Graphic by Julie Boehmer

Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory
Grade: B+

By Ian Anderson - ian@slivermagazine.com
Editor

It's really hard to write a great pop song. I'm talking MTV-TRL-VH1-Behind-the-Music good. Motion City Soundtrack (MCS) has captured this ability as well as the attention of every major media export in the country, but their record Commit This To Memory (Epitaph) is still considered a "Sleeper Hit" by most. Their songs are infectious, pop-y and undeniably accessible for, well, everyone. Not only are they a great band, but get this, they're from Minneapolis.

Motion City Soundtrack is Joshua Cain (guitar), Tony Thaxton (drums), Justin Pierre (vocals and guitar), Jesse Johnson (moog) and Mathew Taylor (bass), five stylish young men from the Minneapolis who are as cute as buttons and just as well-rounded. Formed in 1999 when Cain casually asked Pierre (both High School students at the time) if he would be interested in working together, they rapidly realized that they had something special - and so did Epitaph Records who put out MCS's first record I Am The Movie in 2003.

After the release, MCS toured obsessively (so much that they no longer seemed like a local band) and toured with Blink-182 in Europe and Japan. During which, they bewitched a certain Mark Hoppus (bass player from Blink-182) who asked to produce their follow-up album. The pairing was just what they band needed. Commit This To Memory was pristinely polished, precise and meticulous in detail. MCS clearly took their time making the album and it paid off.

The album was a complete success selling over 200,000 copies and garnering many awards and kudos from media world-wide. Songs off the record have been featured in the "Sound of Superman CD" and the "John Tucker Must Die" soundtrack, not to mention that they played on the Late Show with Conan O'Brien and the Late Late Show with Jimmy Kimmel last fall. Rolling Stone Magazine described their sound as "Pogo-inspiring emo guitar meets Moog synth, giving the songs an Eighties teen-movie vibe" and Spin Magazine featured them as "Band of the Month" in June. To be entirely honest, Rolling Stone isn't far off, but their review doesn't take into account the stark honesty and authenticity of the band. Believe it or not, they're writing great music that is extraordinarily popular, but is completely from the heart.

But in lieu of their vast accomplishments, Pierre still keeps things in perspective. "[It's amazing] that I can afford to pay rent and buy toys because I play guitar and sing is the most mind blowing thing that ever was," Pierre said. "Live television is too unnerving to appreciate while it's happening and I wish I were more clever when doing interviews but the things you mentioned are sweet as well."

Commit This To Memory is one pop-punk hit after pop-punk hit. It drips both precision and a big budget squeaky clean with enthusiasm and positive energy. Granted, these traits are often perceived as inherent in the cookie-cutter world of the pop-punk industry, but the record carries itself with a bit more dignity and depth than a passerby would expect. Commit This To Memory stands up over time and over heavy rotation. The songs are catchy, smart and can carry even the lamest of dorm-room parties. Plus, Pierre spits a non-stop flow of refreshingly clever lyrics that, although push the limits, never go over-the-top,

They just got back from touring Europe with OK Go and are looking forward to being home for a while before going out again with All-American Rejects in November and December. But Pierre even keeps his tour antics to a minimum.

"Most of my exciting tour moments revolve around a new movie trailer posted on Apple.com or a book I'm reading," Pierre said. "I still don't get out much or join in any reindeer games."

And in terms of another album, "We plan to write the rest of the next record in October and November," Pierre said. "I plan to relax as much as possible when not writing and finally move into the new place I've had since March."

Here's my favorite track: Motion City Soundtrack - "Better Open The Door"

Graphic by Julie Boehmer

The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
Grade: A

By Ian Anderson - ian@slivermagazine.com
Editor

I have had the good fortune of following The Thermals since the band's infancy and have enjoyed watching them grow from an underappreciated, noisy post-punk rock band to an almost-as-appreciated-as-they-should-be, noisy post-punk rock band. They're a loud, abrasively energetic band with enough cool to lasso the everyday listener without alienating the indie elitists. They work hard: spending nearly the whole of the past three years on the road touring obsessively, and that hard work is finally paying off. Not to mention that they have made one of the best records of the year.

The Thermals are infectious, a fact evidenced by their history. Their first album, More Parts Per Million, was an underappreciated gem that was fortunately noticed by the right people. It was a loud, chaotic and fun debut that guitarist Hutch Harris and bass player (and now drummer, too) Kathy Foster recorded on a four-track in 2003. Sub Pop Records quickly pounced on the Portland-based band per suggestion and helpful nudge by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie fame just four months after they formed, and released More Parts Per Million.

Fuckin' A, The Thermals' second full-length release was recorded and produced by Christ Walla (another Death Cab cutie) and finally brought the band's image to fruition. Although of a much higher audio fidelity than their first album, The Thermals still hadn't betrayed their sense of reckless abandon and boundless energy - and this stays true for their latest release The Body, The Blood, The Machine.

However, there were some changes. Perhaps most prominent was the decision to have Foster play both bass and drums, which made the process a bit more exclusive. "It was natural," Harris said. "We've been playing together for 10 or 11 years, it's nothing new. It's just going back to something we're familiar with. We wanted to see if we could do it just the two of us: if we could do it, we could pull it off in the future. It was also a lot of fun to record with less people - it makes it an easier job. It was this tiny little secret club and that made it a lot of fun."

But fun doesn't mean less effort. Every move was predetermined and calculated many times over. "We had to move fast and bust our ass," Harris said. "We didn't have a lot of time in the studio, but we spent a lot of time writing. We made a lot of demos and we were really ready when we got in the studio." This careful time of development was a clear marker in the evolution of the record as The Body has a far more clear and deliberate direction than any other Thermals release in the past.

Produced and recorded by former Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, The Body is a throwback to the classic D.C. sound, but doesn't lose perspective on the band's previous works. The production is less scattered and more focused, the drums are louder, the guitars are still loud, and the vocals rest on top of the mix rather than are buried deep within it. The recording is crisp and, despite its polished quality, doesn't ignore the dirty nature of the band. The Body is also a big step forward in terms of songwriting and musicianship. The songs are catchier, wittier and possess that extra something that separates the middleweight bands from the heavy-hitters - The Thermals fall into the latter category.

The best songs on the record are a perfect one-two punch of "A Pillar of Salt" and "Returning to the Fold" and would make an excellent seven-inch. "A Pillar of Salt" is the sure-fire hit on the record - expect to see it on a Lexus or Apple commercial sometime - complete with hydrolic drums and the catchiest lead-riff on the record, this song could be the back-to-school hit of the year.

"There is a story in the record," Harris said. "It isn't really a concept, but there is a story being told. ["A Pillar of Salt"] originally was called 'Escaping'. And ["Returning to the Fold"] is the returning. It's the exodus of the record, escaping from the fascist Christian government."

"Returning to the Fold" is a slow-burner that has a surprisingly undeniable groove for a band dubbed as just a post-punk outfit. The song is about the hesitant return to the Church and faith. With lines like "I forgot I needed God like a big brother," the song owns an odd air of Orwellian paranoia. But lines like "But I still have faith, wait for me" indicate a conflict within Harris between embracing his instinct to return to his faith and another instinct to completely disregard it.

"['Returning to the Fold'] is a little more complicated," Harris said. "It's about hating the Church and running away from the Church, but still loving God and Jesus. It's losing the faith in the Church but still keeping the faith you have."

The lyrical content of the record also sets it apart from the rest of the Thermals' catalog. Both deeper in content and meaning, it was clear that Harris was making a point with the record. Plus, the lyrics are slightly Mountain Goat-ish with a dash of Pavement, which always makes for a good story. "I tried to work a lot harder on the lyrics," Harris said. "I spent a lot more time on them and worked on them until I really liked them. I wanted them to be a step above the other record. At the end of it, I was really glad that we did."

But in seemingly stark contrast, Harris' topics have shifted from politics to God. But Harris doesn't think the contrast is so stark. "For me, [talking about God] is still talking about politics a lot. A lot of the decisions [President] Bush makes are based on faith. I'm not really sure if I believe he is a Christian, but religious groups influence a lot of his decision making."

Ridden with frustration and impatience, The Body is urgent and pressing and demands attention. Harris lashes out at anyone who will listen because, well, Harris is saying something worth listening to. "It's frustrating to live in the world and have to deal with other people ruining it," Harris said. "It's just a small powerful handful that want to fuck it up for the rest of us. I'm not really religious; I grew up a Christian. I'm not now but may be again. It's not that I've lost faith in God, I've lost faith in the Church. I've lost faith in the Church because it is run by people and people screw things up. I don't know if there really is [a mission statement]," Harris said. "We're ambitious people and we're not out to conquer the world, yet. We really just enjoy being a band and playing shows and making records and writing whatever we want. In the end, people can either take it or leave. In the end, we really don't give a shit."