I checked out all those 3 videos on the first page and honestly, I thought most of it was pretty strait-forward without bringing anything new at all. Doesn't sound like a grower either I'm afraid :(.

Still a great review though, and you seem pretty passionate about what you write. Looking forward to more :).

Thank you for the compliment very much. I have already started writing my next review on Another Morning Stoner but after reading Mr. Jack Hammer's "which on is Pink" Floyd discography thread I may switch to writing about Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs as Hammer's thread was incredibly inspiring to me.

Hmm...was not aware of that nor any 'spamming' [ but you can PM me if you wish to see my CV for sure ] - I would imagine a band has to be a little more established than MRI though to have a Wiki page already; maybe after Sunfest this year they will ( or when the album is on CDbaby and iTunes ). Thing is, I didn't get the impression at all that MRI is interested in album sales or 'being famous'; all their music is available for free at this point even off their website. That is the main thing that I found so refreshing about them; most bands are like "Buy my CD" and that totally turns me off.

Maybe they're just seeing the way the market is changing. Soon you won't be able to make money from CDs at all, so touring will be the thing .. and then you need to get your stuff out there so people know who you are. :D

On another note, I've seen nina lurking around the boards, biding her time while preparing perhaps this thread. Even if you think her motives are somehow corrupted or the band is ****, she still has contributed with a good review. If someone comes to this site thinking "hey, maybe there's a review of MRI's debut", her thread should come up in the search. That's her putting time and effort into giving something to musicbanter and when that comes from a new member, I think it should be applauded - not frowned upon. This thread has so far generated too much hostility and not enough praise .. and that's not Nina's fault.

I emailed the band about all of this negativity and here is their (Daren's) response.

...I'll have to have someone else check it out as indeed I was banned
from that place
and I respectfully never came back. i didn't tell you b/c I didn't
want you to need to be defensive
and simply write the way you wrote to us about the music for the
interview. since it seems everyone is making a silly rukus about
the album name I will post a "meaning" on our blogspot. but it
doesn't mean a f&^&%$g thing really...just needed a digital tag.
please esnd me the link at yahoo ok?--that is funny that there is a
forum full of people who don't know that people don't buy CDs
anymore. what world is that huh ;p
Sent from my iPhone


and he did.

MRI BLOG PAGE: "Writing On the Wall Is Allowed" - MUSIC BLOGGER, SAY STUFF, REQUEST DOWNLOADS, SUGGEST RINGTONES


Suffice to say, I understand now why I feel so unwelcome here :-(

The member isn't a spammer as I have read posts elsewhere from this member. I appreciate that it's a new band but if wanted to check other posts you would realise that it isn't spam. The mod team are pretty quick at seeing what is and isn't spam.

hey,
I think MRI are a pretty good band,liked their music the first time I heard it,
they also work together with HURT's former producer /engineer Eric Greedy now,which I think is great as well

Really? That's an interesting first post for someone who registered just recently today .. ;)

Maybe you should post a thread in the introduction forum and introduce yourself?

Sh!t thread. This seems more like an advert for the album than a review. I hate music journalists but I accept the fact that they have their agendas and then write accordingly. None of them actually advertise and promote the band though.

OK I feel the need to say that Dani ( Petri ) is the scout who discovered MRI in Germany and put Xyen Records in touch with Eric Greedy & currently manages the band. Also, she is just teaching herself English, so maybe that will help people understand why she isn't writing too much. I know the band showed her this thread as well as Eric Greedy. I am sure you can contact Dani at her my space for more info too; she's a great person from what the band says. Or if you speak German well you can PM her now too I am sure just remember her time zone difference if you want an immediate response.
I hope this bears to shed more light on everything. :-) I thank you all for your supportive posts as well.

Cheers!


Here are support links as per above:

MySpace.com - Daniela Petri - 27 - Female - Munich, Bavaria - www.myspace.com/danipetri

beautiful spirit records and management

Home

This is not a band advertisement; it just seemed that people started attacking from all angles, even questioning the band's validity...I wish we could simply concentrate on the review and not get off track anymore. None of this was my intention; I simply wanted to write a good review that maybe perhaps would inspire a few people to listen. I have been a member here long enough to know that people recommend bands all the time to one another...I feel bad that I was just trying to do the same and everything seemed to get blown out of proportion.

Okay, it's becoming more and more appearant that this review probably was for promotional purposes. If that's the case, you should've been a bit more up-front and let us know that people in the band and people involved in the production are personal friends of yours. The fact you didn't makes me think you left that out on purpose so that those who read the review would think that the praise came from someone who was initially objective.

I thought, perhaps somewhat gullibly, that you were praising just an album, not the first album from a group of friends. I stood up for you earlier in the thread, but this cheapens the thing a little bit, you know. It looks like people are registering on the forum just to praise this album now which I think might be against the rules on top of everything else.

OK then I formally apologize if you feel that way; but I did not want any of this and I am sorry that I feel enthusiastic about them...I simply have been a fan in the same way that one is a fan about Pink Floyd. I thought by including the interview it was clear that I was into giving the band as much exposure as possible. If you do not want me here in the forum anymore becasue I am a journalist, I completely understand and I thank you for being nice to me up to this point. I enjoyed participating in all the other threads except maybe this one. I didn't mean it to turn out like this..I simply sent the band this link after all the negativity....like I owed it to them. As of course they would want to see it as well as all the people invloved...they are just starting out and are as indie as a band can get...doing everything themselves not have a big label to help them out. I thought that people would be very intrigued by some new art. That's all.

Let me know if you want to ban me I would rather quietly leave with my dignity as a writer intact and wish nothing but good things for your forum, which I like a lot, as well as some of the talents I have met here as well.

Sincerely-

Nina

PS if I am allowed to stay I have decided my next review will be on The Spooky Kids ( who became Marilyn Manson ) I do know Brian from back when my sister played in a band called Jack Off Jill in Ft Laud in the 90s. and i think the story of MM is truly amazing.

Thanks for the apology, Nina. I won't comment on your future here since that's up to the moderators, but something you could do is ask someone else here if they would review the album. That way, there would be an undisputedly objective review here as well and that might help increase the validity of your own review .. Plus MRI gains another review for their debut. I don't feel up for the task, but there's a handful of other people here who review albums by request. There's of course a risk that the reviewer won't like it, but if they're as good as your own review implies, then maybe it's a risk worth taking?

I hope I'm not offending you with this suggestion. It's just an idea I got a minute ago while washing up and I thought maybe it could help sort things out. ;)

Thank you for this. I will leave it up to the moderators. I have promised a few already with a download link(s) Their webmaster is supposed to get that to me soon. But all tracklisting files are also available for free download at lastFM. There is an EP too with mostly dance/trance/techno-ish and reggae/ska sounding songs, also a cover of "The End" by The Doors... I would love to see someone else review it/them and in that runs the risk of a negative review... but a well written negative review is worth the read in and of itself so I would enjoy to hear someone elses opinion. I agree...I have read a lot of really awesome reviews in the Editors picks and Journal boards and have been extremely impressed at the great style and music knowledge that many of the moderators seem to have. That is why I chose this forum as it seemed that a lot of people listened to a lot of different things, and that inspired me to write about MRI.


Thanks again for your kindness--

It may be a crock of shit but it's a crock of shit thats not breaking any rules.

People are entitled to promote stuff here as long as they contribute in other areas of the forum , she has been so the thread was allowed.

I'm moving this thread into General Music because there's no reason this band cannot have a thread , however the review itself is completely worthless being it's comes from such a heavily biased source and like Toretorden said , Nina should have mentioned this in the initial post.

And this is not what our Review forum is here for.

Thank you for moving this thread Mr. Urban Hatemonger. Maybe if anyone wants to write a review for MRI they can PM me and I will send them download links. We are expecting a re-mastered single Aside/Bside release from Eric Greedy so I can make that available to anyone.

What is still think is funny is that I first found MB following a link on MRI's home page MRI: BAND INFO, MUSIC, MP3, ORDER CD, DOWNLOAD LYRICS, iTUNES FRIENDLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS OF MRI SONGS, RINGTONES, SAMPLES, MP3s, Download 8 minute epic 'The New Oxygen' MP3 footer links. So the band is freely promoting a website that the band members themselves are banned from...that's pretty funny I think & something for me to write about for sure :-) will make part of a great book one day. You see, I want to write a book about the Florida music sceen starting with The Spooky Kids going up to the present..so that now includes the death of the music industry and corporate record labels and the bands that are part of the web 2.0 generation in Cyberia.

But this is great that MRI has its own thread in its proper place now on the boards here. Thank you very much again all your points are well taken and I will obey all rules from now on. I really do love this forum a lot despite the rocky start Ha Ha HA :-) Cheers on that for having a few good writers at least on board. There is a lot of great reading here and reading is my life ( well, when not listening to music Ha HA )

See you all on the boards-

Sincerely,

Nina

oops

Mr. Stereo Lunch:

I am sorry I never replied to this but the thread got er...sidetracked. Ha Ha

The answer is that at some OMDs, there is no separate indexing for artists with the same names since the bots and smart listeners like Audioscrobbler index by artist name. There was ( now defunct ) German house music digital music - sample duo called "MRI" from about 6 years ago but their stuff is still on the web. MRI being a new band, has to share their LastFM page, and at present the German band has a higher playrank since they have been around for a while but all the albums and mp3s are interspersed and indexed together. The American MRI band albums are "Where Parallel Lines Meet" and "Now And Xyen" EP which has dance-techno and ska-reggae tracks mostly along with some experimental music.

I hope this makes things clear. You can PM me if you want more details-

Thanks-

Nina

Yes I feel dumb & I PM'd you that you got me. I was hoping no one would notice :-) But you did. Addmitted I feel kinda like a dumb girl at the moment. Little did I know what he was going to write.

Fair catch.

Agreed. Hopefully we can all start over now.
Thank You :-)

-Nina

BTW in case anyone is interested here is a free download ( cd quality ) of MRI's 1st single "Helicopter Head" that was just put up on the MRI website:
MRI Free CD audio quality WAV Downloads - SINGLE: Helicopter Head (side a) The Beautiful And Dangerous (side b) © 2009 Xyen Records - MRI is Alan Cruz - Drums, Daren Thomas Turner - Guitars/Vox/Piano, Daniel Denial - Bass Free to love it or abhor it LOL. There is a "B" side too that is pretty raw and untamed sounding.

Mri
 

I should have put my album review here 1st :-) in Indie/Alt. I could have avoided all that trouble. :-) Anyway, as far as 'indie' bands go MRI is probably the quintessence of 'indie'. They own their own label (Xyen Records) and are currently working with Eric Greedy who produced Hurt Vol 1 & 2.

Helicopter Head single

The have a small but growing audience; they even have been 'covered' already with fans posting their renditions of "Helicopter Head" to youTube:

YouTube - Helicopter head cover


here is the original video by MRI:
YouTube - "Helicopter Head" MRI Music Video


Xyen Records Video Channel:
YouTube - XyenRecords's Channel

I'm obviously a big fan but I have seen this band evolve in FL for over 6 years: check them out...all their songs don't sound like Alice In Chains anymore; they have evolved out of that stage for the most part, I think, into a more (early stage) Radiohead-ish Indie spirit. The songs are all different sounding and intriguing now. I am curious to what the Indie crowd here thinks as well.

Cheers!

-Nina :-)

http://www.mediumrangeintelligence.com/mri_tech1.jpg

well said WB!

Anyway Nina I finally had the time to read through all this. Phew! Fun thread. As for the review itself; great job: you have such passion in your writing. The tracklisting critiques were excellent! Zana always said you had great ears!

Also, it actually isn't half as bad as you made it out to be when you
emailed us about the title. I see how they kinda trapped you into "reading into it" but this may be my only constructive criticism on your review as well: you got way too defensive when people suggested that it was a dumb album title. I understand that during the interview we played around with some fun ideas but we never really answered the question, did we...and that is my fault for rambling (I didn't know all this was destined for a thread on the Internet)

I can see how people may think it's a dumb title-- but debating it with anyone
is a waste of time -- it simply is what it is and just like '...happiness is a warm gun', Where Parallel Lines Meet can mean anything or nothing at all & can be argued about to infinity.

I feel bad that I didn't really know you were waging a fierce debate when I posted the 'Official Meaning' on our blog or I would have maybe worded it differently...but all in all it's of no consequence as people are going to think
what they think and that's just life; artists and journalists need to understand that if they are to be effective communicators in their medium. Can't please everybody.

The track 'Helicopter Head' did absolutely nothing for me I'm afraid and if you have been getting Alice In Chains comparisons in the past then that's probably why as I cannot stand those 'melodious' grunge bands.

hey jack-

That's a completely valid criticism and I understand
how 'melodic grunge' {well put; I give you that ;p} will polarize listeners.

Also you have a mature taste in music and eclectic one too as evidenced by your Skinny Puppy thread and others I have read by you and I thought were cool.

I'll PM you with a few recommendations; I would guess you would be much more into the mini EP with ska, techno, and experimental music.

Thanks for taking the time to listen - I have taken the band away from much of the AIC influence, "Helicopter Head" is one of the few remaining exceptions ;-)

Mr. Jack Hammer!

I must say I am a bit disappointed Ha Ha :-) because I wanted you to like them! BUT I have to respect your opinion and as Daren pointed out "melodious" grunge bands are a matter of musical preference, Nirvana and Alice In Chains being some of my favorite of all time bands so I fall on one side of the spectrum.

I wanted to apologize to Daren too for being "too defensive" :-) concerning the album title. I am guilty of being too excited over the album in general as it has already been pointed out! Ha Ha

I emailed the band's manager for more tracks they said the entire album is available off their website but when I checked I saw that it is only MP3s, except for the Singles which are full DVD/CD quality download which I am assuming you listened to already. Maybe, Mr. Hammer :-) I can get you some more music that is new. So many songs don't sound like 'Helicopter Head', I think before you write them off completely you should listen to more material. I am not as huge a fan as the more "Experimental Music" but it may be something you would like. I am thinking you might like the Reggae stuff too. Or not :-) And that is also fine! I won't get "defensive" :-) I promise!

Did you listen to "The Beautiful & Dangerous?" I thought maybe you would enjoy the hard-rocking song it has an 'untamed' quality like a cool live track should have. Great guitars! Also "Under The Ground" because it has your name in the lyrics LOL My goal is to get you to like at least one song before the end of the year! :-)

OK all kidding aside, thanks again for your POV. I respect it very much even if I don't agree.


-NN

I will listen to their other tracks- did u say that they are on the website?

Yes! In fact I just PM'd you something that Daren wrote to me about the new single ( "CUT" ) that is up on the website as a high quality download.

I am prepared for you to label some of this song as "melodious grunge" but if you look beyond the sing-song chorus there is a sick and twisted, chaotic NIN element to this in the verses & fade out ending that may appeal to you more. The fact that the song seems to be about self-injury and self-harm ( people who are 'cutters' ) is pretty intense subject matter IMO. Neat guitars in this and overall production is top notch. I think Daren intimated that he sent you the link already but I will post it here for others to check out:

MRI - DOWNLOAD "CUT"


"Helicopter Head" and "The Beautiful And Dangerous" are on the site too as good quality audio file-single releases.

Thanks, Mr. Jack Hammer!!!

-NN

I have just checked out 'Cut'. I thought that the vocals and guitars dominate the sound so you cannot hear the drum tracks hardly at all, but maybe there is compression on the track? I disliked the harmonic vocals but then the riffs changed up a gear and I love those. They have a disorientating feel that should have been used more.

hey jack- you have a good set of ears: I agree with you about the drum mix on that version. In fact, imo you listened to the "tamer" of the mixes we did. I made a few mixes and what I did in response to your valid criticism is have our webby upload a much more drum- presence rockin version to the CUT download page. I think if you were to compare the new download you will
hear a positive difference in terms of drum dynamics

I can appreciate your not liking the vocal harmonies; I simply enjoy a lush vox layering like Queen- Freddy Mercury or Alice In Chains at times for dramatic- larger than life effect. The melodic harmonies, for me, worked as a great contrast against the more 'demonic' spoken word and screamed parts and discordant heavy guitars. The vocals took a while to record- there are 4 to 5 harmonies that are each tripled so thats 12-15 tracks of vocal going on at once
at all times in the sing-songy parts etc.. If you don't like that style of vocals in general it's easy to see how you don't enjoy it the way I do of course LOL

Its cool with me bro just check out the newer download if ya get a chance at least you'll have a better mix for yer collection ;-)

Ok Mr. Jack Hammer :-) so my goal is to try to find an MRI track that you like before the end of 2009 Ha Ha. After cogitating about it a lot; I think maybe switching gears completely may help. Do you like bands like The Police and Sublime? I mean; do you like reggae influenced/ slow ska influenced songs? A song not on the album, but is up on their new myspace ( myspace.com/MRIspace ) called "Diary Of A Mad Cow" might interest you. The drumming has heavy Stuart Copeland influence and guitars sound like Andy Summers. Lots of "air and space" in the mix. Intriguing subject matter as well. I am curious what you may think when you have time to give it a listen. It has a "Rastafari" vibe in the verses and the chorus is very unique almost a Latin Smashing Pumpkins feel w/ drums and unique vocals...overall it reminds me of The Police circa their "Wrapped Around Your Finger" days -- very Sting-esq basslines toward the end too. I can also hear "Pawnshop" by Sublime in the influence.

-NN

I think I am in the process of getting a download of the album and as for Ska I love it but The Police are basically Pop music with a reggae tinge and i'm not a fan.

OK I might have to agree with you on the Police being too 'pop-y' at times; personally I like the early Police when they were more punky-- they got too polished IMHO. I like ska; a lot of my Boston based friends are huge ska heads. I like LA style ska like bands like Fishbone...

You know, Mr. Hammer, when you have time ( as I know you are bombarded by tons of music! ) I think you should just simply download the new MRI EP "The New Oxygen" that they put out. IMO a few songs sound remastered and there is some bizzare stuff on there that is not quite my cup of tea per se, but it may be more right up your alley especially the more expermental stuff. Overall it's an extremely interesting sequencing of songs. The song "The New Oxygen" itself has a lot of Pink Floyd and Geroge Martin-Beatles qualities and is quite an audio journey at 8 minutes in length.

The EP is on their myspace but here is the link on their website as well:

MRI - DOWNLOAD: THE NEW OXYGEN - EP - 8 tracks

There is a tracklisting ( 8 songs ) too on that page; maybe since there are only mp3s of the songs off "Parallel" online; you should opt to download the new EP instead to your collection as it has the high qualtiy CD audio files, lyrics, etc...


-NN!

OK. I will give them another listen.

In a way this thread is a shame, because having just read through most of it it seems that had the thread been cleared and you had put all the various download links in the first post along with a little heads up about who you were and why this thread was here then you would have been home and dry. I don't think anyone really would have been bothered by this if that had been the case and if they had, then they would have been warned and they could have turned away at that point. I say this as I have seriously just sat and read it through page by page and at times the reasons for this thread being here are made to look very questionable.

That aside however it is obvious that you have put a lot of work into the review and into this thread which is always welcome here I am sure. I hope you consider reviewing some bands and albums that you arent trying to help promote in the future as it should make for some interesting reading :p:

Oh and I havent listened to the band yet. Just reading this thread has exhausted me to the point I don't think I could handle it but I may check them out tomorrow.

Mr. Mojopinuk -

Once again I want to apologize for this messy thread. How do you think I feel now too? I embarrassed myself in front of the band and I made the moderators here angry with me; and I have written many apologies both to MRI and to the MB MODS and I also asked to be removed from MB if they deemed so necessary. However, they were forgiving and let me stay with a clear warning and a promise to only discuss MRI in this consolidated thread, for which I am extremely grateful.

The only reason I brought up the new EP is that the debut album is still in limbo because the band has not gotten clearance to release their version of The Beatle's "Tomorrow Never Knows" so it would be legal suicide for them to try to market it. I only was asking Mr. Jack Hammer to listen to the EP as I am not going to review any more MRI here for a very long time :-) Ha Ha.

I would love to do another review of another band btw; I am just a little scared to do so at this point so I have been lying low until maybe I can gain some respect back; respect that I know I must earn since, well...I know no one takes me seriously here anymore but that's OK; it's better than being hated. Let me say again I am truly sorry for letting this thread get out of hand; I was only trying to write a good review of a band I've come to really like these past few years and who's music I think is artistic and significant. But that is simply a matter of opinion and I understand there will always be those who differ, but that is what makes a world.

Sincerely,

-NN

Nina!

We love you like a sister and you know how much we appreciate what you do as a writer and fan, however I must agree with a lot of what MojoP is saying and so does Alan and Dan -- so let's just let others post to here for a while this way it is more fair to MB too --

I just downloaded the new studio version of "The Beautiful And Dangerous" from your site & it is totally awesome! Are you guys doing an entire album with Eric Greedy? I think that you have found the rock producer to bring you where you want to go in terms of your unique sound. I love the band HURT; I think Eric was highly responsible for their fame so kudos to you for enlisting his production talents into MRI.
Good move!

Letters Never Sent video
 

I concur. Their sound has moved up a notch IMO. We just got the link to the video in the latest MRI newsletter and you can tell that "Letters Never Sent" is either re-recorded or remixed & remastered. I really love the video; it's extremely artistic like a Jim Morrison inspired Arabian dream. I love the dancing girl -as- ink drawing and all the Middle Eastern themes which of course go with the hypnotic song. I'm not sure where to download this version yet (it's not the same version as the one on Parallel... it seems this one has some really neat Arabian sounding guest vocals from the singer from the band Lo Pro as well; perhaps it will be available on their web site; I will post a download/purchase URL as soon as I find one), but here's that tripy video link: YouTube - "Letters Never Sent" MRI Music Video

Hey Mr. Stereolunch did you see this?? Is MRI signed to STAIND's label? Does anyone know if Aaron Lewis is producing MRI? MRI is the #1 song on the playlist of the biggest STAIND fanclub on myspace... look what I just found>>

http://www.myspace.com/AddictedToSTAIND

OMG Nina you may be totally right-
They are like all over myspace now look
at this playlist I found with MRI as first three songs "letters never sent" " helicopter head" and "beauty and danger" myspace.com/GavinStrike