstein Girls...". I want for the band to stretch itself and try new things. Experimentation is a wonderful thing, but can also lead to drastic mistakes, such as this. Do I hate Mindless Self Indulgence for putting this record out? Absolutely not. Will I see them live again? Of course. Will I buy their next new release? Yes, and hopefully they will take a giant step forward, back into progression; away from what they think the fans want.

5 out of 5 stars

MSI Comes Out Swinging April 29, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful

First off, I'd like to thank MSI for making an album longer than 26 minutes. They hit the 45 minute mark. Much appreciated! Hah. But anyway, IF is a great album full of all the things that make MSI enjoyable and more. This time, MSI's sound has evolved into a more new wave punk sound. Jimmy Urine's vocals still have some hip-hop tendencies, but there is more singing (and screaming) throughout this record. The guitars have been turned way up and riffs are abundant, giving the album a crunchy punk feel. The synths on this album have an 80's feel to it making IF sound new wave at times which is really cool. You can even hear the bass throughout this record. The lyrics are still usual MSI fare: Prescription drugs, getting laid, dancing, getting laid, and Jimmy's favorite, not being able to get it up. What a weirdo. A lot of the songs on IF have been played live for a couple years so they aren't really new but its nice to finally hear them all sparkly studio fresh now. For instance, you can find Revenge in a more stripped down version on Alienating Our Audience. Now, Revenge is tweaked with Lyn-Z's vocals and some more synths. Cool song. Other highlights include Animal, Mastermind, Never Wanted To Dance, Pay For It, and the hilariously weird Mark David Chapman. I'll admit, I had kind of gotten bored with MSI in the last couple of years having only released one real new studio album in a 5 year period. In my opinion, IF is ten times better than You'll Rebel To Anything, which I think was too short and not nearly as interesting aside from the Nintendo samples throughout the record. As much as I love Frankenstein Girls and Tight for the originality of those records, I much prefer the direction that MSI is going with IF. The straight-forward in-your-face aspect of this album is what makes it so cool. I'm a punk and new wave fan so this album satisfies me on both those levels, while adding that weird ADD-addled flavor that MSI is known for. I totally recommend this record to fans of rock/electronic.

Nuff said.

1 out of 5 stars

If May 12, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is easily amongst the worst albums I've ever heard in my life. I've been an MSI fan since Tight came out and I've noticed a sharp decline in quality from release to release, though each album was still held together by enough strong and interesting qualities (as opposed to being held together by strong songwriting -- but I'll get to that in a second). MSI have always been about being fast, frenetic, and ridiculous and combining it into little one and a half-minute to two-minute bursts of offensiveness. However, they've start to lose their edge as they've grown to "mature" and to be taken seriously (though why they'd want to be taken seriously by the same Hot Topic crowd they had previously made fun of on past albums, I'll never know). And this album proves that they never knew how to write a song to begin with.

On past albums, the songs were quick, catchy, and to the point, so your mind never had time to wander, because the songs never did. However, as they've bumped the track times up to 3 minutes, you'll be hit with boring repetition of obnoxious verses and unclever rhymes. MSI apparently doesn't even care about being offensive anymore, which is a nice change of pace, though the vague political and drug rants on here are tired and not in the least bit interesting. The production is lazier than usual, and the vocals are just awful -- again, Little Jimmy's crazy performance in the short ADD-inspired tracks of before was fine, but here he has to actually attempt to "sing" a bit, and the results are terrible. Add to the fact that his voice is mixed louder than any of the instruments, and you've got trouble.

Sadly, this is just a really long and boring album with only a few okay tracks: "Bomb This Track", "Revenge", and "Animal" are all decent, though oddly they are all the oldest tracks on here. Coincedence? I think not: The older MSI gets, the more they want to create "mature" and "refined" music, and they've lost what made them special to begin with. I'm all about musical growth, and I think You'll Rebel to Anything was mostly in the right direction -- this direction, however, is just a parody of what MSI used to stand for. Just an embarassment.

5 out of 5 stars

If You Don't Like If May 5, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful

MSI's wobbly-legged self titled demo somehow gave birth to the wonderfully strange album, "Tight". Which was a breath of fresh air in it's time. "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy" was a monster of an album but in retrospect it was a one or two trick pony. Still a classic and most fans will agree. They started touring heavy and nothing was hear from them until the live album "Alienating Our Audience" was released featuring a lot of new songs that had only been played live. Around the same time they released a tour-only EP "Despirta Las Ninos" which teased of a new album on the way but wound up being mass produced and made available online and at Hot Topic... the next album wouldn't come for awhile yet. "You'll Rebel To Anything" found them a little wobbly-legged again, darting between songs that were catchy and fresh with some that might've been better off as b-sides. Still, another classic album that most fans love. If you missed it, there was one more EP called "Another Mindless Rip Off" that again promised a new album was on the way with an obvious nod to a new direction in sound... but that album wouldn't come out for another couple of years. That album is "IF".

With all of the MySpace/internet hype that's snowballed over the past few years, MSI have stayed true to what they do best - write funny and completely insane songs. "IF" is a lot more accessable. You can actually understand a lot of what Urine says the first time through. He sings more than he raps and thankfully there are no covers on this album. (Even though "Bring The Pain", "Big Papa", and "Tom Sawyer" were pretty damn good.) A lot of old songs got the studio touch up ("Animal", "Revenge", "Pay For It", "Bomb This Track", "Mark David Chapman") and it honestly sounds like the band is having a lot of fun in the studio now.

"IF" may just be one of their best efforts to date, and dare I say, possibly their best. No, it's not as odd as "Tight". No, it's not as in-your-face as "Frankenstein Girls". No, it's not as indie as "You'll Rebel To Anything". Yes, it's catchy, it's up-beat, it's fun, and it's funny. With special guest appearances by Lyn-Z and Urine's wifey AND mama, it's a whole new playground for them to defile. Can't wait to catch 'em on this tour.

3 out of 5 stars

If....MSI annoys me after a while. April 30, 2008
3 out of 10 found this review helpful

I like MSI, and I think they have a fairly original sound, but their music gets old after a while. I liked the first album (Frankenstein Etc.,), and their sencond album (You'll Rebel To Anything) was probably my favorite...this album (IF) is not quite as good as thier second record. Anyways, this review isn't verry well written, but the bottom line, is that MSI keep on doing exactly the same thing on every record, and in my opinion a person really only needs one MSI album in thier collection...it just gets redundant after a while. If your new to MSI, MSI are a terribly rediculous punk/industrial/electro-hip hop band that sing about sex, drugs, and occassionally about killing people..always in a silly/screamy voice. The lyrics are covered in F words, and it can be alot of fun listening to them sometimes, however, it doesn't matter where you start with this band...it's all the same stuff...nothing new...never serious...just wacky music.

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