Motion City Soundtrack
(Columbia)
It's a bit amusing that once Motion City Soundtrack left the punk rock indie label Epitaph they made their most punk sounding record.
Recently signed to Columbia, Minneapolis-based MCS have been head-scratchingly absent from the radars of most, earning them the "most-underrated" title for the past 10 years now. While their 2007 effort (Even if it Kills Me) was not exactly met with enthusiastic response, it will likely go on to become the band's Pinkerton, the album that is lauded as their best in the decades to come.
My Dinosaur Life, the band's fourth full length, is equally impressive. Lyrically, the band still revels in pop culture references ("I fell asleep watching Veronica Mars"), but the songs are more introspective than any previous releases, dealing a lot with sobering up and growing up. The music is also just as catchy as before - a fantastic mix of power pop and Descents-era pop punk.
If there is any justice, My Dinosaur Life is the album that finally wakes up the rest of the world to the brilliance of Motion City Soundtrack. JOHN MOORE
