Mri (techno, house, album, fan, Radiohead)

[TheBig3]

I have to tell you. Based on the title of the album alone I really don't want to listen to it.

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

I have to tell you. Based on the title of the album alone I really don't want to listen to it.

Hmm. I am curious by what you mean by that. I find the title to be most engaging both intellectually and artistically. Kindly explain; I am all ears...

[TheBig3]

Originally Posted by ninaNirvana

Hmm. I am curious by what you mean by that. I find the title to be most engaging both intellectually and artistically. Kindly explain; I am all ears...

Sure.

See the problem for me is that parrallel lines don't actually ever meet, if they do, they're not parallel. So the idea that the two can coexist can't be true.

Thats all good and fine, if thats where it ended I'd say "clever was so 1999" or something else psuedo-homosexual and walk it off.

But these guys give me the impression that they think this is pretty deep. But like any other oxymoron, its just stupid. I don't expect album titles to do much more than distringuish one album from another. if you want to give a title to address the theme, more power to you.

But everyone who gets clever with them, thats trying to "show" us something deserves a swift kick in the balls. Off the top of my head...

14:59
Title of Record
4th (Lemonheads not Zepp)
Almost everything by Ben Folds whos former bands name had the same issue.

The only two good album titles that had something to them actually never came to fruition...

The Cars first album was going to be called "The Cars Greatest Hits", I'd have given them that one.

The other was the Offspring, who were going to call their album "Chinese Democracy" until the lawsuits came. Axl needs digs taken at him.

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

Sure.

See the problem for me is that parrallel lines don't actually ever meet, if they do, they're not parallel. So the idea that the two can coexist can't be true.

Thats all good and fine, if thats where it ended I'd say "clever was so 1999" or something else psuedo-homosexual and walk it off.

But these guys give me the impression that they think this is pretty deep. But like any other oxymoron, its just stupid. I don't expect album titles to do much more than distringuish one album from another. if you want to give a title to address the theme, more power to you.

OK I can see what you're saying here...but would this be a reason to not listen to an entire album?

Isn't that the quintessence of "judging a book by its cover"?

It would seem to me that the more 'ridiculous' an album title may appear, the more I would be inclined to listen to see what was going on inside...then I could make an intelligent judgment. And by intelligent judgment, it would seem that one would need to listen to all songs, and not just one song. There are many different types of musical genres in this album it would be extremely unfair to MRI as artists to merely judge one song.

I can't speak for the band as to what "Where Parallel Lines Meet" exactly means and I wish one of them were here to provide a definitive answer, but I do remember in the course of the interview Daren mentioning something about "perspectives" so that is why the back CD cover makes perfect sense to me.

Had you the chance to listen to the live radio interview ( iTunes rebroadcast ) that I posted in here? If you were to listen to Daren ( the MRI segment is about 2 1/2 hours into the rebroadcast so you need to ff to it ) you will hear someone that is not sounding like he is trying to be "too deep"; I have met these guys and you can even see in my interview transcript ( also posted in this thread ) that it is hard to get a serious answer out of any of them. This is the exact reason I posted my interview as I wanted to show how pleasantly surprised I was that they were so cool and down-to-earth, and not "pretentious artists"; trust me, I have met many an artist who thinks he is "too deep" for the world. I could easily imagine MRI saying that it means whatever you want it to mean...or even nothing at all.

Maybe I should have posted the lyrics for each song as that may have helped. Interesting discussion of lyrics to "Helicopter Head" going on here at their label's video channel: YouTube - "Helicopter Head" MRI Music Video
I myself was obsessed by the obscure lyrics until I downloaded and read them.

I will admit even I thought "Helicopter Head" was a dumb name for a song at first LOL :-)

[CAPTAIN CAVEMAN]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

I have to tell you. Based on the title of the album alone I really don't want to listen to it.

agreed

Originally Posted by ninaNirvana

Hmm. I am curious by what you mean by that. I find the title to be most engaging both intellectually and artistically. Kindly explain; I am all ears...

parallel lines never meet. if they did, they would not be parallel. stupid title

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

agreed



parallel lines never meet. if they did, they would not be parallel. stupid title

Hmmm...and Evening Out With Your Girlfriend by Fall Out Boy is an example of a good, intelligent title?

I asked MRI about the album title in my interview and both Daren and Alan gave lengthy explanations that sounded more like a meta-physical discussion, even philosophical, as Daren started talking about Sartre's "Being And Nothingness". Daren was a schoolteacher ( like Sting ) before MRI/Noir, and is a self-admitted math freak.

If you really choose not to listen to this album simply because of the title, then that might be a good idea since you wont understand any of the allegorical themes in the lyrics nor any of the symbolism in the poetry. You still may be able to dance to some songs though if you concentrate.

So don't waste your time. MRI is much more an art rock band in the spirit and tradition of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead etc...if you don't like that type of music & art then you wont get it.

I am going to see if I can get the back cover to the CD and post here; it may help with your grappling to understand the concept(s).

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

agreed



parallel lines never meet. if they did, they would not be parallel. stupid title

Here is the back of the CD for your edification. Hope this helps. :-)

[Guybrush]

Great review! I thought it was really good ..

Normally, I wouldn't write constructive feedback, but since you're a writer, there is some info I'm missing. First off, is the band called MRI or is it an acronym? And also, is this the band's debut album?

In addition to a song for song review, I like it when there are just a few thoughts or impressions from the album as a whole ..

I hope you don't take take my feedback the wrong way. It's not intended as that at all. I consider some of the reviews on MB to be real treasures and yours is a really good contribution and an enjoyable read.

Grats on your first review!

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by toretorden

Great review! I thought it was really good ..

Normally, I wouldn't write constructive feedback, but since you're a writer, there is some info I'm missing. First off, is the band called MRI or is it an acronym? And also, is this the band's debut album?

In addition to a song for song review, I like it when there are just a few thoughts or impressions from the album as a whole ..

I hope you don't take take my feedback the wrong way. It's not intended as that at all. I consider some of the reviews on MB to be real treasures and yours is a really good contribution and an enjoyable read.

Grats on your first review!

Thank you for letting me know this. I am difident by nature...so I need to feel passionately about something in order to write about it and show to others.

Also, I was rather shocked this morning reading the posts about folks not wanting to listen to the album becasue of the title; and it almost made me never want to write a review here again ( I would like to review a Floyd album and Another Morning Stoner too ) feeling that it is a waste of time for me and for the readers.

To answer your questions: I have a copy of Where Parallel Lines Meet that I bought at a show last year...but I think there have been a few incarnations of the tracklistings since. I know that they have been working with Eric Greedy ( who porduced HURT Vol 1 and Vol 2 ) after being scouted in Germany and Eric has been working on Parallel as MRI's debut official release. MRI has its own label from what I understand and are releasing an EP too this year called "Now And Xyen" with mostly reggae, ska, and dance-techno songs.

As far as being an acronym, I am not sure. I asked Daren about the band name in relation to the band's website ( MediumRangeIntelligence.com ) and Daren said "Oh I never realized the coincidence" but added "we are MRI", and left it at that. I asked them about the fact that on some OMDs they are being indexed with a German microhous duo from the late 90's of the same name and Alan said "we never heard of them until we saw the cross-indexing on last FM, and we don't really care either since this is not a popularity contest. We simply are who we are. Let the world decide what MRI means."

You asked me for my overall impression of Where Parallel Lines Meet. I wish I had a place to post the lyrics of the songs in my review...as I get the same feeling about MRI that I do about Radiohead albums in that often, I have no idea what Daren is saying/singing until I have the lyrics in front of me. Then, some songs take on an entirely new meaning when you finally find out what you have been humming along all the time. For instance, I thought that "Helicopter Head" made no sense at all until you read the lyrics, and then you see it is about spiritual enlightenment and being "all-seeing and all-knowing" at all times...Turn your head around...can you see...361 degrees...

I go see and review bands for a living. Rarely am I ever impressed, especially these past few years...pickings are slim for bands to get excited about. MRI is probably my favorite new artists and I am excited about them the same was I was excited about Nirvana in the 90s.

[ninaNirvana]

Originally Posted by toretorden

Great review! I thought it was really good ..

First off, is the band called MRI or is it an acronym? And also, is this the band's debut album?

I consider some of the reviews on MB to be real treasures and yours is a really good contribution and an enjoyable read.

Grats on your first review!

You inspired me to go looking for more info on the www.

I was on a bunch of search engines querying "MRI band, Helicopter Head" and I found a lot of useful stuff and great reading up on the band. Here is a UK? reviewer in another music forum that seems to also be a net radio station judging by the amount of DJs responding in the thread:

Mixposure - View topic - MRI