Music Review!

As promised, here follows my review of Mindless Self Indulgence's new album in its entirety - comments will be afterward. This is a sample of what my writing is like in a journalism capacity...


"Co-ed Punk Band’s Latest CD “Another Mindless Rip-Off” Hopefully Proves Different Than Its Namesake

As with the majority of holiday seasons, Christmas has once again proven to be a successful means to harness consumer greed and exploit the soon to be empty pockets of frantic shoppers. While the motivation for selling certain things at Christmas might simply be the idea of offering the right product at the right time, frequently it is only because the ‘right time’ is the time of year is the season when people spend the most money. Whether or not that is the case with the music industry, however, is debatable.
For the New York based electro-punk band Mindless Self Indulgence the plan seems to have worked like a charm. The co-ed group of punk rockers released what they claim is a “preview of their upcoming 2007 album” on a CD entitled Another Mindless Rip-Off. The album was released in limited pressings through the Hot Topic chain of stores only, leading to some frustration from long time fans fond of the band’s underground obscurist image. Only 15,000 copies were made, and quickly sold out. Luckily, this reporter was able to obtain a copy, and can therefore review this CD as a statement on this lately more and more popular group’s music – as well as advising those inclined to download their music on the value of this release.
For those not familiar with Mindless Self Indulgence (henceforth referred to as MSI), the band’s sound might register as something of an oddity. Attempts to designate MSI as one genre is a challenge in itself – though largely identified by a punkish sound and ethos, the prevalent use of synthesizers and sound programming gives nod to a strong electronic influence. The band has covered songs such as Method Man’s “Bring the Pain” and “Big Poppa” by The Notorious B.I.G., clearly wearing hip-hop and rap influence on its sleeve. Adding further to the confusion, the band has collaborated extensively with industrial artists such as Frontline Assembly and KMFDM – making a literal mish-mash of the band’s influences something along the lines of electro-punk-hip-hop-industrial with goth-metal leanings. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Initial impressions of this album are as to be expected for a supposed ‘preview’ of an up-coming full length – though to their credit, MSI included several remixes of a popular track on this album in order to give people their money’s worth. Clearly demonstrating the vast stretch of musicians in their myriad genres, remixers on this album include Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park fame), post-retro synth-punk band ProCon, post new-wave band The Perfects, and EBM/Futurepop group VNV Nation – as well as a completely unpredictable remix by the virtuoso beat-boxer Kenny “The Human Orchestra” Muhammad.
The album also of course contains some original tracks: five in total. Observed as a whole, it’s obvious this once exclusively obscure and underground band is trying to become a little more public-friendly – as well as exhibiting a noticeable shift to more electronic and hip-hop influences. The electronic influence is taken to high extremes – out of the five new tracks on this album, only one has any member of MSI other than intentionally iconoclastic lead singer James Uringer (a.k.a. “Little Jimmy Urine”) contributing – track number four, “Lush”, features guitarist Steve, Righ? – All other sounds were programmed by Jimmy and the albums producer, James Galus (making up the due entitled “The James Sisters”).
In contrast to their earlier, more ‘classic’ work, songs on this album are more radio friendly, consisting of noticeable chorus and verses – the band also seems to be losing its profanity laden “screw the mainstream” sentiment. The same ironic statements, which parody classic teenage angst and self-importance, are still around – but now the thrill and shock is gone, leaving an album that is weak both lyrically, and musically. In particular, the lyrics from track two, “Pre-Teen Violence” (a title that could have used a rewrite or two) bring up the thought - since when is “Too cool for school” an original quip?
The opening track, “My World”, proves somewhat addictive due to a plinky synth riff that repeats throughout the song. It seems to be one of the stronger original tracks on the album – track number two, “Pre-Teen Violence” is at best, something of a joke – the lyrics make even less sense than MSI’s typical songs, and not in a good way – If MSI’s previous full-length album had good lyrics, it’s easy to see that the band is running out of ideas. The third track, “Frying Pan” proves somewhat danceable, but blends together in a manner with the rest of the new sound this album presents. “Lush”, the next song, is the only on the album featuring more than one member of Mindless Self Indulgence – the more classic sound is certainly here, with the formulaic repetition being phased out in favour of a somewhat haphazard lyrical progression. Perhaps the best track was the final new one on the album – “Born to Be Beheaded” is a fusion of contrasting vocal styles, from Jimmy’s trademark falsetto squeaks and shrieks to a more aggressive style of lyrical screaming. This song’s style is all over the place, but in a very likeable manner, and seems to go back a step into the sound of MSI’s last full-length – which is good for fans of the band’s semi-recent work.
Overall, as a collectable short-stock album, this press is definitely worth picking up – but if it wasn’t in such limited qualities, its value might be debatable. To anyone wishing to check out this genre-transcending, quite literally crazy band, the album’s more mainstream friendly sound might be a nice intro, but to long-time fans, or people looking for a more unique style, the band’s early releases (Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy, Tight, You’ll Rebel To Anything) are more worth acquiring. At the very least, however, Another Mindless Rip-Off is a nice musical tid-bit taste sensation from an unpredictable band that could move in any direction in the future."



Yes, that is my review as a whole. The things I wanted to mention that I'm not saying are - I'm frankly disappointed in this album. I don't like the musical direction that MSI is going in at all - as I noted, only two new tracks were at all decent - though a 2/5 return ratio isn't horrible. They're so different though... different from their last album, and different from the songs I love. You'll Rebel To Anything is my favorite album, but it's not 'real' MSI, and this new album certainly isn't. I'm tired of collaborative remixes, and I don't want hip-hop dance-electronica - I want punk roots, and it doesn't look like that's happening any time in the future.

However, in a rare notion of... something... I've decided to Megaupload this album, to let people out there be the judge. Let me know what you think - limited edition my ass, quite frankly. Really though, I'm wishing for more and better MSI stuff in the future of this year - hopefully their full-length sounds nothing like this 'sample'. Born to Be Beheaded is pretty good though.

Also, I'll be posting another album tomorrow - whether either it, or this, are album of the week, I can't decide. You be the judge...

As promised, Megaupload link is here.