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.

The Limited Edition version of Mindless Self Indulgence's new full length, "if", contains exclusive artwork by Jhonen Vasquez (Invader Zim/Johnny The Homicidal Maniac)

Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

MSI Comes Out Swinging April 29, 2008
7 out of 9 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.

3 out of 5 stars

If. May 9, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

I was a little disappointed with this CD. It's pretty good overall, and it's still MSI, but there are a few things that get me.

1) The CD is a lot less offensive.

2) The mixing of the songs is a little unusual at places.

Sometimes it's just that the vocals are shoddy (in Evening Wear, especially). Most of the songs have Urine's vocals much louder than the other instruments.. I find it slightly boring because that means that the drumming and guitarring is much softer. Take Revenge, for example. The guitar is faint (though I do really like the synth in that song). Anyway, I think these tracks could've sounded better in studio.

3) This CD is a more mainstream approach.

Definitely a different approach to writing music, seeing as MSI actually wrote music this time. The songs are longer (sometimes bordering on repetitive-- specifically, the first minute or so of Prescription could've been nixed). I'm not so much disappointed by the songs' length, seeing as many like this compared to their short ones (FGWSSS: 30 tracks, less than an hour, FTW). What I find most disappointing is how they've really embraced the whole mainstream approach.
Nothing wrong with attracting more fans, but does it really need to warrant this type of change in the actual music? As much as I give props to MSI for writing a kickass first track, I remember when they're TV performance came on. People, myself included, said, "Oh, this is cool, guys. Shut up, no one would ever play them on the radio. It's just a tv performance."

Overall, I think this CD is pretty good. I don't think it's a bad album, lots of people love it and I love many of the tracks. However, I still find the more mainstream approach disappointing and I think the sound of the album could have been better. The tracks are more 'natural', I guess, with less electronic sounds. A lot of these songs sound naked without it, though.

4 out of 5 stars

Yes But.. May 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I love the album, but at the same time i feel that Jimmy is catering to a new generation and has tried something new. I'm so glad that I finally have a studio copy of Revenge, but I liked the way he dragged out the title in the live track. It feels like he really has a new direction with his material, but I would have given my right arm for this album two years ago...
Overall, this is an excellent album but don't expect another Tight or Frankenstein Girls because something so catastrophic to the music world could never be duplicated. If you didn't enjoy You'll Rebel To Anything, for the hard hitting punk electronica less hip hop is on this album.

4 out of 5 stars

Packaging/Bonus Review July 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

If you're like me, you're probably looking at this in comparison to the original release version of IF, and wondering if you should spend the extra $10 on this album instead. And since I didn't read anything specific about that when I was ordering, I thought a review on the packaging difference and extras would be nice. I think everyone's pretty much covered the music reviews dead on too, so this is mostly for collecting purposes. :)

This 2-Disc album is not in a regular jewel case. Instead, it folds out into three panels with pockets inside, with the main CD in the left panel, the booklet in the middle and the bonus disc in the right one. Anyone who is familiar with Jhonen Vasquez will automatically be drawn to the artwork found in IF, which is very detailed and colorful that's reminiscent of his JTHM/Squee comic books. If you don't know who he is (or just know him for Invader Zim), you'll be introduced to his playful yet morbid style of humor which actually suits MSI really well. Definitely not mom-friendly (duh), but it's certainly a crowd pleaser. There's even a mini-comic inside the booklet that explains the artwork on both CDs as well, which is a small yet effective connection that I found enjoyable. This is a must-have if you enjoy purchasing CD's for their overall presentation and for sharing purposes (with friends asking me about MSI simply because they saw this in my car, for example).

The Bonus disc contains 4 videos of MSI performing live at different venues along with the official music video to Animal. The audio and quality of the videos are great, but if you've watched their performances on YouTube already, it might leave you feeling as if you've seen these before and might not be worth the extra money, but otherwise are great to have in a collection. If you have friends that might not know who MSI are and are curious about them, this comes in handy as well. Also, in comparison to the design of the actual physical album, I found the main menu of the disc to be a bit disappointing. It's just the cover with simple yellow font on top of the fingers that links to each video, which kind of felt a bit cheap compared to other bonus discs that I've owned. A little more creativity would've really added that extra kick in comparison to the regular version (such as an easter egg), but at this point I could be nit picky.

Overall this is a great addition to any fan's collection who are both new and familiar with MSI. Whether you like their previous albums or this one music-wise is completely up to you though. I personally felt disappointed at first, but after listening to it for two months straight, I absolutely love it. Have fun!

5 out of 5 stars

MSI keep getting better at what they do!! April 29, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

I pre ordered this CD probably a month or so ago and was very very Impatient to receive this new album buy one of my favorite bands ever. As another review said this album is over 26 minutes in length. YRTA was amazing but was over as quick as it came. Don't listen to people saying that they have slowed their tempo. It is still fast and brutal and lots of electronic sounds. After all, Jimmy Urines roots were in industrial and his programming shows. On another note, the artwork is all of Jhonen Vasquez( is that spelt right??) and I love everything he has done as far as his comics go. It just adds to the feeling of the new MSI record. My recommendation is to go see them in concert right now with the Birthday Massacre and Combichrist. The long wait was worth it...now if they only re released "tight".

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