Hey-oh!! Two for two on the B Side today via the Suggestion Box. Shaquanda suggested this one a couple weeks back. Since I'm on my 'punk' style review for the week, I figured why the heck not? Now, I've heard her talk up this band for the last decade plus, so I have extremely high standards for them. I've never heard one MCS track in my life (at least so I think). They've been around since 1997 but 'Movie' was their debut album to drop in 2003. They've gone through more members than Metallica has gone through guitar frontmen, which if you don't know, is a lot. They actually do have a pretty unique style to them. I think a long time ago I went off on Panic! for not being anything new and hating on bands that all sound the same. Right from the gate, they didn't have a total new thing going, but once you listen through it, they do have something that has a different feel. I can't even really put my finger on it. It's almost like an emo band meets Ben Folds? Like a storytelling kind of group that aren't so focused on super long track titles and making music for adoring little girls. The hiatus from formation to release of this is kind of interesting. They self promoted and dropped this record twice, before getting picked up by a major label. Once they did, they finally sold some albums and moved on in their careers. They've now been with two other labels, but still putting out tuneage. I think this has a cool feel to it. One of my soon to be top 3 tracks has as a Goo Goo Dolls type feel to it with some synth added. One funny thing I wanted to share, while looking on Wikipedia to find out some info I ran across this: The Daily Cardinal said that the "album is true to the band’s fast-paced punk roots while remaining firmly anchored in catchy bubblegum pop melodies," demonstrating the band's "maturing style" while "the pop-punchers play it safe and stick to what they know best." That was in response to their 3rd studio recording, but the funny part is that they reference the Daily Cardinal - which is a University of Wisconsin student paper. I know you can put anything on Wiki - but still. If a local paper can get mentioned, why not the B Side? Something to aim for!
TRACK LISTING:
1. Cambridge
2. Shiver
3. Future Freaks Me Out, The
4. Indoor Living
5. My Favorite Accident
6. Perfect Teeth
7. Boombox Generation
8. Don't Call It a Comeback
9. Modern Chemistry
10. Capital H
11. Red Dress
12. Mary Without Sound
13. Autographs & Apologies
14. A-OK
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Capital H
2. My Favorite Accident
3. Shiver
FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars
My Top 3...right now
ReplyDelete1 - Capital H
2 - The Future Freaks Me Out
3 - Don't Call It a Comeback
It's so hard to pick 3. I adore most of these songs. I think My Favorite Accident is probably the song I like the least, but I'm pretty sure that puts me in the minority of the Boombox Generation. (I love that song too.)
Not sure I quite get the Goo Goo Dolls reference...then again, I don't make it a point to check up on them and could probably only name off 3 of their songs.
This bans is fantastic live. Fan-tas-tic. If you want to check them out yourself, and happen to be in the Milwaukee area, they'll be at The Rave on October 27th on a co-headlining tour with Say Anything...who are also pretty rad.
I think your admiration is shared by everyone. Except not with MCS, but with their favorite band. I wouldn't call them my favorite per se, but I love Weezer. And for me to pick my Top 3 from the Blue Album is/was really hard. And yeah, it changes as the days change.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I enjoy them enough to pay to see them. In fact, there are very few artists I'd pay to see. Concerts have always been hit or miss for me - and I'd certainly beat myself up if I payed hard earned money for a band I didn't really like or know, and then didn't like the show. I'll keep digging into their collection, and maybe I'll groove more.