I first heard Mindless Self-Indulgence the night I saw Black Sabbath
back in February of this year. I was at a club, and the DJ played this
awesome song that sounded like it could've been a new Nine Inch Nails song,
and a damned good one. My first reaction was "Wow, Trent finally got his
shit together, and released something totally balls-out." Unfortunately for
Trent, the song ("Bring The Pain") wasn't his, as I came to find out. In fact,
it's not even really Mindless Self-Indulgence's. It's actually a cover of a
Method Man (he of Wu-Tang Clan membership, for the uninitiated...) song. Yes,
you read that correctly. These guys had the nuts to cover a Method Man song.
I was intrigued enough by what I heard that night, that I sweated the
release of this record for a good 2 months. Probably could've made some
phone calls, and gotten an advance of it, but I've let some rust collect on
my publicity contacts, so I "took it like a man", and ponied up the cash
when it came out, totally expecting the record to be a disappointment,
because that's always the way it happens when you hear a song off a record
months before it's out, and it's awesome. Well, I was definitely wrong about
the "disappointment" thing. "Tight" is an awesome, awesome record,
and gets an early vote from me for best of '99.
The record is actually quite on the short side timewise, compared to the
75 minute-plus behemoths that bands have become accustomed to releasing. It
weighs in at 31 minutes and change (with almost all the songs under the 3
minute mark), but in that time, it kicks your ass so hard that you don't
mind. A heavy, bombastic, hyperkinetic, obnoxious, mind-altering drug overdose
of samples, pummeling guitar hooks, schizophrenic falsetto vocals, and ghetto
references galore, "Tight" lives up to it's name. Production is top-notch and
unbelievably solid for a debut effort, but apparently, judging by the live
track "Hail Satan!", Mindless Self-Indulgence are far from some overblown
studio wank (well, at least not exclusively...), as they come off as sounding
completely together on what was seemingly just a CBGB's soundboard recording.
Can't wait to see them live later this summer, when they get back from
touring the west coast with Laibach...er...I mean Rammstein, heh-heh-heh...
Highlights from the record include the afore-mentioned "Bring The Pain",
which is so friggin' hard, I can't stand it; "Daddy", which has more hooks
in 1:20 of running time than some albums; "Pussy All Night", which goes
without explaining; and "Dickface", with it's epic soprano shoutout of
"This...goes...out...to...all...my...hoooooooooooooooooes!". The whole
record is great, though, and is guaranteed to be among my prime choices for
Jeep beats this summer.
Forbidden, Bad, Tacky "Comparing Band To Other Bands" Part Of The Review:
Think NIN meets old-school hip-hop meets Devo, with splashes of Prince,
Atari Teenage Riot, Lords Of Acid, Wu-Tang (for the obvious reason), and
maybe a little Marilyn Manson in there, if Manson and co. had their shit together.
To sum up: the caption on the CD artwork (featuring a happy-looking fella
playing accordion) says "strictly for the hardcore niggazz", and I'd have to
agree with that statement.
Final Score **** 1/2 (out of 5 stars)
Scott Crawford can STILL be reached at sdcrawford@earthlink.net, or, if
you're feeling especially daring and your mommy and daddy say it's ok, go to
and visit his home on the web.