IN REVIEW: Mindless Self Indulgence

IN REVIEW: Mindless Self Indulgence - "If"

As hard as it may be to believe considering what usually gets covered here, I'm actually a pretty big MSI fan. Call it my guilty pleasure; my favourite band might be Pearl Jam and I may gravitate toward more organic rock and metal, but sometimes it's necessary to step outside the comfort zone, so to speak.

Back in 1999, while working in radio, I discovered MSI via "Bitches", which was an absurd attempt by Warner Music to earn the crass, far from mainstream band radio play. Nevertheless, I listened to the track and wasn't all that impressed... until a few days later, when I couldn't get that song out of my head with a crowbar. After picking up the 30 track rapid-fire masterpiece "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy", I found myself oddly enamored with the spastic techno-metal stylings and utter lunacy of Little Jimmy Urine's lyrics and vocal delivery. At the time, I didn't even understand what the hell I was listening to; I just liked it, and that was that.

Their long-awaited follow up, 2005's "You'll Rebel to Anything", found them changing it up a bit; the songs were longer, it was sonically more diverse, and had their inexplicably entertaining cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer". Altogether, though, its ten songs brought the proceedings to a close way too soon (at just over 26 minutes). It hardly seemed worth waiting six years for.

Now, back on a major label (Sony this time), MSI delivers "If", which turns out to be a fair split between the first two records. No one can help but to grow up at least a little over nine years, so "If" doesn't really have anything as amazingly immature and crass as some of "Frankenstein"'s choicest moments (though "On It" and "Issues" come close). Thankfully, MSI recognize that most fans aren't looking for world events, and nothing on "If" is dreary. Big, bad beats are everywhere on this album, from the Timbaland trumping club thumper "Bomb This Track" to the trip-hop freak-out anthem "Revenge". It's more adventurous musically than most DJs ever dream of. The fact that there's a band there to flesh out the sound is gravy.

All this said, it's worth noting that the most notable improvement on "If" is songwriting. The gift for hooks that first got me in 1999 is still ever-present on "If", especially on "Animal"; the track plays like 2-1/2 minutes of nothing but hooks. "Money" is probably the closest thing to a conventional song in the band's catalogue. Then, there's "Mark David Chapman", a song whose conception was remarkable (written with fans using weekly questions on the band's Myspace page). The only thing more remarkable is how it turned out; its scattershot progression recalls Mr. Bungle, except with more samples and synth.

If you're looking for solos and soaring epics, you're shit out of luck. If you're looking for social commentaries and causes to believe in, look somewhere else. "If" is pretty much impossible to categorize with confidence; it's like the audio equivalent of "Tim & Eric Awesome Show", except with more midi sounds. It's like a watching a mash up of "Tron", a Gwen Stefani video, and "Dawn of the Dead". Simply put, it's an awesome example of what happens when a band's focus is placed on having fun instead of having hits.

8 GREAT
Release Date: April 29, 2008 • The End/Sony

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

SOUND BITES

Search This Blog