Motion City Soundtrack Go

Champions of melodicism, Motion City Soundtrack have returned from the global war on noise with their latest album Go in hand. Go sees the band continuing its quest of conquering the world through harmony and upbeat songs while still sharpening their sound and straying further and further away from their emo roots.

Sounding like a slightly punkier Weezer, Motion City Soundtrack have essentially left the screams, chug a chug riffs, and tons of angst behind and become a full on pseudo pop rock band. Go manages to do this because melodies bubble up everywhere, guitars jangle, crunch, and churn while Justin Pierre's vocals soar above it all like Rivers Cuomo on overdrive. Go is filled with pure pop mixed with just enough distortion and frustration to give it an edge.

Go isn't bad at all, truth be told, and the band have honed their skills so much they've become nothing short of a well oiled radio friendly tune making machine. With songs so happy, spiky, and melodic they are sweeter than a gallon of chocolate milk and resisting these tasty tunes is nigh impossible. "Timelines," for example, is so syrupy and so sweet it could draw ants, give you cavities, and keep the sugar industry in business.

Worshiping at the alter of harmony and melodies Motion City Soundtrack over the course of their brief career have become so proficient and at ease while creating sugary sweet pop treats that it's almost become second nature to them. You can hear that ability coming into play all over Go. Motion City Soundtrack have matured into this massive pop tune gobbling beast of a band that unleashes volley's of saccharine bombs they call songs. There's a reason why this band has steadily become bigger and bigger over time...they've got the songs people want to hear and they're ready to Go. Which begs the question; are you?

Motion City Sondtrack's Dinosaur Life

For their major label debut on Columbia, Motion City Soundtrack had to overcome the pressure of not only becoming a bigger band, but a bigger band on a big label. Rather than panic and retreat from the pressure the band seemed to embrace it and headed into the studio to record the follow up to Even If It Kills Me. Emerging with My Dinosaur Lifethe band left much of their emo/pop punk tendencies behind in favor of taking their power pop influences and ramping them up a bit. The results are impressive as My Dinosaur Lifeis like a full-on Weezer record if Rivers Cuomo wasn't ever in the band.

Still incredibly melodic and still able to write stupidly catchy songs on demand, MCS haven't really changed so much as matured into what they've always hinted at being. My Dinosaur Life is a very good album that shows what can happen to a band given the right amount of time and support. Harmonies abound, crunchy riffs jump up and down, and Motion City Soundtrack have songs that are stickier than fly paper. They've written their big rock album and it's packed to the gills with songs that almost makes Weezer's Green Album look like a nice try and I think that's what makes it so entertaining.

While Motion City Soundtrack obviously are already rather popular, My Dinosaur Life has the potential to make them even larger thanks to how convincing these songs are. Fun, emotional, and verging on being perfect pop, My Dinosaur Life is the culmination of a lot of hard work, pressure, and maturity. This is a band that's come a long way from their debut just a couple of years ago and you can hear it in every one of their songs. Motion City Soundtrack haven't forgotten where they came from, but they haven't forgotten where they want to be either and it's been a fun trip to see this band along the way. My Dinosaur Lifeis by far the coolest MCS album of the bunch