Motion City Soundtrack- My Dinosaur Life (***½)

Nerds don’t have it easy.

Sure, people like Rivers Cuomo and MC Lars have been on the forefront of geek chic in the 00s, but the constant battle they’ve endured for social acceptance (while remaining true to themselves) is as much of a universal constant as death, or taxes.

On some level, maybe that’s why bands like Motion City Soundtrack are so appealing. Coming from a genre that’s saturated with far too many A New Found Glory sound-a-likes, Motion City’s music comes across as charmingly inviting while retaining a quirky sense authenticity. No bad haircuts for them, instead they’ve remained true to themselves with a steady diet of pop culture references and quick hooks.

It’s with no surprise then, that the Minneapolis 5-piece keep things consistent on My Dinosaur Life, their fourth album overall. Tapping Mark Hoppus of blink-182 fame for the production duties, My Dinosaur Life finds Motion City name checking everything from Busta Rhymes to the Ocarina of Time, amidst furious, down stroked guitar and big choruses. The result is a record that plays to their strengths as songwriters, and less as an innovation on their current sound.

The record hits the ground running with the driving “Worker Bee” and the hard-hitting “A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help),” both tracks offering an energetic one-two punch. Against the backdrop of Joshua Cain’s bouncing guitar and Tony Thaxton’s enormous drums, vocalist Justin Pierre uses his smooth upper register to confess, “I think/I can figure it out/But I’m gonna need a little help to get me through it/Need a little help to get me through it!” Jesse Johnson’s airy piano provides some lightness to the song’s stompy chorus, but it’s all very clear that this is a different Motion City Soundtrack than the one that wrote 2007’s Even If It Kills Me.

In fact, there are two big differences that distinguish My Dinosaur Life from the rest of Motion City’s back catalog.

The first being Pierre’s newfound lyrical maturity, which is a welcome change from the band’s usual “so-invested-it-hurts” mentality towards life. On My Dinosaur Life, Pierre has found a more optimistic sense of self to combat the perils in his world. There’s more than enough blame for ex-lovers, but there’s also a proud sense of personal progress that stems Pierre's prose. Whether it’s lamenting on past tragedies for future wellness (“Her Words Destroyed My Planet”), a refusal to wallow in self-pity (“History Lesson”), or the defense of a specific social circle (“@!#?@!”), My Dinosaur Life shows Pierre as someone ready to take the unknown by the horns and wrestle it to the ground.

This brings us to the album’s other huge difference, and that’s the band’s stringently conservative take on its own sound. This is surprising, considering the risks Pierre is taking with storytelling this time around, but My Dinosaur Life sheds much of the experimentation and quirky synthesizers that made Even If It Kills Me such a breath of fresh air.

It seems that Motion City Soundtrack wrote a set of songs that’s primarily guitar driven this time around, light on ballads and heavy on vigor. Hoppus also seems to implement a “less-is-more” production style, where each instrument carries itself with clarity, but lacks richness. The bass is bouncy, and the guitars zoom from muted to buzzing, but none of it quite crunches or chugs along with much weight. Instead, Motion City Soundtrack relies on their energy, a quality that’s endearing, but also shows a band afraid to take the next big leap in their sound.

However, the album does find a comfortable groove midway through when Hoppus and Motion City decide to pepper these tracks with some expanded instrumentation. The acoustic strum turned dancey thump of “Stand Too Close” and the string laced “History Lesson” give the album a bit more character than its typical pop-punk by the numbers approach. Elsewhere, “Pulp Fiction” flies by with fuzzy melodies and twinkling keyboards. Pierre’s rapid fire wit goes into warp speed as he juxtaposes life’s style and substance with lines such as, “And like a nightmare/Covered in the tracks that brought you there/Paranoid and frozen in the heathers/Like a slasher film/I’m torn in opposite directions/The plot sucks/But the killings are gorgeous…”

Sadly, the filler on My Dinosaur Life relegates it to the status of a good record, rather than a great one. “Hysteria” is a rather vanilla mid tempo sing-along that shows Motion City coasting when they should be going for the jugular. Additionally, “Delrium’s” banal chant of “I swear/To pharmaceuticals…” and “@!#?@!’s” overly confrontational chorus of “You all need to go away/You mother ****ers!” tend to mar a rather consistent lyrical outing.

Despite those mishaps, however, My Dinosaur Life is the sound of a band that’s enjoying themselves. While they sport their share of growing pains, Motion City Soundtrack serves up another sweet and satisfying exercise in quirky pop-rock, their geeky fans hanging on every go-go-gadget guitar part and Miami Vice name check. If other bands indulged in what they loved as unabashedly as Motion City Soundtrack does, pop music might be less about fitting in entirely.

In fact, nerds might have the good life.

Key Cuts: A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help), Stand Too Close, Pulp Fiction

Sounds Like: You’re Awful, I Love You (Ludo), Pasadena (Ozma), Weezer (The Green Album) (Weezer)

Click on the artwork to sample My Dinosaur Life for yourself!

Live: Panic(!) At The Disco/Motion City Soundtrack/The Hush Sound/Phantom Planet @ The Warfield 4/11

The Warfield is the last place I expect to see an inundation of 14 year old girls, their parents, and all manner of people smeared with eyeliner and puffy shirts.

Still, it makes sense that The Honda Civic Tour attracts such a variety of people to some of the seediest parts of Market St. in San Francisco. Bands like Panic (!) At The Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet all at once embody thick melodies and nimble use of keyboards to get this eclectic bunch of people screaming their throats raw.

Arriving late, and standing in line for a t-shirt, I could only crane my ears to Phantom Planet rifle through their short set list. What I heard was some foreshadowing for the evening: the band could not replicate their record. Back when The O.C. was the buzz, EVERYONE sung along to “California.” And overhearing it sung live, you could tell that Pro Tools laced Alex Greenwald’s recorded self on their biggest single. His voice struggled live, pushing to reach that upper register that seemed so effortless on the album. It’s a shame, because while I never particularly cared for Phantom Planet, I assumed their live sound was akin to their recorded self.

So with ambivalence, I made my way to the balcony, t-shirt in hand, and found my seat for The Hush Sound.

One of my favorite experiences is seeing a band live, and being utterly compelled to download their material as soon as I get home. The Hush Sound fits into this category quite snugly. While poorly lit, the band ran through their set list with what I assume can only be a mix of their 3 studio albums. The standout was easily the cabaret infused “Molasses” where pianist Greta Salpeter used her luxuriously rich voice to seduce and pull the audience in. Elsewhere, guitarist Bob Morris provided just enough abusive guitar work to compliment the intricate piano work. As a whole, the band sounded tight, turning their time signature’s on a time and really illuminating the great acoustics The Warfield has to offer.

In the midst of strike and set up for what would be the night’s finest hour, I found myself truly hating teeny bopper fans. I’m sure it goes without saying, but when their screaming becomes too loud that it drops out all your hearing, heads should truly role. The only thing that kept that from happening was the gorgeous woman climbing the stairs to sell over priced candy and glow-sticks to idiots.

Oh Candy Girl…how sweet you were.

ANYWAY, the highlight of night was most definitely Motion City Soundtrack’s stellar performance. Taking the stage amidst synthesizer squiggles, the massive clod of hair that is lead singer Justin Pierre helped lead his band through an energetic and passionate set. Relaying mostly on material from last year’s Even If It Kills Me, and their big singles, Motion City had the crowd eating out of its hand. Tracks like the self-depreciating “L.G. FUAD” to the Cars inspired “This Is For Real” balanced the best of their power-pop tendencies with spastic keyboards. Drummer Tony Thaxton more than pulled his weight, throwing out what felt like endless drum rolls that aided the blistering numbers like “Fell In Love Without You.” The band sounded flawless, with Pierre hitting his incredibly high notes as well as well sounding far sharper and energetic than their recorded counterparts. After thanking the kind audience after every single song, the band closed with the fan favorite “The Future Freaks Me Out,” successfully getting the entire Warfield to “bust a move” alongside them.

And Motion City’s reckless passion truly made them the stars that night.

In fact, their punchy performance outshined headliners, Panic(!) At The Disco, with fantastic style. While the Vegas quartet (augmented by a touring keyboardist) put on a decent performance, the white noise shrieks of aforementioned teeny boppers made it a difficult experience to fully enjoy. Coupled with the over indulgent stage set up that acted more as a billboard for Pretty. Odd., the band played a set half comprised of their debut album and their sophomore release.

Yet it was at this moment where the foreshadowing became the present, for the plain simple truth is that Brendon Urie cannot reach his range in a live setting.

While his infectious singing on “Nine In The Afternoon” and smash hit “I Write Sins, Not Tradgies” is a far cry from band mate Ryan Ross’ delivery, some of the older material really lost it’s appeal with Urie’s lower register. Still, it was a decent performance if a bit uneven. While they slugged through many of Pretty. Odd.’s weakest tracks like “Mad As Rabbits,” they did throw in some curve balls for fans. Urie actually began the band’s encore with an acoustic version of the Palahniuk inspired “Time To Dance” while “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage” was as twisting and caustic as it’s studio version.

But the main problem with Panic(!)’s set was the fact that the dance oriented material they performed off A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out didn’t not come across as dancey. The abrasive guitars gave the tracks more of a biting feel and taking away atmosphere from some of the more electronic heavy songs. This actually benefited the Pretty. Odd. material, but only insamuch as Pretty. Odd. is a more traditional rock record to begin with. The live setting actually lent itself to the tender ballad “Northern Downpour” and the old timey “I’ve Got Friends In Holy Places.” Who knew?

In the end, I suppose Panic(!) At The Disco chose wisely in their supporting acts but completely lost it when it came across to recreating their record for an audience. They instead reveled in flashing lights, flower-child inspired stage set-up.

Then again, I suppose if you have hundreds of screaming 14 year olds that want to ravage your slender, guy-liner frame, you don’t need to impress someone like me.

(***½)