Motorplant Rocks My Booty

Steve! Eric! Andy! Kevin! These are the fresh-faced men who make up Motorplant, one hell of a rock solid outfit who cut straight to the chase. No bullshit here. Just 12 rock and roll songs (plus a sneaky bonus track) that sound like they had the radio in mind. Good for them. It’s time somebody came back and tried to push some rock into the atmosphere that has nothing to do with the flash in the pan sucesses of bands like, oh, ahhhh . . . hmmm. Who does currently rock on the radio these days?

The album is called American Postard, and sure enough, this stuff sounds all-American. The hottest song on here in undoubtedly track two, “Alright” which features some Cars-like guitars, a solid beat, and some of those cool old vocoder tricks that used to be in all the great tunes. Nowadays, the vocoder has been misused and redesigned to sound like that wacked-out robot on tunes like Cher’s “Believe”, Daft Punk’s “One More Time”, and countless others. Motorplant mixes up equal parts power and jangle pop and just good old rock. It’s been a while since I heard such off the cuff musings as “That girl is a head case, yeah / She’s all American” (from “All American”). The song comes off like a nice tribute to the ‘80s without ever sliding headlong into all the worst musical wrappings of that decade. I also really enjoy “Awkward Girl”, which features a happy-go-lucky guitar riff and some seriously fine bass work.

American Postcard isn’t filled with too many slower songs. For the most part, it’s a rocked-out affair that swings mercilessly. However, “Am I” shows the band quite capable of cooling things down just as well, complete with some nice, tight vocal harmonies that kind of remind me of the old days of arena rock. Man, now where has that whole genre gone? Enjoy the memories to this tune. “Rift” contines along this mode, with some killer guitar licks, funky lyrical executions, and an ass shakin’ rhythm.

A couple of times, things get a little too dramatic, as both “Smell the Fear” and “Wounded” show. However, for the most part Motorplant and American Postcard are thoroughly rocking affairs. A visit to the band’s website revealed that the group is indeed picking up some good radio airplay. From what I can tell, the band deserves it as they have seemingly tapped into the kind of rock that everyone and their brother used to get into easily. They may just be able to bring those days back once more if they keep albums such as this one coming.