No Motiv “Daylight Breaking” CD

It drives me fucking insane that I didn't discover No Motiv until a year after their most recent record, "Daylight Breaking", hit the streets (which was in 2003) when I bought a used copy of "Diagram for Healing" (their fourth full-length) on a whim for like $3 or so because I liked the cover art and it seemed like something I might be into. Sure enough, I was hooked from the start in a major way, so I ended up buying three of the band's albums that week—and you bet your ass I played the hell out of every damn one of 'em.

No Motiv formed in California in 1995, and from what I can gauge based on their earlier material that I've encountered (though I've never been able to track down their rare first two albums) they were initially more of a pop-punk type of band with occasional emo/indie leanings. While their sound evolved quite a bit over the years and could've easily flirted with mainstream "alternative" bands at times or what have you, one wouldn't be stretching to use outlandish classifications such as "post-hardcore emo-rock pop-metal" or something along those lines to describe the band's incredibly diverse yet cohesive approach on their most recent two records. They tend to nail heavy sounding recordings with a darker edge, but loads and loads of melody and incredible vocal harmonies drive the tracks—making No Motive one of the most infectiously catchy bands I've ever heard in my life. This is seriously the kind of shit I can just listen to over and over and never get sick of it. "Daylight Breaking" is a definite 10/10 even for a finicky bastard like me.

What hurts the most is that the band is strongly rumored to have broken up, and the fact that their website hasn't been updated since May of 2005 does little to fight that assumption. I just don't get it, either: Why the fuck aren't these guys huge? Someone, somewhere should have their kneecaps busted over the fact that this band isn't sitting on millions of dollars right now. I mean, fuck, look how big a band like the Foo Fighters is: These guys are kind of like the Foo Fighters if the Foo Fighters actually wrote more than one or two good songs a record and stayed away from disgustingly sappy ballads that simply make no sense coming from anyone with a penchant for catchy melodic rock songs that actually rock. Yet another unfathomable injustice against an impeccable set of musicians... these motherfuckers should've been one of the biggest bands on Vagrant. Fuck Dashboard Confessional, fuck Senses Fail, and fuck Alkaline Trio, among other Vagrant labelmates whom No Motiv effortlessly shits upon. I can't even begin to express the level of rage that I feel over the fact that such brilliant music can pass by without receiving its proper level of appreciation. Buy this record immediately, and buy "Diagram for Healing" soon afterwards, you can often find them so cheap it's unbelievable:

Amazon.com
Half.com