Home > Music > CD Review > Mindless Self Indulgence, 'If'

Mindless Self Indulgence, 'If'

Electro-industrial pranksters are the biggest band you've never heard of

By Kirk Miller

Metromix
April 29, 2008

Critic's Rating:

• Email
• Print View
• Share
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • Yahoo
• Add To Favorites
• Add to playlist

Backstory: Though they started off as a purposely obnoxious and musically limited (but not in a bad way) industrial group, New York's Mindless Self Indulgence have slowly grown into the world's biggest band you've never heard of. Most recently they opened for Linkin Park and topped the Billboard Dance and MySpace Music charts—and the iTunes Christian charts, after the group purposely mislabeled their music on the site.
 
Why you should care: Those hipster electronic/dance/rock bands that dominate the blogosphere these days have nothing on MSI, who mesh retro synths, big beats, heavy metal guitars and the seriously obscene/off-beat musings of singer Jimmy Urine. While "Never Wanted to Dance" and "Mastermind" have potential alt-rock crossover appeal, it's the oddball moments where the group hits its stride. Best bet? The squiggly, minimalist "Get It Up," a duet between Urine and Morningwood's Chantel Claret that offers up a mock ode to groupie love (and the singer's inability to…well, look at the title).
 
Verdict: Although “If” may be a few tracks too long, MSI delivers a record that should appeal to, and mock, metalheads, hipsters, dance-rock fans and those few remaining goth/industrial kids.
 
X-Factor: The final track, "Mark David Chapman," was constructed from scratch through MySpace. The group used a weekly poll of its fans to help decide each element of the song.