Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack: GoGo (2012)
Epitaph/The Boombox Generation

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: BryneBryne
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 12th 2012As good as 2010's My Dinosaur Life sounded, the major label life just never suited Motion City Soundtrack for myriad reasons: The record wasn't poppy enough for Top 40 radio and not heavy enough for rock radio, and because of that Columbia failed to do the one thing at which major labels are still p.

As good as 2010's My Dinosaur Life sounded, the major label life just never suited Motion City Soundtrack for myriad reasons: The record wasn't poppy enough for Top 40 radio and not heavy enough for rock radio, and because of that Columbia failed to do the one thing at which major labels are still particularly adept--getting their bands played on the radio. (That cover art didn't exactly help matters either, not fitting the tone of the record in the least.)

Free from major label strife, MCS recorded Go on their own accord, with their own funds and in their hometown of Minneapolis, Minn. And to their credit, the band didn't take the easy route in mounting their comeback: They could've easily rewritten "The Future Freaks Me Out" a dozen times and called it a day, but on Go we hear a band matured, assured and comfortable in their own skin. It's the least "weird" record the band have ever done, which paradoxically makes it the weirdest record the band have ever done.

Quirks aside, Motion City's biggest strength as songwriters have always been simplistic, infectious hooks and Go has those in spades: "True Romance" is that concisely tight and catchy hit single waiting to happen that Columbia never got; "Timelines" is the best introspective ballad the band have put to tape since "Hold Me Down;" Jesse Johnson's swirling keys and Moog admirably anchor "The Worst Is Yet To Come." There's nothing particularly revelatory about these--they're just damn good Motion City Soundtrack songs, and that's all one could really ask for at this point of the band's career.

The band does use their autonomy to attempt some new beats, however. "Everyone Will Die" succeeds with its morose lyrical content and orchestral backing, and the distant vulnerability that permeates throughout "Happy Anniversary" is particularly arresting. Justin Pierre has always written sad songs for MCS, but these strike a deeper chord that's probably laid mostly dormant since I Am The Movie.

Motion City Soundtrack should be applauded for continually tinkering with their core sound--because as a consistently solid band with a fervent following, they certainly don't have to do so. Go is an immensely enjoyable snapshot of where the band are in their career at this moment, and a record around which their fans should rally.

STREAM
Go

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

exitenglish1208 (June 26, 2012)

not great, but not bad. i guess i keep hoping for more "my favorite accident"

CobraSkullsFan (June 13, 2012)

good album. not great. good.

pigeons (June 13, 2012)

i liked this album

gotsmuch (June 13, 2012)

conebone... this band sounds nothing like dead to me. GOD.

paulrulzdood (June 13, 2012)

and as Deadpan stated, there is an overabundance of acoustic guitar on it, which is noticable even on the first listen.

which, again, lends itself to sounding like more like a demo than a finished product.

i put it into my CD player after listening to a BIll Stevenson/Blasting Room production and it's like night and day. it is super-obvious this is a DIY album from a band you expect a glossy/tight production and really punchy hooks

paulrulzdood (June 13, 2012)

probably their worst album, and i ws not a fan of "even if it kills me", but this makes that look really good. And i thought "dinosaur life" was really damn good.

this sounds like a demo for what could have been a good album. the production is lackluster and is obviously self-produced. the hooks aren't nearly as hooky as you're used to out of this band, the songs do not pop like you're used to. probably because these guys used to work with A-list producers; Ed Rose, Mark Hoppus, Jerry Finn, Ric Ocasic. this time they went DIY production with just a studio engineer. bad call. sounds unfocused, doesn't pop, etc. Again, sounds like a demo of what could have been a good album if it had the studio gloss and production focus we are used to.

it's not all bad. there's a handful of good tracks, like "timelines", "true romance", "coma kid". but it's overall flat and dull. after the career high of Dinosaur Life (which i find to be right on par with their first two albums), i was expecting more.

damnitsderek (June 13, 2012)

Also, this album sucks really bad.

domotime3 (June 12, 2012)

bad album

Thumbs (June 12, 2012)

Thumbs down.

conebone69 (June 12, 2012)

This band is pretty much dead to me

leatherface (June 12, 2012)

I agree with Deadpan. I've loved everything this band has done through the years but this is just lack luster.

Deadpan (June 12, 2012)

I couldn't disagree more with this review, to be honest. I love this band, but I could barely get through the stream of this because it sounds so phoned-in. It's fantastically dull pop-rock without the pre-requisite hooks for the pop part or any of the energy to rock. It just seems really disappointing. The last record wasn't great either, but at least the first 4 or 5 tracks had strong hooks with a driving sense of purpose - this doesn't even have that. It just kinda sounds like it's full of mid-tempo acoustic-ish rock tracks that were written with rom-com movie trailers in mind. I'm especially surprised after the Farewell Continental album - that was a better Motion City Soundtrack album than this.

thepopeofchili-town (June 12, 2012)

Pretty accurate review. I like this a lot more than the last one. Excited to see them next week.

damnitsderek (June 12, 2012)

Better yet, don't go to Warped at all.

renaldo69 (June 12, 2012)

Get this on the warped tour instead of matt toka