Brand New - Deja Entendu

While anything but novel, the follow-up to Brand New's emo-punk-blast debut Your Favorite Weapon features unexpected touches and wisps of maturity. YFW was all about the rage and misery of young, explosive love, presented with Weezer-like hooks. Deja Entendu isn’t really over it yet; lead singer Jesse Lacey still sounds damaged and full of self-loathing on mopey, post-Smiths pop like "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot." But amidst the Jimmy Eat World choruses are experiments with sudden dynamic shifts and style (like Lacey channeling Adam Duritz for "Play Crack The Sky"), along with ruminations about the misery of cancer ("Guernica"). If Deja Entendu sounds like the work of musicians discovering their talents, it's also about learning that desperate heartache isn't just about girls who don’t call back. --Matthew Cooke Amazon.com

Still New to Me

I bought the album when it was first released and it continues to be one of my favorite albums ever even in 2008. Whether you're happy, sad or just drunk this album is fun to sing your lungs out to. Every song is a punch in the face. April 27, 2008

A melodic, emotional journey

I've had this album for over a year now, and it still feels fresh. The vocals by Jesse are amazingly soothing and is good for all moods.

1. Tautou 8/10. A quiet intro where you can hear Jesse saying 'I'm sinking like a hole in the sea.' Very eerie and a great intro.

2. Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades 10/10. A great bassline and starts off very calm but then sound explodes in the chorus with Jesse shouting 'Die young and save yourself!!!' The first song I heard by Brand new and by far the best.

3. I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light 8/10. Jesse pours his heart out on the accoustic verses and then the sound yet again explodes in the chorus. This one may take a few listens to like.

4. Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't 9/10. Jesse sounds ignorant but honest and like the last song it explodes on the chorus. But the melody is better on this song.

5. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows 10/10. In the verses Jesse sings like someone has died, but in the chorus he explodes in such emotion it is overpowering. One of the best.

6. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot 8/10. A calm accoustic number. No explosion but still has heaps of emption.

7. Jaws Theme Swimming 9/10. Interesting guitar riff, simple and effective with the usual quiet-verse-but-explode-in-the-chorus structure.

8. Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis 9/10. Starts off like an accoustic number with Jesse singing very quietly. Near the end they explode again but it was very well executed.

9. Guernica 10/10. Do I like this song because it is more intense? Yes. The vocals are very good going from whispers to screams in less than a second. Melody munchers may not feel satisfied though.

10. Good To Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die 9/10. Calm song that explodes in the chorus. Although it's samey it hasn't tired yet.

11. Play Crack The Sky 8/10. It's okay I just feel that this song drags on a little. Accoustic number.

This album took me about five listens to appreciate the music properly. So give this album a chance and it will creep into your mind (try listening to it while going to sleep) March 8, 2008

Pabulum Crap for Immature Minds

Yes, I'm old. I admit that. I have been in the music biz for 43 years. I've worked with the best-just to name a few-Dylan, Harrison, Lennon, McCartney, Humble Pie, Hendrix, Santana, The Crusaders, Satriani, Pink Floyd, Clapton, Vince Gill, Loggins and Messina, Jeff Beck, Sonny Landreth, Johnny Winter, The Allman Bros., Sheryl Crow, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Doyle Bramhall II, Stevie Winwood, Pete Frampton, Elvis (yes the Elvis), Todd Rundgren, Gladys Knight, Judy Collins, Steve Vai, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Willie, Blue Oyster Cult, ZZ Top, Los Lobos, and most recently the Police reunion.....the list goes on and on-even amazes me. Not bragging just stating my credentials.

Sorry kids, but after listening to this album, always looking for new talent, I could only think how musically deprived (or depraved) so many folks are today. Yes, my parents hated Hendrix, but Jimi could play.. These cats are just way too depressed. I could teach a 12 year old these chords and how to 'puke-sing' these dark and dreary lyrics in about an hour. Is talent not important anymore? Being a loser and downer doesn't mean "deep" by the way. I'm not a shrink, but I think if I were listening to this garbage day in and day out I would be depressed, looking for a way out of my body like so many do (or looking to hurt and kill others-something that was rare in our day.)

If my good friend George Harrison were around to hear this dribble he would just grin and tell me how he planned to release an album recorded by a chimpanzee with all the latest studio crap to help the untalented appear talented. He really believed he could produce a "sellable" record that way. Then when the unthinking masses ran out and bought it, divulge how it was produced. He loved crafting his music but came to distrust and even hate the music biz. With George it was hard to tell if he was serious. Point is he was very concerned about the direction of music, and he's been gone now for six years. This sound by Brand New is merely a symptom. You don't have to settle musically for junk.

Kids, go back a few years and listen to what your padres grew up on. It will raise your musical IQ. Then get into some great classical, old style country, and jazz. Listen to Sgt. Pepper with headphones on and with an attitude of anticipation. Please don't just settle for the lowest common denominator. You're here on this Earth to grow and develop. Life is great man! Give your spirit something to be happy about. Let the depressed and lost like Brand New sit and wallow in their musical excrement and all the $$ they make off lemmings like you. As for me, I'll keep teaching and producing sounds that lift. February 25, 2008

The Glory of the World Fades but Brand New Doesn't

Deja Entendu is Brand New's second album and still most popular work, but not their best or most mature. The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me takes both of those, but Deja Entendu talks like we would if we could articulate. The great thing about Brand New is they span their albums into stages in life, sort of, with My Favorite Weapon being High School and Deja being like college. Devil and God is just beyond any scope of literature or art we can ever dig up, let alone a 29 year old from Long Island such as Jesse Lacey.

Starting off the album is Tautou, a simple POWERFUL song Jesse said he dedicates to his parents. He repeats the lines "Sinking like a stone in the sea" and even sexier "I'm burning like a bridge for your body." From that it shoots into their most popular song to date, Sic Transit Gloria, the bass line still catchier than ever, and the lyrics actually make you forget you're listening to that Long Island sound. I Will Play My Game is an extraordinary song, when you first hear it you don't think too much of, but that bridge says it all, "we invented the cure that will wash out my memories of her". And that bleeds right into Okay I Believe You, brilliantly cocky song that every guy thinks about in his head but can't articulate into words. The next song is the song that made them mainstream, the one that got people to notice Brand New as the driving force for the kind of music made in the past decade. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows is a bizarrely simple song, but the words, the story, even the music video is tormenting. This is probably my least favorite song on the CD, ironically enough its what got me into them. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot is relentless and so sad, I'm sure all of us have felt this way, his compelling voice, the quippy rhymes, it all makes the song sound like a stalker Romeo and Juliet story. Jaws Theme Swimming shows us again the musical catchiness of Garret Tierney's bass riffs, and Jesse's odd choice of rhymes "sucking on your breathmint/dissected and stuck with pins." Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis is a ridiculous look through what any guy would do and goes through when they drink a little too much. He feels regret at deceiving a girl into sleeping with him, and all the emotions that run through his mind while he's about to do it. This goes into their best song on the CD, I think, that has the most heart. Guernica is about Jesse's grandfather, it is also a painting by Picasso depicting Nazi bombing on Guernica, Spain in 1939. The correlation is lost on me, but when he says "if I could, I would shrink myself/Sink through your skin to your blood cells/Remove what ever makes you hurt/But I'm to weak to be your cure", that does it for me. The next song, I've never enjoyed too much until recently, its a bit on the younger Brand New side, but they said its about Jesse's friend who faked his own death. Jesse called his house and he answered "It's Good to Know If I Ever Need Attention All I Need to Do is Die." Simple enough, but makes me wonder what kids in Long Island are doing with their time. The last song, Play Crack the Sky, gets no votes from me, this is the epitome of emo and I can't even finish the CD sometimes because of it. At Brand New's show at Hammerstein this past December Jesse said "this one's for the ladies." Seeing as I'm not a lady I don't feel too bad.

Deja Entendu is an amazing piece of work and has transformed my life, I listen to it when I'm doing anything. I highly recommend it to anyone that has an open mind. Brand New is a great band and I don't know where I'd be without them right now. Some people quote the Bible, I quote Brand New. January 15, 2008

One of my favorite games EVER!

Hellgate: London is the lastest Action Role-Playing Game for the PC. It was released on October 31, 2007. It's story revolves around a post-apocalyptic London in the year 2038. You take the roll of a character and have the choice of being many classes including - Engineer, Evoker, Summoner and more. The one thing I like about this game is the fact that it is very RPG feeling but also has action aspects. Characters and enemies have HP and you gain levels but it has a very action based battle system. Another cool thing is the online multiplayer aspect - you are able to group up with other users online and play through the game's zone. If I had to compare this game to any other I would compare it to Blizzard's Diablo series. Overall I'd highly recommend this game to any Action RPG or Diablo fan. November 17, 2007

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