Motion City Soundtrack

The geeky Motion City Soundtrack is often called punk because of its label Epitaph's punk-heavy roster. Truth be told, the band is just about as punk as similar-sounding Jimmy Eats World, and, well, that's just not very punk at all. The Mark Hoppus-produced Commit This to Memory followed up the group's okay debut, I Am the Movie. Memory is power-pop with the faux angst of spoiled suburban kids — that is, at least judging by frontman Justin Pierre's warbling falsetto that does for pop-punk what another Justin (Hawkins, of the Darkness) did for Spandex rock. Backed by superb vocal melodies and a keyboard/Moog player who likes to perform handstands atop his instruments, Pierre will make you believe, as MCS's biggest hit assures us, "Everything Is Alright."