Motion City Soundtrack
Here we are again, Motion City Soundtrack and I. Our sizzling nerd sex is back with their third Epitaph release, Even If It Kills Me. Of course, the question here is not if the performance will be up to par. The question here is whether it will blow me out of the water, in which Justin Pierre and crew are certainly capable. I Am The Movie is justifiably priceless and Commit This To Memory is a careful and successful step into a growing style and sound. When I first heard Even If It Kills Me, I felt the hooks, felt the clever shapes, and felt what could be, but it needed to grow. Now, moments away from release day, MCS are wrapping their vines around my ankles and reeling me in like a helpless fish. What a turn-on.
In classic form, the nerdy Midwest pop-rock quintet open the album with “Fell In Love Without You.” Brazen synth kickstarts with a fastball and a reassuring glance to all its old school listeners; MCS lets us know that they haven’t forgotten I Am The Movie. Within these first moments, MCS prove two things: they have an impeccable understanding of what makes interesting arrangements (see also “Where I Belong” or “This Is For Real”), and it’s impossible for MCS to release music that isn’t simultaneously snarky and fun (see also “Point of Extinction”). As the album moves along, there is a greater concentration on guitar flair and interesting riffs than synth overload, a likeness to Commit This To Memory. MCS opens up their structures to create a more flowing, spacious and wistful appeal, like on the sprinkled high notes of “Last Night” and poignant ending to “Hello Helicopter.”
The production is a two-thirds split by tag-team Fountain of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger/Girls vs. Boys’ Eli Janney and the man with a pop-rock super resume, Ric Ocasek (Weezer, The Cars). Both sides of the production work go for your standard pop-rock hugeness, but my favorite tracks off the album (“Point of Extinction” and “Hello Helicopter”) come from the Schlesinger/Janney camp. The vocal work on Even If It Kills Me is delivered faultlessly and at a flattering level – Pierre works an intimacy that fills every little splinter and the far corners of a big room. This is a kind of closeness that wasn’t as special on I Am The Movie or Commit This To Memory. And even though it’s always been easy to fall for Pierre’s cunning, pop-cultured and backhanded-dark lyricism, it’s not hard for me to find moments on the album where I connect with the music on more than a sing-along level. The chorus of “Can’t Finish What You Started” hits close to home with “I thought of all the things I’d like to say / Cramped up and couldn’t write a word all day / I’m just waiting for my world to fall apart / That’s why I’ll never finish anything I start.”
However, we are talking pop-rock. A critical aspect of pop-rock is hook appeal, right? And it wouldn’t be MCS if there weren’t a carnival of melodic rides and cotton-candy overdoses, right? Shooting back to the two previous records, I hesitate to say that Even If It Kills Me is their catchiest work to date. My two favorites – “Point of Extinction” and “Hello Helicopter” – beat anything on CTTM and maybe IATM, but to encompass all of Even If It Kills Me as a ecstatic pop excursion would be giving too much credit to my least favorites – “Calling All Cops” and dreary band-produced piano ballad “The Conversation.” Heading back to CTTM also makes me realize how much I loved Mark Hoppus’ handiwork. While, like I mentioned before, the production on this album is a perfect fit for Pierre, Hoppus did neat things with the arrangements and effects on CTTM. I sort-of miss these. For the non-progressionists, songs like “I Fell In Love Without You” and “It Had To Be You” are the closest you’re going to get to IATM. Even so, it’s obvious the band is growing up. This is the most endearing quality about Even If It Kills Me because I’ve grown up too.
So MCS and I have our long-awaited nerd sex. Pop-tarts are scattered on the bed like rose petals. This time, it’s a lot more personal, but this may also be because I’ve stuck with and adored MCS since IATM first entered my life. If this classifies as a bias, then this will be the case, but the bottom line is that MCS never fails to release clever pop-rock. Even If It Kills Me is another worthy notch in their bedpost.
Review By Julia Conny of AbsolutePunk.net
Artist: Motion City Soundtrack
Album: Discography
Genre: Rock / Pop / Punk
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/motioncitysoundtrack
-Album List-
Read MoreDOWNLOAD ALBUM: MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – I AM THE MOVIE
DOWNLOAD ALBUM: MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – COMMIT THIS TO MEMORY
DOWNLOAD ALBUM: MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – EVEN IF IT KILLS ME
& ALSO;
DOWNLOAD EP: MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – ACOUSTIC EP
RARE EP LIKE YOU HAVE NO IDEA
DOWNLOAD EP: MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK – KIDS FOR AMERICA EP
Sum 41
Writing songs for movie soundtracks and escaping the trappings of pop-punk to release a metal-tinged album may have given Sum 41 lead singer/songwriter Deryck Whibley a feeling of freedom and independence. Being able (and apparently all-too-willing) to pull from punk bands like NOFX and Green Day, skate bands like The Offspring, pop-punk icons Blink-182, and metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest while writing songs, Whibley’s across-the-board tendencies have led fans to debate as to which category best defines the band’s style.
Apparently realizing his true gift of songwriting laid in writing the pop-punk anthem, Whibley returned his band to its roots with the release of Underclass Hero.
Take five parts Blink-182 and add in one part Green Day, and Sum 41′s latest is exactly the kind of album that fans of the band should have expected all along. It is probably the band’s best release to date and it is sure to fill the void left by Blink and occupy the airtime of alt radio stations across America – until Green Day’s next release reminds people that there is a difference between pop-punk and punk-pop.
The title track opens the new record and immediately mixes in the Blink Day (or is that Green-182?) influences. It is a pop-punk ditty that tries to incorporate the social and political agenda that Green Day captured with American Idiot, even going so far as to parrot Billie Joe Armstrong’s backing “announcement” from the song “Holiday.” He even starts the announcement with the words “May I have your attention please,” just as Armstrong did. Whibley continues: “I pledge allegiance to the underclass and your hero at large.”
Back to the vocals, Whibley rails against those who might classify the new millionaire (and husband of platinum-selling artist Avril Lavigne) as some sort of lower class citizen: “We’re the saints of degeneration. We don’t owe anyone an explanation. F*ck elitists. We don’t need this. We’re the elite of just alright.”
“Walking Disaster” is carved almost exclusively from the Blink hit “Miss You.” The mellow, ethereal introduction with wispy, angelic backing vocals screams for comparison. A similarly styled homage continues through songs like “Speak of the Devil” and “Dear Father” before the Offspring comparisons kick in with “Count Your Last Blessings.”
The album’s most interesting song, however, has got to be the 55-second ditty “Ma Poubelle,” which is recorded entirely in French. It is oddly out of place on the album and really breaks up the continuity of the record, but it is actually quite catchy.
The Green Day effect kicks in shortly thereafter with songs like “March of the Dogs” and “The Jester”. Both songs sound as if they were written while Whibley had American Idiot on repeat on his iPod. The worst case of Green Day envy, however, is reserved for the song “King of Contradiction.” Clocking in at a Green Day-esque 1:40, the track is the “St. Jimmy” of Underclass Hero.
Of course, the album would not be complete without the tributes to his new wife. Having married Lavigne in July 2006, Whibley obliges his new wife with two songs: “With Me” and “Best of Me”. Both heartfelt songs expressing his devotion to the love of his life, they are classic Blink love songs.
All in all, Underclass Hero is not a bad album. All the songs are well-written and most are catchy enough to cause the average listener to want to hear them over and over again. But the first thing that Whibley has to do before he starts writing his next album is find his entire collection of Green Day and Blink-182 records and throw them out. Almost every song on this record succeeds in ripping off the style or sound of one of those two bands and there is nothing subtle about the hold-up. Expect a good number of songs from this album to find their way onto modern rock radio stations. Just expect a lot of fans to call up the local deejay and ask to hear that new Blink-182 song or that b-side from Green Day instead of giving it a proper attribution.
Review By Ed Thompson of IGN Review
Artist: Sum 41
Album: Discography
Genre: Punk / Rock
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sum41
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Tiger Army
Tiger Army never dies!
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s expand upon this idea. First and foremost, there’s the Fred Hell situation. In 2004, former drummer Fred Hell took four shots to the head and, though he did sustain injuries (which go without saying, he had a bullet lodged in his brain), he’s alive and kicking. He has since left the group, leaving himself wide open to the dangers of the world.
The slogan extends beyond physical injuries, and stretches all the way to the band’s existence as a whole. Tiger Army does not die, musically, so long as Nick 13 is still alive. Since forming, Tiger Army has gone through two bassists and three drummers. Most of these changes have occurred in the past 3 years. As it stands, Nick 13 is the only original member remaining, but thankfully it seems to have been his vision all along. And, in realizing that Nick is the only consistent member of the group, it’s safe to say this is his baby.
The group started off a relatively straight-forward act; you take a dab of punk and an equal dose of rockabilly, drive your hearse to the morgue and stir. That sound was fine, at least for their first two albums, but eventually Nick seemed to grow unsatisfied; whether that sparked a conflict of interest resulting in band members leaving and/or getting shot, well, that’s extra research you can easily do on your own time.
When “Ghost Tigers Rise” hit shelves in 2004, fans were treated to a more restrained Tiger Army, with the focus being put more on down-tempo tunes with tinges of country and post-punk. Sure, Nick 13 still sounded a fair bit like Davey Havok (who oddly enough appears on every album but “Ghost Tigers Rise”), luckily, he left the pleather pants and hair-coifs to AFI.
Upon the announcement that the band had started working on new material, Nick 13 was quoted in Alternative Press magazine as saying he had hopes of making Tiger Army the world’s first post-psychobilly band. Obviously, it was a goal he planned to execute with the forthcoming release of what would eventually be known as “Music from Regions Beyond”.
The album has arrived, and after many listens one can safely assess that Nick 13 has accomplished his goal with varying degrees of success.
Prelude: Signal Return starts things off sounding more like a Cure song, which is instantly dispelled upon the cry that started this very review. Signal Return leads into a fast pace, bass-slapping Psychobillyriffic time. Hotprowl continues things on a fast-paced track comprising of “whoa-ohs” and “heys”. Afterworld enters with an acoustic intro, leading into what could very easily pass as Incorporeal 2.0. So, where’s the post-psychobilly I so ineloquently spoke of? Conveniently enough, it makes its strongest first impression in the following track.
Forever Fades Away is much like the intro in that its primary structure seems based around something from the mid-80s rather than something from the mid-50s. Yet, still, beyond the new-touches, it still sounds like Tiger Army. Brief instances of stand-up slapping make an appearance between the otherwise pseudo-dance-y bassline. As I implied, Nick 13 has succeeded where he really shouldn’t have. And, based on the partial groove in the bass, he’s also got the pleather pants on layaway. Just in case…
The album isn’t all experimentation, which you’d hopefully have figured out on your own based on the previous two paragraphs. While the band almost jumps the shark with Hechizo De Amor, a Spanish love song that almost has no place on the album (yet somehow doesn’t seem out of place), tracks like Ghosts of Memory, Pain, and Afterworld (which features the mandatory Davey Havok appearance) are pure psychobilly goodness. Well, Pain leans more towards Rockabilly, but that’s just me nitpicking. There is, as I’ve hinted, less of a punk influence to be found that on the disc, especially when compared to the “Power of Moonlight”. But, the “Power of Moonlight” wasn’t their last album, “Ghost Tigers Rise” was, so you should probably have seen this coming. And, with Nick’s vocals being smoother, and therein less shout-y than before, the transition has continued. In fact, at times Nick 13 almost sounds like Elvis. Just, you know, with tattoos. Lots of them.
If you ignore the fact that As the Cold Rain Falls sounds like a darkwave B-Side to Blink 182s I Miss You, you’re still left with an album so lost in its goals that it’s hard to know what to think. This is a transition album, even more so than “Ghost Tigers Rise”. While each sound on the album succeeds on its own, when put together you’re left with a total rift. It doesn’t come together as well as it should. And, while it’s lovely to hear more of an emphasis on moods and such, I really do miss the energy of their first two albums. It’s sad to see them move in this direction, though in the same vein it’s nice to see them pull it off so well.
I guess a lot of the problems with this album are the same things I’m happy about. The bass is excellent, as always, but there isn’t nearly as much of it as I’d have liked. The post-psychobilly thing works quite well, but the emphasis seems to be more on the post than the psychobilly.
When it’s all said and done, there’s still very little to complain about on this album. Though the it downplays a lot of the group’s plusses, it succeeds in representing the more serious side of Psychobilly, a genre often dominated by ghouls, coffins and guys named Kim. And, in mentioning (at least in passing) Mr. Nekroman, I feel it must be said that this album is entirely necessary. There is a dichotomy in the Psychobilly genre represented by the preceding two acts (Tiger Army and the Nekromantix). While the Nekromantix have released arguably the better psychobilly album of 2007, it’s entirely different in sound, mood and execution. Tiger Army represents the more serious and experimental side of the genre, the side hellbent on artistry and Edgar Allen Poe. Tiger Army have, beyond all, shown that there is always room to experiment.
“Music From Regions Beyond” is a title I probably wouldn’t have chosen. No, I probably would have opted for something along the lines of “Music From Eras Beyond (the 1950s)”.
It really is great to see them doing something new in a genre so rooted in the past, even though their new influences are still roughly twenty years behind. It has its problems, which mostly have to do with the post-psychobilly thing often coming of as extemporaneous. It’s obvious they went into this with a goal in mind, and they did achieve it; post-psychobilly is found on this album. The main issue is, you have your post-psychobilly tracks and then your ‘traditional’ Tiger Army tracks. It’s not as seamless as I’d have liked.
I look forward to their next album, barring there’s actually a line-up there to record it. Let us hope their slogan reigns true once more.
Tiger Army never dies. They adapt.
Review By SputnikMusic
Artist: Tiger Army
Album: Music From Regions Beyond [2007]
Genre: Psycobilly / Rock / Punk
MySpace: http://myspace.com/tigerarmy
-Track List-
“Prelude: Signal Return” – 1:06
“Hotprowl” – 2:32
“Afterworld” – 3:15
“Forever Fades Away” – 4:51
“Ghosts of Memory” – 3:22
“LunaTone” – 3:02
“Pain” – 3:37
“As the Cold Rain Falls” – 4:08
“Hechizo de Amor” – 4:12
“Spring Forward” – 3:07
“Where the Moss Slowly Grows” – 3:36
Read MoreTry Album [Mediafire] | Tiger Army – Music From Regions Beyond
Nirvana
Nirvana had a giant impact on music in the ninties and beyond, despite only lasting for seven years. They were formed in the grunge hot-bed of Seattle in 1987 by Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass). They went through many drummers in their early years, but finally settled on punk percussionist Dave Grohl in 1991. With a permanent drummer in place, Nirvana recorded the classic rock album Nevermind. Nevermind unintentionally brought rock back into the mainstream, selling millions upon millions of copies. Nirvana reached a tragic end in April of 1994 when Cobain died in what is believed to be a suicide, although there was (and still is) some heavy speculation that Cobain was murdered. After Nirvana, Grohl experienced further musical success as frontman of the Foo Fighters.
Throughout Nirvana’s short careers, they ultimately changed the scene of alternative rock and inspired dozens of new bands. Starting with Bleach from 1989, it was released on a mere budget of $600. The band didn’t know what to expect in 1991 when Nevermind was released. It was a single machine at the time and sold millions. The band then released the b-sides collection Incesticide (which to this day is very underrated) in 1992. In Utero was released a year later and was less of a success, but Kurt and the band were satisfied as they could finally have artistic expression and not be held back by a record label. Though after Kurt’s death, the band still are pretty popular with teenagers around the world. The record label released a Greatest Hits record, simply self-titled Nirvana, and Kurt’s widow, Courtney Love, obtained the rights to a lot of Nirvana’s music. This resulted in a box set called With The Lights Out filed with old demos, videos and early recordings, which sold in the hundreds of thousands. There was also a single CD of some of the tracks released called Sliver: Best of The Box
Artist: Nirvana
Album: Discography
Genre: MySpace says, Grunge / Punk / Rock
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nirvana
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All Time Low
Over the last year, All Time Low is a band name that has been on the tip of the tongue of just about every pop-punk fanatic. Between wearing the crown of Alternative Press’ band of the year, directly supporting genre titans Fall Out Boy on tour and selling out multiple headline tours of their own, the Maryland-based group stretched their popularity to new heights. Armed with a wicked sense of humor – on and off stage – the quartet also packs an arsenal of irritatingly irresistible, hook-filled pop-punk tunes that are turning these 21-year-olds into household names. On their second full-length record, Nothing Personal, the crab state natives make it clear they are not interested in being a short-lived trend.
Picking up where they left off, All Time Low rely on their gain-friendly guitar tones, groovy bass lines and smooth vocal melodies to craft a memorable, albeit generic record. This formula succeeds on singles “Weightless” and “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t).” The aforementioned features one of the finest choruses in the group’s discography while the latter finds frontman Alex Gaskarth showing his lyrical wit with the line “I’m drowning in a river of denial,” further escalating the record’s already high fun factor.
Their octave-chord based, up-tempo and light-hearted tunes dominate the majority of the record. “Keep The Change, You Filthy Animal” and “A Party Song (The Walk of Shame)” find All Time Low maintaining their initially established momentum deep into the album. Both find success off of their immense choruses and persistent youthful energy.
With the success endured over the last year, many have labeled the group with traditional name-calls, ‘sell-out’ being the most common. Not wasting an opportune moment to exercise their humor, All Time Low named one of their headline tours “The Compromising of Integrity, Morality & Principles in Exchange for Money Tour,” a phrase taken verbatim from Wikipedia’s definition of sell-out. On Nothing Personal, Gaskarth and crew take a more serious route in dealing with their fiercest critics. “Sick Little Games” is a surprisingly mature, mid-tempo song that showcases the band confidently stepping out of their comfort zone. Utilizing an acoustic timbre in the rhythm section, the opening verse finds Gaskarth confessing, “I’m turned on by the tabloids, you would never have guessed/that I’m a sucker for their gossip, man I take it too far.” The tune certainly stands out on the record, marking a newfound sense of songwriting ability and collective maturity.
While there is much to praise throughout its 12 track duration, Nothing Personal does not finish without faults. Along with the fact that there are minimal amounts of originality and progression, production becomes an issue. The far too sugary studio fabrication brings sections of the record down. “Stella” recalls shenanigan filled nights after enjoying one too many Belgian ales (last name Artois) and its excessively glossy production is cavity inducing. “Too Much” finds the pop-punk quartet forgetting the second half of their genre. The embarrassingly awful song features an overuse of sampled drums and auto-tune heavy vocals, making it reminiscent of a half-hearted attempt at covering a 90s boy band.
Even despite their faults and lack of originality, All Time Low does enough right on their sophomore full-length effort to warrant multiple spins from any fan of the genre. Nothing Personal rarely takes itself too seriously and infrequently asks listeners to. Its youthful feel makes it a fantastic summer record that is also worthy of listens throughout the other three seasons. Nothing Personal makes a clear point as to why the foursome are soaking up the spotlight as of late. The truth to their success is rather simple: All Time Low is playing generic pop punk; they are just doing it better than everyone else at the moment.
Review By SputnikMusic
Artist: All Time Low
Album: Discography
Genre: Pop Punk / Pop / Punk
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/alltimelow
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Set Your Goals
Flash back to 6 years ago. Drive-Thru Records was all the rage, pop-punk wasn’t cliché yet, and New Found Glory ruled the scene. You loved NFG, Sum 41, and Blink 182, and there were no scene police to tell you otherwise. It was a time of music enjoyment without guilt. Now, the scene has changed. New Found Glory has moved on to the mainstream, hundreds of other bands have attempted to follow in their footsteps, and while some have succeeded, many have failed. An evolution of the music scene has occurred to the point in which it’s no longer acceptable to listen to hook-driven pop-punk songs without being ripped into by your peers on internet message boards. Part of that reason is because somewhere along the line, pop-punk lost its edge. Bands like New Found Glory rose from a thriving Florida hardcore scene (guitarist Chad Gilbert was in Shai Hulud pre-NFG) and their music contained a punch that packed more energy into their songs than their peers or eventual followers. Flash forward to 2006. A resurrection of what we once knew and loved has emerged, in the form of Set Your Goals.
Set Your Goals are a band who defies genres or musical boundaries. They are adored by pop-punk fans, hardcore buffs, and others alike. Their refreshing blend of hardcore energy and gang vocals mixed with familiar hooks creates a sound that can appeal to us all. While many of us have come a long way in 6 years in our musical evolution of personal tastes, there’s a huge portion of us that began in the same scene. While some of us still listen to pop-punk, others may have gone the hardcore/metal route, and others indie. But this debut full-length from Set Your Goals is just the right balance of an old sound many of us used to love. It’s enough to throw away the scene police whistles and come together once again for a ridiculously fun album.
Though Set Your Goals is far from a rip-off of their predecessors, the influence is evident. With an alternating vocal approach, the higher pitched side bears a mild resemblance to Jordan Pudnik (NFG). The other side of the vocals are more hardcore influenced, and Mutiny! features a mini-breakdown or two, as well as gang vocals and quickly paced, driving beats (see: Comeback Kid, 7 Seconds). Bursting full of instant summer anthems, Mutiny! does a good job balancing the two styles on refreshingly familiar (yet nostalgic) tracks like “Mutiny!” and “This Very Moment.” Other songs combine the styles a bit more awkwardly, as “To Be Continued…” has hardcore growls in it, with Tom DeLonge-esque vocals alongside in an unatural pairing that comes off as a bit much. Unfortunately, this song is almost 4 minutes long, and by the time it sinks into the 3rd minute, the song has lost significant amount of energy. Acoustic guitar parts in the middle of the song seem to kill the momentum it has gained. One of the main criticisms of this album is that it clocks in at less than 30 minutes with 4 songs that are around 4 minutes long. Having more songs at shorter lengths would keep the pace moving along smoother. Lasting value is also a concern for this record. While instantly fun and catchy, it doesn’t appear to have a significant amount of depth and it has a tendency to fade quicker than it should.
Despite its flaws, Mutiny! is a very solid debut from a band with a tremendous upside. The fact that the band struggles to find an identity is actually a good thing for them, because the clashing of hardcore/pop is outweighed by pop and makes the balance easier to stomach for most listeners. The problems with this album aren’t nearly big enough to change the fact that this is a fun summer album that reminds me of a sound that was completely lost in the scene about 4 years ago. Plus, the last song on the record, “Echoes,” ends with a resounding collection of harmonious da-da-da’s coming from every direction through your speakers that will bring a smile to anybody’s face. Pick up this record the day it comes out, no matter who you are or what your tastes are now – you might be pleasantly surprised.
Review By AbsolutePunk
Artist: Set Your Goals
Album: Discography
Genre: Punk / Rock / Pop Punk
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/setyourgoals
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