Motion City Soundtrack- I Am The Movie
It’s always in the bag for Epitaph. Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion) has governed a record label that not only tracks down the better bands of tomorrow, but is also willing to share the spoils of it’s world-wide success with other smaller labels that come along for the ride. Genres range from hip-hop, to pop/punk, to jazz fusion, and the label is still one of the most successful and well-known to this day. Two years ago, on this month, Epitaph grabbed a hold of a Minnesota-based band called
Motion City Soundtrack. The band skipped down to a studio, and did a free demo for the label. Gurewitz and Epitaph worked it’s sweet magic, make a long story short; the quintet is now one of the best-selling pop/punk bands in the last two years. A few months, and a
lot of visual transformations later, (every major record-label’s ritual), the band stepped out of the studio with their debut album,
I Am The Movie, which was released under Epitaph and supervised and distributed by the band’s older indie label. The way it works, everyone likes a first album better, and as I’ve discussed before, it holds the band’s real potential (if any), and works as the tunnel to the band’s next project.
To fast-forward you a bit, it is fair to mention that at this point in their still-early career, the band was highly spiritually and emotionally focused on their work, and on this record, it shows. The creativity flows clean throughout the whole record, the band over-all, seems a lot more active compared to their material released in the past few months. The music on their records consist of a main stream of radio-friendly goodness coming straight from Cain’s guitar or the astonishingly-well constructed melodies from the moog/keyboard. The line is set from there and the rest is drawn in by the other components to add enough layers of the same relativity so the single track can reach a higher ground. Joshua Cain on guitar throws some chords around, and while most of time, he doesn’t much of a huge spotlight, he paves the way for what is really important, and what is the band’s core. That is Jesse’s moog and keyboard parts. The high-pitched, bubbly melodies flowing off the man’s instruments set a simple, but flawless foundation, and are what generally hook you in the tracks every time.
Tony Thaxton and Matt Taylor are in charge of holding the foundation clean, and keep everything going, as the moog affects can fade away into something more fancy, and go off-key for the listener. They’re the rhythmic section, and nothing can be achieved easily without one of these, people. Matt on bass gets as much air-time as Cain’s guitar-work. That means most of the time, he gets the job done, and then some. But sometimes, lays back and gives the composition what it needs to survive, and leaves the rest up to the rest. Thaxton is a plenty different story. I have mentioned it before, and I most of the time, I seem to stand alone. Thaxton, to me, seems to be one of the few new-era pop/punk drummers that I actually see a future in. The man has the speed, coordination, and the man is pretty fuck
ing crafty. He goes at his small Pearl kit like a caveman would do a club, and in the end is a show within itself if you listen closely. That’s a plus, and something not to forget when you’re listening to the band, and the album in this case.
Leave it to the vocalist to give the album the actual mood that the rest of the composition actually thrives in and circulates around. The man is Justin Pierre. You might know my friend at the other side of this rock pool, Claudio Sanchez. God gave them both the gift of unusually high vocal pitch, and the way I see it, they’re both using it to their advantage well. While Pierre holds notes for some time to expand the message, at the end it strikes as very, very poppy, but that’s what the band’s material should have been primarily labeled in the first place anyways, sop no matter. He and Jesse are the sweet center of the composition. The nucleus, if you will. Justin’s choice of pitch and the signs of aggression in his vocals will determine the outcome of the final solution, and he’s the first thing listeners generally pick up when they listen in. Tracks like
Don’t Call It A Comeback and
Boombox Generation, apart from their catalyst acting on the instruments, gain it’s more aggressive background and have a more fierce edge because of the slight change in Pierre’s tone. He works together with wit and funny, often tragic innuendo engulfed in his lyrics to flat-out deliver. He works as the one that sorts out the tracks for what they really hold within. Plus, he brings the term “bad hair day” to a brand new extent.
Another plus on the album is variation. Among the changes mentioned above, the more aggressive ones, thrive more laid back scores that concentrate more on lyrics and the outlook of the story that is being told.
Autographs And Apologies is a good example, and is taken at a more reasonable pace, and easier to digest. In the end, all songs hold something wedged inside that will reach the listener in some way and stays consistent. Songs like
Capital H, and
The Future Freaks Me Out sums up what the band’s sound is like, and are smart picks as a listener’s first listens.
I Am The Movie has, over time, earned a place among some of my favorite albums and is always a good listen, and provides change, from, almost anything else. The whole band works together to provide you with it’s own man-made ambience that flows freely, and becomes very easy and enjoyable to listen to. Give it a chance, will ya?
Motion City Soundtrack-
Justin Pierre- Vocals, Guitar
Joshua Cain- Guitar, Vocals
Matt Taylor- Bass, Vocals
Jesse Johnson- Keyboard/Moog
Tony Thaxton- Drums
Stand Out Tracks:
Shiver
The Future Freaks Me Out
Indoor Living
Perfect Teeth
Capital H
Superb.
4.5/5
This Message Edited On 11.28.05
