#commit to this memory

[doyoulikethisemoband]

[falloutbradreviews]

Motion City Soundtrack – Commit To This Memory

When pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack when on hiatus back in 2015, I was gutted, because they were a band that I had grown up with. I remember picking up their third album, 2007’s Even If It Kills Me, back when it came out. That was my introduction to the band, and I really loved that album. It’s still one of my favorites today, but I was severely disappointed with their last album, 2015’s Panic Stations. I wasn’t a fan of that album whatsoever, especially because it was just Motion City Soundtrack running on autopilot, but the writing was on the wall a few years prior. Even on 2012’s Go, an album that I enjoyed at the time, you could tell the band were running on autopilot. It featured some solid hooks, really nice synth lines, some clever and self-deprecating lyrics from vocalist Justin Pierre, who’s also got a really unique and fantastic voice. That was it, though, because it was such a predictable and paint-by-numbers album, I wasn’t in love with it. I liked it a lot, but I don’t know how I’d feel about it today. The same goes for Panic Stations, so maybe I’d like the album more now, but I just wasn’t a fan when it came out. It was even more of a band running on autopilot, and you could tell they were burnt out. That’s all to say that I’m glad they’re back. Motion City Soundtrack has been around for the last few years, but they finally just announced a new album. I’m really excited for it, despite not really caring for their last two albums, but that’s because they’ve put out a ton of classic albums. Even If It Kills Me is my favorite, but I remember 2010’s My Dinosaur Life when that came out. That was their major label debut, and it was a pretty solid album, but their first two albums are the ones I’m not as familiar with.

I’ve heard 2003’s debut I Am The Movie, but I don’t remember a whole lot about it. I know it’s pretty rough around the edges, but it’s a solid record, nonetheless. The only album of theirs I wasn’t super familiar with was 2005’s Commit To This Memory, which has one of their most popular songs on it. I would argue some singles from Even If It Kills Me were pretty successful, such as “Fell In Love Without You” and “Broken Heart,” but Commit To This Memory has “Everything Is Alright,” which has such a cool hook. I’ve wanted to check out the whole album, because it has some cool things going for it – the album just turned 20 a couple of weeks ago, and the album was produced by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182. Hoppus producing (and also appearing for a moment) on the album is the most Blink fans had seen from him in awhile, too, because Blink’s last album had come out in 2003. The album also has Patrick Stump appear on a song, at least backup vocals, anyway. I got the deluxe edition that has a limited edition DVD with some videos and bonus stuff, as well as a bonus track, but the bonus track isn’t anything to write home about. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really add anything to the album. The album itself, however, is a lot of fun, and it’s a great album of that era. I would still make the argument that Even If It Kills Me is better, because it’s a catchier and more pop-friendly album, but Commit To This Memory is a great balance between pop-punk and pop-rock.

Motion City Soundtrack has always stood out for a couple of reasons, whether it’s due to vocalist Justin Pierre, or their sound that mixes a few sounds together, such as pop-punk, new wave, power-pop, and pop-rock. They’re one of the few bands that make use of the Moog synthesizer, and they were always ahead of the curve when it came to neon pop-punk (which is just pop-punk with synth), because they used synth in their music quite extensively. No other pop-punk bands were using it that much, or that obviously, so they really stuck out for that reason. A few bands had some synth in their music, but not a whole lot, so that made them unique in their own right. This album is the perfect balance between having a more straightforward pop-punk sound and utilizing more new wave and power-pop. Hell, Even If It Kills Me would be produced by the late frontman and songwriter for the Cars, Ric Ocasek, and their influences would be very prevalent. This album is the best of both worlds, so to speak, but it works well. Even If It Kills Me works more so for me, kind of because that album is a lot catchier and has more of a pop-rock and new wave sound, so the hooks stick out a lot more on there. The band has always been good with hooks, but their songwriting is even better with Even If It Kills Me. A big issue I’ve always had with their music is that it does tend to run together. I feel like Even If It Kills Me got their sound done perfectly, and it’s a lightning in a bottle type of album where everything just came together in the right way. Commit To This Memory is close, but a lot of the songs tend to run together. At a crisp 43 minutes (including the bonus track), it’s not bad, and a lot of the songs work very well on their own.

Vocalist and lyricist Justin Pierre is a big reason why this album works so well, because he has such a unique voice that shouldn’t work as well as it does. That sounds mean, but his voice really isn’t that great. His range is so flat, but he somehow makes that work, and even with his limited range, he pulls off every type of song that you give him. He makes the more energetic pop-punk bangers work, such as “Everything Is Alright,” but he also makes the slower songs work, too. I can understand if his vocals don’t work for you, because they won’t work for everyone, but I like them fine. His vocals get better with each album, actually, and on Even If It Kills Me, he sounds even better than he does here. He sounds kind of rough here still, but not much. I think it might be my nostalgia for Even If It Kills Me, but I really love that album. Commit To This Memory is the album most people remember, and the one that most people gravitate towards, but I can’t blame them. I don’t think the lyrics are that much different here, because their lyrics have always been clever, witty, and kind of “nerdy,” but they’re really great here. This album is just a great listen all around, and it's worth hearing if you haven’t heard it at all, or you haven’t heard it in a long time. This is a classic album of the pop-punk scene, and while these guys aren’t the most mainstream or well-known band, they’re one of my favorites and one of the most unique bands of the scene that deserve a lot of love all of these years later. I’m excited for their new album, but I hope they’re not running on autopilot this time around.

[runthepockets]

I wanna know what it's like to be awkward and innocent, not belligerent I wanna know how it feels to be useful and pertinent and have common sense yeah Let me in, let me in to the club, 'cause I wanna belong And I need to get strong, and if memory serves I'm addicted to words and they're useless

Let's get fucked up and die I'm riding hard on the last legs of every lie And the BMX bike of my life is about to explode I'm about to explode

[justthatspiffy]

I'M ONLY GOING TO SAY THIS ONCE

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, you can combine one 8oz can of pumpkin puree with one box cake mix (any kind but spice cake is best) and about 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, drop by tablespoon-ish onto a greased/parchment/silpat cookie sheet, and bake at 350F for 13-16 minutes

if there are no spices in either your cake mix or pumpkin puree i suggest adding warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves

THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WANT THIS INFORMATION GETTING AROUND

[despazito]

a helpful guide

[strawbebe-dk]

The work is worth your praise

[petrichal]

how does your voice sound? how much have i missed?

[silna-pdf]

two virologists who are going to be ok

[irukasito]

[69mossytrashcat69]

So.... Im currently reading The Price of the Phoenix......... Does something else happens or is it just Spock going like this

[murmurmurl]

I didn't want to post any isat fanart yet, but ough I am so unwell.. I must...

+ doodles

[taylor-titmouse]

it's been across all my platforms that i keep getting asked whether vanesse will keep and wear the womanulet all the time, and i'm feeling some sort of way about this question, because it feels like an oversimplification of the trans experience, but also a flattening of her character. she is literally introduced in the book admiring her own naked body in a mirror, has no problem announcing in front of a stranger that she has a prick, and gleefully tops. this isn't a person who would ever feel the need to live full time as a cis-bodied woman. she thinks she's beautiful exactly as she is.

but metanarratively it's also like. the womanulet is clearly a toy. it's not a permanent story item or an event that exists on a timeline. it's just a what-if scenario. for it to be permanent would mean i'd be taking one of my most beloved trans characters and making her...... functionally cis. to what end? if i'm not exploring what that means for her, what would making that permanent actually say? and i'm definitely not exploring that in a 20-something page silent comic about having an aphrodisiac-induced orgy. so it would be a crazy choice.

i guess it's just because i've been asked like six times that it's started annoying me, because to ask it at all shows me you aren't thinking beyond the surface read of "trans woman has magic gender switch device" and are missing all the context of the character and the space in which the concept exists.

like how could the answer ever be yes?

[semiohazard]

i loooove when kris plays piano for themself because they start playing dark world music, which not only implies that the deltarune ost is diegetic but also makes me think they've had the songs stuck in their head. waited all this damn time for you to leave so they could drink chocolate milk and bang out some tunes

[formulaonedirection]

Would love to live in a world where he's still doing his little race notes in a physical notebook because that's how he's used to doing it 🥺

[sunlight-shunlight]

pondering that falon'din is associated with an owl, and those are also messengers of andruil. and he's referred to as "winged death" which is also mentioned to be something that elgar'nan deploys against enemies. and both falon'din and andruil are referred to as venturing into dark places, where no one else can survive/wanted to go.

and ghilan'nain was not initially an evanuris, but was antagonistic towards them and making a bunch of weird creatures. she was given the offer to join them in return for getting rid of the creatures, and accepted. but with "pride stopping her hand" from destroying a few. and when asked about trusting people to share power, solas says "I know that mistake well enough to carve the angles of her face from memory."

solas also has nothing good at all to say about falon'din, mostly calling him a bloodthirsty tyrant who went so far in encroaching onto other evanuris territory that mythal had to besiege his temple and beat him up to stop him.

but he says nothing about dirthamen at all.

dirthamen is described as having gone missing unexpectedly, scaring all his followers, because they were now unprotected. and caught between their own high priest wanting to lock them into the temple forever like a cask of amontillado, and other forces outside that wanted to take their secrets by force. there is one note that a dirthamen follower defied the evanuris and took on a forbidden (probably a dragon) type of form, and was judged by elgar'nan harshly. he apparently also invented the varterral to protect his town from a high dragon? wack, but also could indicate that he had worked with ghilan'nain on making it, since she's the only one who's otherwise mentioned to be bioengineering stuff.

dirthamen has very very few surviving statues or depictions, and is more associated with falon'din than as his own independent figure in the dalish myths. even his own temple includes mosaics of falon'din. there's a few statues that are probably dirthamen, but the most striking is in mythal's section of the fade behind the eluvian, which is a statue of a hooded figure, doubled over with a giant sword sticking out of his back.

[varilien]

very very jealous very very clingy triangle

Palestine: Funds | Action | eSims | Info Sudan Resources | Congo Resources | Lebanese Red Cross

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co