Brand New - Deja Entendu

For some reason - just as I was about to start writing, "What am I gonna do with 40 subscriptions to Vibe?" popped into my head. Kudos to anyone out there who knows where that's from. Anyways, followers janis! and Shaqwanda are big Brand New fans. They each requested that I review their stuff quite a while back now. I got to their 'Your Favorite Weapon' album back in January of this year - which received a very average review from me. I'm all about getting to know a band and giving second chances though, so no time better than the present. This record was also the immediate follow up to the one I did in January, so that's also a bonus. 'Deja' is also the bands only album to chart - sitting at Gold status with the RIAA. A pretty neat story via the lead singer in an interview with MTV, "No matter who you are or what your band is about, you can't put a record out without people saying it's derivative of something else. So by saying the record's already been heard, it's kind of like saying, 'Yeah, you're right. We're doing something that's already been done before.'" Which is in response to the album title that is French for "already heard". I'd have to go back again to 'Weapon', but this feels a lot different than that record. I can't even put my finger on it. It doesn't have that redundant punk sound - except a couple of tracks. But overall, this album has a sound that has a signature that I could easily associate with Brand New. A sound I could look for on the radio and immediately know it's them. I like that. This still doesn't rock my socks completely off my feet - but I like it. I like it much more than their first record. And I'll say this one is worth checking out today.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Tautou
2. Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades
3. I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light
4. Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
5. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
6. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
7. Jaws Theme Swimming
8. Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis
9. Guernica
10. Good to Know That if I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die
11. Play Crack the Sky

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
2. Tautou
3. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot

FINAL RATING:
3.75 out of 5 stars

Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon

The B Side makes every attempt to be a 'blog for the people, by the people'. And followers janis! and Shaqwanda have been obsessed with me reviewing Brand New for quite a while now. Shaqwanda specifically asked for me to hear this record, while janis! asked that I look at 'Deja Entendu' but followed that up by saying, "any of their stuff really". So here I am - getting to Brand New. The samples will show up a little different...you'll have to open up a page and click 'Play All' and then you'll have the same functionality as the other ones. Okay - so these guys better be amazing. For all they hype I've now built up in my own head. These gents are a New York based band, that formed around 2000. In the 90's, half of Brand New was part of a different band called The Rookie Lot. They decided to split from the dead weight and form Brand New. This was their first album, coming out in October of 2001. It hasn't sold a TON of albums, but it was recognized enough to help them seal a new record deal with Interscope. We all know my opinion of punk/indie/emo rock. It all sounds very similar to me. These guys don't buck that trend. I could honestly not really distinguish them from Taking Back Sunday or something of that ilk. Most of that is probably just my ignorance of the genre though. Listening to this a couple times, it seems to be mostly about break ups? Like a teenage angst record about that hard high school heartbreak? I don't know - I'm just picking that up in some of the lyrics. By no means is this bad, or not easy to listen to. It just doesn't blow my mind. I wouldn't turn it off, but I wouldn't buy it. Which to me, means an average album. I'll listen to their second release sometime too...see if that tickles my fancy.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Shower Scene, The
2. Jude Law and a Semester Abroad
3. Sudden Death in Carolina
4. Mix Tape
5. Failure by Design
6. Last Chance to Lose Your Keys
7. Logan to Government Center
8. No Seatbelt Song, The
9. Seventy Times 7
10. Secondary
11. Magazines
12. Soco Amaretto Lime

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Soco Amaretto Lime
2. The No Seatbelt Song
3. Jude Law And A Semester Abroad

FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars