Commit This To Memory,
Motion City SoundtrackI know record companies are doing everything they can to bamboozle the pirates, but this is ridiculous. Epitaph have portioned up 'Commit This To memory' into 20-second slabs so that there are 90+ tracks on this CD. At times it's unnoticeable, but at others there are jumps and skips which affect the listener's enjoyment. Obviously this won't happen on the final retail version, but the press copies have obviously been laced in an attempt to stop the pesky downloaders getting their grubby mits on the keyboard-tastic crew's second full-lengther.
'I Am the Movie' went down as a bit of a cult classic - a weird and wonderful pop-punk record drenched in odd synth sounds and quirky melodies. This new record is more of the same - almost identical in many senses. There's little progression from the last album, just more of the same; and that's not really a bad thing because there is more than enough foot-tapping action here to keep even the most hardened of pop-punk kids happy. 'Attractive Today' and 'Everything Is Alright' are stereotypical MCS songs - very catchy tracks that beg to be sung along to.
Mark Hoppus' production is solid, but there's nothing new here for any Blink afficenado to get too excited about. Let's put it this way - he hasn't drenched this with the 'sugar-coated' button like Blink have done with their last two albums, but it's not stripped down either - there are plenty of layers of guitars and keys, but it's certainly pallatable. Tracks like 'Resolution' are a little slower and less MCS-like, but these are few and far between as for the most part in-yer-face quirky anthems are the order of the day. Let's face it, if songs like 'Time Turn Fragile' don't make you want to move your dancing feet, there's a good chance you've stopped breathing.
Fans of Motion City Soundtrack will lap this up - the band have clearly realised they are on to a good thing and have kept with a formula which has so far served them very well. The lack of progression could well hamper them on the third album, but in the meantime I'll kick back with a beer and enjoy the summer with a very fun, melodic record that is sure to infest a radio near you...
www.motioncitysoundtrack.com
Epitaph Records
Paul
