Category Archives: motion city soundtrack

The plot sucks but the killings are gorgeous

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I still love him. LIKE CRAY-ZAY.

I didn’t know it was hot in the middle
I touched it once then I touched it a second time
‘Cause I am that naive, a myriad of bright ideas

He is from Mahtomedi. I know that means nothing to 98% of you. But it just makes me feel like kin to him even more. Well, not kin, because maybe one day he’ll marry me. It could happen. But innt he CUTE?!

This post isn’t all about Justin Pierre. He is the main lyricist and rhythm guitarist for Motion City Soundtrack. To me it always feels like MCS is pretty mainstream and everyone knows about them, but more and more I am realizing – Why Doesn’t Everyone Know About Them?

It just does something to me the way Justin is able to cram approximately 400 words into every song. And of course he’s the guy who sticks out in the band pics, and he is there effortlessly delivering all of his fun, funky, and flabbergasting lyrics in the music videos, so he is the one who gets mentioned.

Motion City Soundtrack formed in 1997 with Justin and buddy Joshua Cain. The full band lineup has changed since the band formed, and meanwhile, they’ve released four full-length albums.

You had to have at least caught one of their videos on MTV. Being that the band creators fancy themselves as fledgling filmmakers, you know their videos are going to be good. Hell, the name of the band is no mistake, what did you think?

I used to rely on self-medication,
I guess I still do that from time to time.

So if somehow you’ve been oblivious to this band throughout the last decade, and you missed the video above from ’05, I want you to check out their latest album and tell me you don’t become an instant fan. It is absolutely the perfect mix of upbeat fuck-youness that we all love and appreciate. My Dinosaur Life is the name of the album, and it’s been out since January. So get on it, pally. Check their touring schedule – there are still a few heartland dates before they get on Warped Tour. And you know Warped is coming somewhere near you.

I’m going to share Track 6, “History Lesson”, because I think it best showcases the strength in Pierre’s voice. You get just a hint of the underlying snark on the album and the musical talents of the rest of the band.


Download Motion City Soundtrack – History Lesson

Stock up and create your summer soundtrack now.

OK, fine. Here’s one more track for the kids. Now you need to go buy ALL the albums.


Download Motion City Soundtrack – @!#?@!

Even if death were good

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If you have all of the information..
And you can’t make a decision in 60 seconds….
Then perhaps you do not deserve to reap the benefits that such a decision might bring.

Call it self-help gobbledygook, or more Robbins-style success training… But this advice has been around for almost a century. Andrew Carnegie once said “those who are slow to make up their minds are also slow in carrying out their decisions.”

Well if you can’t decide
Your move you either weep or moan
You waste a year to mull this through

[Ra Ra Riot – Ghost Under Rocks]

Meet Ra Ra Riot. Did you hear the cello? The violin? How is it that I can be a sucker for both the double bass pedal and the stringed instruments? I’m a sucker for ska, too, so what does that tell you. (Absolutely nothing.) As I mentioned in my last post, I am reading Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself To Live in which the author visits the places and ponders the legacy of the deaths of well-known, and some not-so-well-known rock artists. So I found it odd to discover that in the short couple of years that the sextet Ra Ra Riot has been together, they’ve already lost their original drummer to an accidental drowning after playing a show and then attending a house party in Providence, RI last summer. Prior to that show, they wrapped up a 6-week tour with inALLcaps faves The Little Ones. And in December of 2008, they toured the east coast with So Many Dynamos. That would have been a nice show to see.

Listening to Ra Ra Riot is really soothing to me. It sometimes takes me back to The Smiths, and by the end of the album The Rhumb Line I could swear they are as upbeat as Motion City Soundtrack. Like Morrissey they do often mumble their lyrics, so nailing down what it is they’re saying is tough – and as more and more 12-year-olds access the internet, the lyrics websites are plummeting in credibility by the hour. Unlike Morrissey, these guys are American as Apple Pie and don’t sound like they hail from Syracuse, New York. But what they’ve got going on ranges from deep to flighty and it makes me very happy. Soothed. I love it. Try another sample.

[Ra Ra Riot – Dying Is Fine]

In stark contrast to The All American Rejects, I am glad the youth of today has a band like Ra Ra Riot. You have to get this album.

I get nervous every time you speak.

Youth of America, WE implore you to demand better

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It’s their third full-length album. They’ve toured with Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Motion City Soundtrack, Hawthorne Heights, and The Format. Out of this, a handful of chart-topping singles have been spawned.

Yet it’s not enough to reflect in their music. They refuse to evolve with the rest of the sounds available in art today. Oh dear reader, if you are going to set any sort of resolution for the new year, please resolve to DEMAND better music from teenage punk pop. It exists. Reach deeper. Haunt the record stores more. Accept add request from little indie bands on MySpace. Stay diligent on the music blogs. Bands like The All-American Rejects need to step up if they want your concert cash.

This album, When The World Comes Down, opens with a horribly weak track called “I Wanna”. What’s sad about this track is that they obviously throw their energy into it, and listeners who haven’t been able to experience truly good music will treat this like an anthem. Stop there. It’s not. Nevermind the fact that there are more eloquent ways of expressing the lustful desires of our young bodies. These guys are in their mid-20’s. They can figure this one out.

Moving along through the album, we have an unlikely duet between Catherine Pierce and lead singer Tyson Ritter on “Another Heart Calls.” Pierce has such a gorgeous voice but the pairing is awful. And several of the songs are so frustrating because it’s difficult to tell what the story is… And not in a good way. It’s one thing to have a dichotomy being expressed in any piece of art because of the confused position of the artist… But this is just not done in an artful way. It’s done in the manner of an eight-year old aspiring songwriter, no offense intended to eight year olds. I want to say that “Back To Me” is a halfway decent track, but the lyrics thwart and disappoint me. I’ll share it anyway, mostly because this is an mp3 blog but also because it is a decent piece of music that utilizes different instruments harmoniously.

Now I am getting off my soapbox. See you next year!

[All-American Rejects: Back To Me]