They’re back… The true kings of (Christian) punkrock. During the past years, hundreds of bands tried to copy MxPx' unique style of song-writing. There have been so many bands putting a sticker on the CD with “sounds like MxPx” on it… Some bands proved to be a good addition to the list of punkrock-bands (Dogwood, Craig’s Brother) but the majority failed (Left Out, The Undecided, Noggintoboggan). MxPx  (for those of you who still don’t know this band: a 3-piece punk-pop-band from Bremerton, WA) released an awesome 32-song compilation ('Let It Happen'), a live-album ('At The Show'), a video ('It Came From Bremerton') and a 7” ('Broken Bones') before they finally came out with a new studio-album, the follow-up to their last effort, 'Slowly Going The Way Of The Buffalow'. They created a big hype around this release and, as headliners of the Vans Warped Tour, they seem to be one of the “biggest” punkrock-bands around in the U.S.A. Here in Europe, they’re not as big as in The States, although most of the punkrock-kids know at least the name of the band. Since the very beginning in 1992, Magnified Plaid have managed to stand apart from the bunch of punkrock-bands with brilliant songwriting and honest lyrics about life, love AND faith. After signing on to a major label, A&M Records, they changed their style into what they are now. They’re no longer the old school punk-band from 'Pokinatcha' and 'Teenage Politics', but a matured punkpop-band in vein of Blink182. Other than Blink182, they have clever lyrics and a way better attitude !!

About the new album now… I already heard some tunes on http://www.mxpx.com , and I knew the song “Educated Guess” from the Japanese release of the “Chick Magnet”-single, so it wasn’t a complete surprise for me, but it was surprising enough to make me standing with my mouth wide open… The album starts off with 'My Life Story', a song with an almost traditional MxPx-theme, broken relationships. We kinda missed that on “Slowly…” so that’s good to hear on this record. In a way it’s as punkrock as can be, but the unorthodox drum-parts and the slower parts in the song, set the standard for the whole record. You can tell that they’ve put a lot of effort in the production of this record, because all the instruments sound really clear and clean. Besides that all the members of the band are playing better than ever. It’s more experimental in a way (e.g. the guitar-part in “Is the answer in the question?”), but at the same time the choruses are more catchy than on all the other records they’ve before. They slowed down a little bit, maybe because they’re getting older, and songs like “It’s undeniable” and “Misplaced Memories” sound different from everything these guys did in the past. That’s the main quality of this band: they develop themselves as musicians and progress from album to album.

Personally, I kinda grew up listening to albums like 'Pokinatcha', 'Teenage Politics' and 'Life In General', and I still like the way they sounded back then. But, unlike a lot of fans from these early days, I still totally LOVE this band, although it’s hard to compare their present sound with the sound on the records they made in the past. They’re not better or worse, but just different I think, and that’s a good thing for every band, progression… The lyrics are a combination of the “psychological” songs on “Slowly…” and the simple love-songs they did in the past. Check the list of quotes below and you know more about the attitude this band stands for.

This is the future of punk-pop… 15 brilliant songs, catchy refrains, awesome lyrics, smooth production, a cool cd-rom-part (I’ve seen the video on the cd-rom-part already on the video, but…). Far away from punk rock as it existed in the eighties and closer to the Clash, the Beatles and Elvis Costello . I don’t know the definition of punk in the year 2000, but maybe there’s one word to describe it: mxpx !!!!

the best Quotes on the newest MxPx album "The Ever Passing Moment"

"One Step Closer to life"

>>> Some would say tomorrow is just one step closer to death 
I would say tomorrow is just one step closer to LIFE, 
and understanding and to know it's gonna be alright. <<<

"Foolish"

>>> Some people say that I threw my brain away 
That I'm illogical and don't have much to say
Some people say it's foolish to believe 
In what we cannot see, so we're deceived. <<<

"It's undeniable"

>>> The first step that I needed to take was giving God control 
that's a struggle for me everyday and I'm letting you all know (...) 
It's undeniable; we're so much smaller than we think we are. <<<

  "Educated Guess"

>>> When we were young we were told so many times 
Prepare for your future cause it won't be easy. 
They never did tell us to enjoy life, here it is 
because before you know it life has passed you by"

Karel Smouter

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