#motioncitymay

I haven’t been shy about admitting on this blog that Motion City Soundtrack’s fifth LP, Go, was a bit of a letdown for me.  Nevertheless I was still eagerly anticipating its follow-up.  The first few tracks that the band released ahead of time showed a lot of promise, but how would the whole album actually turn out?  I am happy to say that they did a great job on what is (for now) their final record.  

I love the album art, and it is automatically one of their strongest.  The title, Panic Stations, also pleased me, as it felt like more a return to form for MCS.  One big deal going into this album is the fact that it is the first without Tony Thaxton on drums.  While Tony is obviously missed, Claudio Rivera does an excellent job filling in.  You can still kind of tell it’s not Tony behind the kit, but Claudio’s beats feel enough like Tony’s to get you by.  With that out of the way, we’re going to dive into this thing track by track now.

Anything at All kicks off the album in glorious fashion.  I’m not sure if this is sentimentalism speaking due to the fact that I heard this one prior to release during my MCS meet-and-greet, but I really love this opening track and it stands tall among prior Motion City openers.  Justin’s vocals are the highlight here, as he seems to be lashing out against a lost love.  Towards the end he hits a higher note, which pleasantly reminds me of Worker Bee (another one of their opening gems).  The energy is high on this rocker and it does a great job of getting you pumped for what’s to come, which is everything that an opener is supposed to do.

TKO was the first single we heard from this thing and it still stands as one of the album’s best.  I was impressed then and that hasn’t changed.  If Justin’s vocals were the star of the opening track, the moog and drums steal the show for this one.  This song kicks off with an infectious drum beat and the moog soon steps in and is dripping with that lovely sound that can only be Motion City.  Everything gets even better during the “breakdown”, with the drums commanding top honors.  

This next one goes places.  Track 3, I Can Feel You, bounces back and forth between softer verses and a louder chorus as Justin is longing to meet his special someone.  One minute and forty-five seconds in things really slow down and then build up to an explosive climax.  Finally the moog comes in heavy as this thing ends with the whole band jamming loud.  This song has a very progressive feel to it, which reminds me of some of Motion City’s earliest material (check out Promenade/Carolina).  I Can Feel You is definitely a stand out track on this record and really showcases growth in this band’s songwriting craft.  So far we’re three for three.

Next comes Lose Control, the antithesis of the previous track.  The shortest track on the album starts off with what sounds like a drum machine, or else some very electronic sounding beats.  There’s not much to this one; it’s just a straightforward song that’s fun to bop your head to dance along with in awkward fashion.  The lyrics are also pretty uninteresting.  Heavy Boots is next and has a bit more of a faster tempo and element of fun.  The lyrics here help cement the oceanic theme found all throughout the album (which I’ll dive into more later).  I love the guitar solo, as it reminds me very much of 90’s era Weezer (Pinkerton primarily).  The fuzzy guitars are great.  

The next one wastes no time, as it begins with its chorus.  Since I initially heard it I have never been a fan of the melody on It’s a Pleasure to Meet You, and since that’s how it begins I tend to skip it pretty often.  I do really like the first verse, where we’re reminded that MCS still writes about depressing material.  Even so, there’s a fair degree of hope in the lyrics here.  It’s almost as if it’s satire, like Justin is commenting on and making fun his own “Debby-Downer” lyrics.  If I can stick it out until the first verse, I don’t mind this one, but it’s still one of my least favorites on this album.  

Over It Now has always reminded me of Her Words Destroyed My Planet, which I dig.  It’s almost like a retelling of that story, where before he was lamenting a lost lady.  This time around he’s saying he’s done with it all and just feels like telling her to screw off.  It is kind of hard not to criticize the irony here.  He makes it so clear that he has moved on yet he just seems to be rehashing the past.  Maybe that’s taking the lyrics a little too seriously, but it’s hard to ignore the slightly immature words here.  The chorus isn’t great on this one either, but it’s a step up from the previous track.  I really like the metaphors on display in the next song, Broken Arrow, and it holds strong throughout.  These lyrics are more introspective and very relatable.  I love the instrumentation in the breakdown as well as how the guitars wail in the background as the song ends.  

Next comes Gravity, which was an early favorite for me.  I described this to a friend as being “the most Motion City Motion City song” on this whole thing, and I still feel that way.  The darker tone and lyrics about being lonely and helpless remind me a lot of I Am the Movie.  The drums here are also killer.  The Samurai Code starts off with catchy guitar and continues with the hopelessness lyrics.  The difference here is that Justin is looking at the future and wanting something different and more out of life (which in light of recent news changes the meaning a bit).  His voice sounds great on this track.  

Panic Stations ends with Days Will Run Away, and unfortunately this is one of my least favorite MCS songs and I don’t know why.  The songwriting here gets progressive again, much like on I Can Feel You, but the song is mostly dull to me.  It’s the slowest and longest song on the record, and while I have loved what the band have done with their slower tunes in the past, this one is just drawn out and boring.  The whole band comes in about halfway through but that doesn’t really help it for me.  Things then get eerie and you think it’s ending (as many of their albums end with weird, static noise), but then things kick back in one last time before the end actually comes.  They did nail the sound and feel they were going for here, as it fits nicely with the rest of the theme of the record.  Maybe it’s because I can tell it’s a song about saying goodbye and now that they are calling it quits (hopefully temporarily), it just hurts that much more.  Again, fitting but unsatisfying.  

Hello All,

Last year on this blog I dedicated the whole month of May to my favorite band, Motion City Soundtrack.  I had planned on doing the same this year but personal priorities and academia have prevented me from matching last year’s output.  Two massive MCS-centric things have happened since last year’s Motion City May.  Firstly, they released their sixth LP, Panic Stations.  I was too busy to do a formal write up of Panic Stations when it came out, and I decided I would save my thoughts on that for this year’s MCM.

The second (and far sadder) piece of news that we’ve had from the band is that they are currently on their So Long, Farewell Tour.  In a surprise to everyone, they are saying that they don’t know what the future holds for them, but after this tour they are done (for now).  This saddened me deeply (I still remember where I was when I heard this news), but I am very thankful that my Motion City Soulmate, Nicole, is going with me next month to one of these final (hopefully not) shows.  But the best part?  Tony Thaxton has returned to play drums on the tour!  

After that concert happens I’m sure I will write plenty of words about the experience, much like I did after the show I attended last year.  As that won’t be happening until next month, that blog will not be part of MCM.  So what will be a part of it?  I’m focusing on my Panic Stations impressions.  I’ve had about six months to digest it and will do my best to nicely convey all of those feelings here.  Considering the amount of posts I made for MCM last year, it may seem strange that I’m only going to have two this time around.  Besides this (re) introductory post, I will be dedicating this MCM to Panic Stations.  As their last possible LP, it deserves it.  

I’ve already pontificated enough about how much I love the band so I don’t think I need to write a farewell letter to them at this moment.  When this tour is over I may feel compelled to but for now this is my decision.  I do plan on continuing MCM however.  This time next year I may just be missing Motion City so much that I’ll need an outlet to gush about them.  I’ve actually got blog ideas planned that were supposed to hit this month, but I may just save them for next year.  Who knows, I could write some of them up before then.

For the band's fourth LP, Motion City Soundtrack sought out to reclaim some of what made Commit this to Memory special.  To help with that Commit this to Memory sort of vibe Mark Hoppus returned as producer.  What resulted was a more fast and pop punk sound than their previous release and one that is extremely easy to get into.

While I like to describe Even If it Kills Me as “pretty” sounding, I like to use the word “fun” for My Dinosaur Life.  These songs are all more rockin' than before and even with that signature depressing lyrical content that Motion City is known for, they are having so much fun on this record.  This is all surely evident with the opening track Worker Bee.  Worker Bee is one of the best MCS openers (and they have some good ones).  It's very reminiscent of Attractive Today but showcases some more positive and uplifting lyrics.  I like that this is how the record begins because if you remember, Even If it Kills Me ended with a fairly positive message.  I appreciate that this can be seen as a continuation of that idea.  This song sees the whole band rocking out, which continues on with the following tracks.  It's also definitely worth mentioning that Justin's vocals on this track are killer.  He really goes for it on some of the notes and I dig it. I'd say overall his singing on this record is the best we've ever heard from him (and still better than what we got on Go).  

But yes, speaking of rocking...A Life Less Ordinary (Need a Little Help) continues that fun rock and to be honest this record almost never stops rocking.  A Life Less Ordinary starts with more depressing lyrics like we are accustomed to, but the music really balances them out and still makes for a fun track.  Her Words Destroyed My Planet was a big single and is honestly a solid follow up to the likes of This is For Real and Everything Is Alright.  It's catchy and like much of this album, nearly impossible to not sing along to.  Things then get pretty dark on Disappear, which is another single (the third in a row on this LP).  

The lyrics take a slightly silly turn on Delirium.  I love the bass line and drum beats on this track.  Everything is very catchy.  The next track, History Lesson, takes more of an experimental approach.  It's very differently musically than anything Motion City have ever done and can be best summed up as a drinking song.  Next up we have a big one.  Stand Too Close is another track that ranks up there as one of my all time favorites from this band.  This is one that I will recommend to people who are unfamiliar with MCS, as I feel this is a great one to draw you in.  I find this song to be utterly beautiful and down to earth as well as one that I really connect to.  This is a classic Justin Pierre “diddy” and I completely adore it.  It's probably my favorite off of this whole album.

Pulp Fiction is another more experimental track and then things get more fun again.  @!#?@! (yes that's actually the name of the song) is pretty much a nerd anthem.  This yet again is another one that just begs to be sung along to.  I also have to praise the opening lyrics “In early '99 I beat The Ocarina of Time”.  The fact that my favorite band mentions my favorite video game of all time is super cool to me.  Hysteria comes next and is another fun rocker.  It's very danceable and one that reminds me of Delirium.  Speaking of song similarities, I've always felt that tracks 2 and 3 go particularly well together.  The final 2 tracks do too.  These two also remind me a bit of the final 2 tracks off of I Am the Movie.  Skin and Bones could have easily been the closing track (much like Autographs and Apologies could have been the closer of the first record).  I love the lyrics to Skin and Bones.  They are so incredibly honest, thought-provoking, as well as being super depressing.  These words really affect me and cause me to think about life and that's a cool thing for a song to do.  They also make you feel very alone.  The Weakends starts off very dark (kind of like Disappear) and is a slow burn.  At first it doesn't even really sound like MCS until all the instruments kick in to high gear.  All in all it's a solid closer, but doesn't come close to topping something like the amazing Hold Me Down.