My Amazon Reviews: Motion City Soundtrack "Go"

Go Get Some Motion City Soundtrack
4 Out Of 5 Stars

I loved "My Dinosaur Life" by Motion City Soundtrack a few years back, enough to automatically grab "Go" the week of its release. MCS are one of a vanishing type of bands (with the demise of Panic at The Disco and Fall Out Boy) making highly melodic but energetic punky-pop with wit and verve. But "Go" finds the band in a sudden shift towards maturity. It's a move that suits the band well.

"Go" kicks off as you would expect, with a hyper and literary "Circuits and Wires" that complains about singer Justin Pierre's faulty brain and a temper addled tongue. It's properly cheeky and hooky, as is the obvious single and following song, "True Romance." But then you start to notice something; the guitars are more acoustic than electric and the pulse isn't as frantic. In fact, "Go" sounds downright adult. There's nothing here as snotty as "@!#?@!" from "My Dinosaur Life" and, in one case, the strings swell up and you might even get choked up.

"Everyone Will Die" strums a sad lyric that is also the CD's shortest song. "The cycle of intense retrospection before the curtain call...who you going to love in the meantime before it catches you?" pleads Justin just as the strings swell. It's as big a surprise and stunner as when Green Day recorded "Good Riddance/Time of Your Life." Even more pointed (but not as shocking in sounds) is "Timelines," where the band produces what could easily be a fan fave as they rattle off life events like

"Catholic school, my private hell
I stuttered till the age of 12
Discovered sex at 17
And soon thereafter, self-esteem,"

Which renders almost everything else on "Go" irrelevant. Motion City Soundtrack are a band that has been making remarkably constantly good albums for a long time, and this may be one of their best yet. After several weeks of listens, it continues to grow on me. Always a good sign.

     

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.