In 2003 I discovered a band called Alkaline Trio. They were this emo band with cool, dark lyrics that I was stoked with. Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano complemented one another with their voices. Matt's voice was a little vicious, and Dan was more of a crooner than anything. This year they released Agony & Irony, and there's one track that always makes me happy. It's called Love Love, Kiss Kiss. It's awesome. Dan's singing will make you smile, and Matt's soaring background vocals will give you goose bumps. I figure if I could write a bad boy like that I'd have ladies flocking to me. More so than they already are. Listen and it'll make sense.

In grade 7 when I first played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the Nintendo 64, the first song on the playlist was called Superman, and it was by a band called Goldfinger. This was my first taste of the doings of John Feldmann, who I've since become infatuated with (his music and production, that is). Anyway, Goldfinger is one of my favorite bands, and this year they put out an album called Hello Destiny, which I love. Anyway, there's one song called If I'm Not Right and I believe that this song is a guarantee to put anybody into a good mood. It's impossible not to smile while listening. John's voice sounds flawless, and the horn section is one of the reasons I love John's band.

Sometimes when I'm tired in the morning I like to play music that really wakes me up, and encourages me to take the day by its horns and ride it until the sun goes down. There's one song in particular that does this for me: Call To Arms by Angels & Airwaves. Sure, Tom's lyrics are out there, but that doesn't take away from the anthemic quality of the song. My favorite part is the bridge, around the 4 minute mark, 'cause Tom does this thing where he yells part of the chorus and its so harmonious that it gives me the chills every time I listen to the song. Also, try cruising down the highway as fast as you can (preferably towards the sunset), with the windows down and the music at capacity. You'll get the full experience. In the words of Rivers Cuomo, "If you don't like it, you can shove it. But you don't like it, you love it." And, if this song doesn't make you want to march around in your underwear, then I guess you'll never get to experience such a pleasure.

Last fall I was watching the Seth Rogen episode of SNL and there was a band called Spoon who was set to perform. Little did I know that Spoon would be so good that I'd buy their album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga almost nine months later. It wasn't that it took me that long to buy it, it's that I forgot about their performance and that I saw them again on a rerun and remembered how good they were. Yeah, so, Spoon sounded great and one song, The Underdog, was the little beast that hooked me. This song has horn sections, handclaps, and acoustic guitars. Delish. What more could you want?

If there's one exceptionally rad thing about Rock Band it's that it's got Welcome Home by Coheed & Cambria. Huge guitars and gang vocals are the perfect ingredients for a night of drinking in your friend's basement. Trust me, I'd know.

Perhaps one of my favorite bands out there right now, The Matches of Oakland, California, know who to write superlative music. This is one band where no two songs on any of their records sound the same. If you were to buy any of these songs or albums I've discussed here, I think that A Band In Hope is the one you should own. It's perfect. The opener, AM Tilts, is beautiful. The lyrics and guitars do something to me that not very many bands can. I'm not sure what it is, but that's why this song is so magical.

Another thing I like about music is how it sometimes makes you feel warm inside, and in the case of Bloc Party's I Still Remember that is exactly what happens. The guitar riffs soar, and the rhythm is perfectly suited. Bloc Party is without a doubt my favorite musical export out of the United Kingdom, and I'm stoked that they're coming to my hometown in a little less than a month. I Still Remember is very atmospheric in tone, and although Kele's lyrics may be about a guy, this is still a timeless love song.

Remember Mr. Feldmann? Well, he produced this song, and the record it's found on. The song: Navigate Me. The Band: Cute Is What We Aim For. This song just sounds awesome. It's about doin' the sex, and that's why I love it.

This song doesn't rhyme at all during the verses, but the lyrics are so much fun that it doesn't even matter. Justin Pierre is one of the best lyricists in the alternative music scene right now, and I think he's genius. Just take a look at his hair. Motion City Soundtrack is an excellent band that everybody should know about. Commit This To Memory is one of my all time favorite records and I think you should give Motion City Soundtrack a chance. So, the song is called Antonia, and it's one of catchiest tracks on the record, Even If It Kills Me. If some band can mention Indiana Jones and Annie Hall in the same song, it's Motion City Soundtrack.

I'll make this an even 10, so this is my last choice. I loved this song last summer, and this summer is no exception. The song is called Woe, and the man behind the music is Max Bemis of Say Anything. Max is truly a virtuoso, and I feel privileged to be listening to his music. This song kicks a million asses, and if you don't think it's catchy you've got something seriously wrong with your ears.

 That's it everyone. Happy listening.

 O Motion City Soundtrack é uma banda americana, de Minneapolis, Minnesota, e suas rotulações variam entre rock e indie. Eles já lançaram 3 álbuns, todos pelo selo Epitaph Records. O terceiro álbum deles, chamado Even if it kills me, foi lançado dia 18 de setembro de 2007.

Atualmente a banda esta aproveitando seu reconhecimento internacional, com uma base forte de fãs em paises como Britânica, Irlanda, Canadá, Japão e Austrália. Eles estão atualmente em uma turnê intitulada, Honda Civic Tour 08, junto com o Panic at the Disco.

Historico:

O MCS foi formado em Minnesota, em 1997 Eles lançaram 2 Ep’s e um Vinil de 7” e ganharam vários seguidores através de turnês extensivas antes de gravarem seu primeiro álbum, I am the Movie.

I Am the Movie

I am the Movie foi lançado independentemente duas vezes em 2002, e logo foi viado pela Epitaph Records, e foi lançado a nível nacional em 2003. O álbum foi produzido por Ed Rose.

Devido ao grande sucesso do primeiro álbum, o MCS entraram em Turnê for bastante tempo, em 2003 lancaram sua terceira musica do I Am the MOvie, “ The Future Freaks me Out”, como seu primeiro single. O refrão “pegajoso” e sue vídeo memorável tornou-a um humilde hit e colocou a banda, antigamente desconhecida, a um passo em direção a fama. De acordo com o site oficial da banda, o sucesso de seu single surpreendeu a todos, já que a banda “escreveu a musica em poucas horas e ela quase não entrou no seu álbum.”

Um segundo single foi lançado naquele ano, “My Favorite Accident”.

Commit This to memory

Foi seu segundo álbum, gravado em Los Angeles no outono de 2004, e foi produzido por Markus Alan Hoppus (Mark Hoppus) do Blink 182, Plus 44 (+ 44). A propósito a faixa “Hangman” conta com a participação de Mark nos vocals.

O titulo, Commit This to Memory, foi escolhido no inicio da produção do álbum, e foi tirado da letra de uma das faixas do álbum, “Hangman”. A produção feito em Commit This to Memory foi finalizada no inicio de 2005, e a temática de “inverno” do álbum (com duas musicas a respeito do Ano novo) contrastava bastante com a especulação de um lançamento em Junho. O álbum foi “lançado” clandestinamente vários meses antes de seu lançamento,  demais para o desanimo da banda, enquanto eles tomavam parte de sua primeira turnê pela Epitaph Records (Epitaph Tour) em fevereiro e março.

O primeiro single do álbum foi, “Everything is alright” com participação de Patrick Stump do Fall out Boy, Mark Hoppus e membros do Limbeck, já fizeram varias participações em varias rádios e compilações. O vídeo do single apareceu na MTV e Fuse Channel, e também apareceu na trilha sonora do Saint’s Row. “Everything is Alright” também apareceu na trilha sonora para o vídeo game “MLB 06: The Show”. O segundo video lançado foi da canção, “Hold me Down”, o qual foi um sucesso menor que o single anterior.

Even if it Kills me

Terceiro álbum do MCS, gravado em New York, e foi lançado em setembro de 2007.

Eles embarcaram em uma turnê de outono pelos EUA com as bandas, Metro Station, Anberlin e MAE na abertura. Em Janeiro de 2008, foi anunciado que o MCS seria uma das bandas principais na Hond Civic Tour, com panic at the disco, The Hush Sound e Phantom Planet. MCS também lançou um EP acústico em maio de 2008 contando com canções de Even if it Kills Me.

Esse álbum teve 2 clipes lançados, o primeiro single deles, “My Broken Heart”, e o recém lançado “This is for Real”.

 

Membros:

Atuais:

Justin Pierre- Vocals, Guitarra

Joshue Cain- Guitarra, Bcking Vocals

Jesse Johnson- Sintetizador Moog, Teclados

Matthew Taylor- Baixo, Piano, backing Vocals

Tony Thaxton- Bateria, Percussao, backing Vocals

 

 

 

Banda muito boa, vale a pena confeirir! Visitem o site oficial, e divirtam-se!

 

 

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With this Lenten season (and with just being Catholic altogether), I have been very reflective lately. I feel like everything that I have ever gone through has led me up to this point, and I'm happy where I am today. I feel like I finally have a sense of what I want to do with my life, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't freak me out. Hence, the song of the day: "The Future Freaks Me Out" by Motion City Soundtrack:

This was the first song that I ever heard by MCS, one of my all-time favorite bands. I recall seeing the video on television when I was a freshman or sophomore in high school, and I remember thinking that everyone in the band was crazy. However, the song is incredibly catchy, and I fell in love with it immediately. After that I got their cd "I Am the Movie," which was equally as good as that single. However, right around that time I became more interested in indie music and kind of put them on the back burner. However, after their releases of "Commit This To Memory" and "Even If It Kills Me," I could not be in love with them more. Justin Pierre is so incredibly talented, sweet, and funny.

I recommend checking out all of their videos; they're an amazing band.

Whew, what a month. I missed three shows in November that I completely intended to go to due to family stuff and the flu.

But, I made it to the MCS show on Monday. What a turn around. I have never seen Justin more on his game – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The first act at the show was Metro Station. I’d never heard of them, but quickly gathered that they have some connection to Hannah Montana/Mylie Cyrus from the hoards of screaming tweens. Their music was good, nothing particularly special, but I got the feeling that they’re very young. It’ll be interesting to hear from them in a few years.

Metro Station definitely had the most annoying fans in the audience. In addition to the tweens, who I’ll forgive because they’re still young and clueless, there were a number of kinderwhore scene moms. If you’ve never had the pleasure of having a 40-something Desperate-Orange-County-Housewife smash her silicone boobs into your back and jump frantically to a song about a high school break up, count yourself lucky.

Next up was Mae, who I’m rather ambivalent about. I have the same problem with this group that I have with Rocket Summer, which is that I require a certain amount of anger in my music, and these guys just don’t deliver. That said, Mae has an interesting sound, though after a while they start to feel a little gimmicky. I thought a live show might be better, but they trotted out the special-effects mic and all.

Finally, Anberlin took the stage and we started inching out of the PG-13 range. The band's sound is more to my taste - a bit darker (musically, if not necessarily lyrically) than Mae and Metro Station, and they had a much better live show.

And then, at long last, my boys Motion City Soundtrack arrived. They skipped the sound check and jumped straight into the music.

A bit of background on MCS for those of you who may not be familiar with them. Lead singer/songwriter Justin Pierre has been known over the years for being a raging alcoholic. In the months before their latest release, Even If It Kills Me Justin cleaned up his act and has since been sober, at least according to reports. However, the band came within a hair’s breadth of breaking up and for a while it wasn’t at all certain that the album would be released at all.

I’ve been to two previous MCS shows, both in the bad old days and I have to say, you can tell the band’s gotten their act together a bit more. They hit a few technical snags due to the lack of a sound check, but the show overall was much better than their prior gigs. The band played with the audience, Justin’s ramblings between songs were lucid (if not terribly topical), and you could spot the difference between a seasoned band who could work the audience and a bunch of guys who seemed surprised to find themselves in the spotlight.

Justin's tendency to wander off script is one of the reasons I love these shows. He stole a handmade sign that read "Justin Rocks" from an audience member and stopped the whole show for a few minutes to tape it to his mic stand. We were treated to his thoughts on movies (Being John Malkovich retains its awesomeness over time), words (gesticulation is the dirtiest-sounding non-dirty word he knows), and how he's a bit solitary. I've always enjoyed MCS because their songs are so accessible. The shows are a bit like listening to a prose MCS album.

Musically, Even If It Kills Me isn't quite up to the bar set by the previous album, Commit This To Memory. The new album sticks to the introspective, stream-of-consciousness writing that is MCS’s trademark, and the album revolves around Justin’s struggle to clean up. These songs play much better live, especially to an audience familiar with the band’s story, and I left the show with a new appreciation for the album. It’s still not as good as Memory, but it’s much, much closer now.

Trotz eines Vertrags mit dem kalifornischen Kultlabel Epitaph Records, trotz einer Tour im Vorprogramm von blink 182 - die 1997 gegründeten Motion City Soundtrack sind bis heute eher ein Insidertipp und damit eine der meist unterschätztesten Poppunk-Bands der Gegenwart. Eigentlich.Denn das neue, dritte Album der Band, ‚Even if it kills me', kann leider nicht an seine Vorgänger anknüpfen.Dabei startet der Introsong „Fell in love without you" mit einer gewohnten Powerpop-Kombination von Synthesizer und Gitarre und somit in gewohnt guter Qualität. Auch das darauffolgende Stück, die Singleauskopplung „This is for real" überzeugt mit einem 80er-Jahre-Stadionrockrefrain im Poppunkgewand.

Doch insgesamt wirkt die Platte etwas fad, monoton. Und Experimente wie die von einem Klavier begleitete Ballade „Conversation" gelingen nur bedingt. Man vermisst ein wenig den Pep eines „LG Fuad", denn statt mit ironischem Augenzwinkern die Offenbarung seiner Selbstmordpläne mit zuckersüßem Poppunk zu unterlegen, klingen Teile von „Even if it kills me" tatsächlich depressiv.

Das war zwar auch bei den Vorgängeralben der Fall, doch dort wurde wesentlich mehr Abwechslungsreichtum geboten. Bis auf die erwähnten ersten beiden Songs stechen kaum Stücke heraus. Neben „Point of Extinction" ist hier vor allem die erste Singleauskopplung „Broken heart" zu nennen - einer der wenigen Tracks, die an bisherige Veröffentlichungen der Jungs aus Minnesota herankommt.

Insgesamt ist „Even if it kills me" aber durchaus hörenswert. Seine Qualität relativiert sich nur gemessen an den zuvor veröffentlichten Alben, weswegen es zum Kennenlernen der Band eher weniger geeignet ist. Leider.

Philip Aubreville

Diese Rezension wurde bereits in der "Szene", dem Jugendmagazin der Grafschafter Nachrichten veröffentlicht.

I had a feeling this might happen. Motion City Soundtrack, who have come up with some of the best moments in the almost-punk zone over the last few years (The Future Freaks Me Out, much of Commit This To Memory), decide to work with some of the biggest pop-rock producers out there (Ric Ocasek, Adam Schlesinger), both of whom happen to have an amazing way with a hook.

And all of those fans who'd begun to listen to them and fell in love with their quirky lyrics and catchiness would probably love it, and those who'd listened and liked MCS because they're slightly different than say, Story of the Year, in that they don't scream out their choruses probably wouldn't.

So I read the reviews for Even If It Kills Me, and guess what? The quirk fans love it and the punk kids mostly hate it. And it does have a lot to do with the slicker production.

My guess is that MCS would be the first band from Epitaph Records -- home of Bad Religion and The Offspring -- likely to hire Ocasek and Schlesinger. (OK, maybe the Weakerthans...)

And it's not as though MCS is exactly radically changing its sound. Let's leave that to bands like Silverchair or Finger Eleven. MCS has always had that wonderful keyboard sound from Jesse Johnson. Justin Pierre has always had an eccentric pen when it comes to lyrics.

So... how good is Even If It Kills Me?

Well, it definitely has its moments of strength. It bolts out of the gate with I Fell In Love Without You and Antonia is the best song they've done since Future.

But it can fall on its face at other points (Hello Helicopter, the sleepy ballad The Conversation).

(Interestingly, the album's best and worst moments come from Schlesinger and co-producer Eli Janney of Girls vs. Boys. Ocasek's contributions, with the exception of the single Broken Heart, don't have as much of a lasting effect.)

For fans of the band, let me say this. You will love most of this record. If you're new to MCS, you might do better to pick up I Am The Movie, then try this one out.