My Amazon Reviews: Motion City Soundtrack "My Dinosaur Life"

Escaping The Tar Pits  
4 Out Of 5 Stars

They've turned up the guitars and let them rip. Motion City Soundtrack work the best elements of pop-punk (think Blink-182, whose Mark Hoppus produces) and hyper-powered emo (think Fall Out Boy at their accelerated best) for "My Dinosaur Life." It's adolescent rock with punky snottiness mixed in with the catchy melodies and flippant attitude, all while poking fun at the whole genre.

After all, what band would openly cop to 'watching Veronica Mars again' while waiting up for their girlfriend without the credibility swirling the drain? Or claim that they should be better respected because of their good behavior, which they do on the opening track "Worker Bee"? But then they blow that opportunity sky-high with the musically hysterical "@!#?@!" where they go to the falsettos when they sing the Mother F-er chorus. It's a good joke and doesn't wear thin after repeated listens (as does the wretched "F-You" by Cee-lo).

Despite the humor, these are terse songs about relationships. Motion City Soundtrack pump enough energy into "Disappear," "Her Words Destroyed My Planet" or "History Lesson" (the obvious single) to cover the bitterness, and even when a savage lyric that describes a failed relationship as being

"Like a slasher film,
I'm torn in all directions,
the plot sucks but
the killings are gorgeous"

you can't help but smile. "My Dinosaur Life" is one of my faves for the year.