Customer Reviews

If

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let's be honest here...

As a long time M.S.I. fan, this is their first album that gives me an uneasy feeling. The older albums had a lot of lyrics that were inside jokes within the band and wouldn't make sense to your average listener (e.g. Planet of the Apes), which was actually very random and entertaining. Now, these songs seem to be easy to understand and made for the new young generation of M.S.I. fans. I think M.S.I. has forgotten that many of their fans from the Tight and F.G.W.S.S.S. era are now nearly 10 years older.

I think one of the fun things with the old albums was slowly figuring out what Jimmy Urine's lyrics were. Now, apparently somebody came up with the idea for him to make a good portion of his lyrics very easy to understand. (which turns out to be a bad thing) Also, there are some very obvious attempts at songs that are made with the hopes that the younger fans will eat it up. Jimmy Urine is probably around his mid/late-30s. I wish he wouldn't feel the need to make music that caters to 16-18 year olds. The original thing M.S.I. would do at their shows is try to piss off people, but now they are trying to satisfy them.

Don't get me wrong there are some elements of old MSI in here and there are many good songs. However, I'm not used to them having more than 1 bad song on an album, but there is a disgusting run of horrid songs on this CD (especially from track 4 until track 6) that are just the worst songs M.S.I. have ever made. Urine's production has improved, but his lyrics and his delivery of them have suffered greatly. Production = up Lyrics = down Delivery = down

As one of the other reviewers said..I also noticed the over-abundance of hand-claps..which probably have hopes to be used during the live set with the fans. I don't want to see MSI go out with a whimper. I don't want them leaving the music world on this note. I would have been happy with them leaving the industry on the last album, especially if this is what was going to follow. I hope they take a good turn and stop trying to satisfy the little kids at the shows and satisfy themselves (not meaning their pocket-book). This is Mindless Self Indulgence....not Mindless Teenage Fan Indulgence.

I rate this a 3.5, but I won't round up because you have the kiddies who just throw 5s out there without a real review. This is still way better than your average CD coming out lately.

Quick rundown of my opinion of the tracklist:


1.) Never Wanted to Dance - This is actually a pretty good song. Decent chorus.

2.) Evening Wear - The chorus is the what saves this song.

3.) Lights Out - Nothing really wrong with this.

4.) Prescription - Like Adam Cooley said on his review..this song is just horrid. The lyrics are not something that should be written by an intelligent grown man (which Urine is)

5.) Issues - Another song that will probably appeal the young immature kids, but should not have been written and released by a human being with dignity.

6.) Get it Up - Another immature horrible song. The type of lyrics that will appeal to juggalos probably. Not to say MSI is mature, but even on the old albums when they were writing fun songs, they weren't so obviously stupid. There was actually some wittiness behind it.

7.) Revenge - This is M.S.I. This is why we love them. His best delivery on the entire album.

8.) Animal - A very good song. Great delivery...great fun lyrics.

9.) Mastermind - This is such an obvious attempt at making an accessible song. Sadly, it's one of the worst songs MSI have ever made. The music itself is pretty good, but the lyrics and delivery are cringe worthy.

10.) On It - decent song.

11.) Pay For It - Pretty good song as well

12.) Due - Very good catchy song.

13.) Money - Pretty amusing song..the lyrics are pretty entertaining..especially if you've seen Swingers.

14.) Bomb this Track - Jimmy doin' his rap thang....not bad.

15.) Mark David Chapman - Another good song.

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.

It's more like 2.5. It's not really bad by any means, just completely mediocre and forgettable (and MSI's the sort of band I would rather see release a horrible album than a bland one). All of their previous output has been sneeringly sarcastic, antagonistic, hedonistic, manic, ballistic- whereas everything about this album, from the title and packaging to the lyrics, structute and music itself, is completely ignorable. Songs are repetitive and overlong, Jimmy's vocals are lazy and supressed, and the lyrics are uninspired filler. I'm honestly usually the last person to make the assumption that I'm about to, but no album by any other band has seemed so obviously guilty. This is a cash-in.

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.

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!

I've been a fan of MSI since I first heard "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy"... but I'm not here to recount my life story, so let me get right down to the point.

MSI has always been about ADHD-induced, silly, frantic, explosive, energetic and most importantly, "fun". Songs you couldn't possibly dance to (if you call flailing around dancing, then you can) that were "offensive" at every turn. "You'll Rebel to Anything" was a milestone in channeling that energy into a slightly more depressive way.

"if" comes as a pull-no-punches type slap in the face. Have no doubts - this is the finest album since F.G.W.S.S.S. The songs are longer and a tad bit more "mature" in terms of music, but the content remains the same. Urine still spouts nonsense, albeit with more focus. The guitar/synthesizer work is excellent. The overall "content" of this album is... let's just end it with the word "focus", shall we? Channeled into the songs and to the (in)coherent lyrics, this one hits hard. One minor note though: although it's all good fun, there is a depression hidden behind each song, and one only has to scratch the surface to see the duality of "if".

I'd recommend "if" to any MSI fan, and all those who have a knack for the bizarre and the interesting.

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.

MSI are simply fun and outrageous all at the same time. This is great party music for people who like rap, industrial rock, and punk music. This is probably their third best album. Some of their earlier material is still better but this sin't bad at all.

You can't go wrong with MSI. This is not their best album (I have a tie between Tight and You'll Rebel To Anything) but a great listen nonetheless.

not quite as good as youll rebel to anything, and too different from frankenstein girls and tight too compare. but great cd nonetheless