This is over, has been for a long time

So things keep changing and there seems like there is no time for anything, I cam back here just to see what I did before and while I am really getting back into my music, I need new direction. I'll post a link on here for any passers by in case I start writing again. Thanks to anyone who read before and may still in the future.

Written this before.

I think I wrote this before, but apparently according to the hit counter I do have some visitors that are not me, so please leave a comment on this post if you wouldn't mind helping me out with ideas for content or layout, writing style... or anything that would make people more likely to read this blog. I know blogs are a dime a dozen but this is the closest thing I can get to music journalism. I majored in journalism, and to be honest, it just doesn't pay that well anyway. So I want to do it here. Thanks for the input.

--Bart Gentile

Two Tongues - Self Titled

Well this is the first release of a side-project of both Chris Conley of Saves the Day and Max Bemis of Say Anything. I'm sorry if I'm about to offend anyone but I can't write like I used to, so I will feel at liberty to lace my own personal views into my overly analytical review style. So, with that said, Chris Conley sounds like a girl. There I said it. it isn't necessarily a bad thing but I actually asked when my friend first played this "who's the girl singing?" I was never a huge Saves the Day fan and I'll admit that I didn't really ever listen to them strictly because of the t-shirts I couldn't avoid growing up in New Jersey. Either way, Conley does add a lot to this album and its feel that sounds like Bemis and Conley are just trading off on the leads.
So we start off with "Crawl", which is a very strong opener... Hard and fast followed by slow and lamenting, bouncing back and forth until the chorus which is a simple yet still drives pretty hard. Following up we have "If I Could Make You Do Things", a catchy song with lyrics that dominate of the track outpowering the instruments.
This album is very reminiscent of early 2000s Emo and as much as there is a negative connotation attached to that genre classification I'm still loving it... yes a guilty pleasure nearly 7 years later.
"Dead Lizard" is a another pretty fast song that essentially ends with Max chanting out the words and ending with a scream followed up by a Conley chorus.
The next track "Interlude" is somewhat intriguing because it looks much like the two are either into each other or they want to be friends. Disregarding the strange lyrics about two people meeting at a bar and going home to watch sci-fi films... Sherri Dupree of Eisley has an incredible voice even though it isn't much like singing so much as speaking, it is still quite whimsical.
The heart of the album starts with "Tremors" a somewhat laid back song, but a good rest from teh fast paced prior tracks. "Silly Game" follows up as one of my personal favorites on the track listing. Sticking with the same dynamic Max screams and moans as Chris cries and sings the replies.
"Don't You Want to Come Home" has a pretty slow backup, and for some reason sounds like a Beatles song to me... I'm not comparing them to the Beatles, I'm just saying that it is an unexpected sound to come from these two.
"Wowee Zowee" another favorite for me, mostly because of a very strong chorus. It is a get up and go song, slow start up followed by chanting and Chris Conley's finer moments on the album. "Come On" follows a similar path with much of the song just repeating the sound title and some other words.. not that impressive, but it is still pretty fun. "Alice" is a pretty dark song, singing about keeping someone "chained to me." It isn't bad, but it isn't anything really special either.
"Try Not to Save Me" is a little different as it draws you in slowly and then will probably have you singing along a little bit by the end of it.
"Back Against the Wall" has a bit of disco, a little bit of 80s synth pop and funk infused into a nice somewhat experimental song for the group, and they follow this one up with a cover of Ween's "Even If You Don't". I find it to be a pretty humorous song that actually reminds me of college for some reason.
The last two tracks if you bought the album from iTunes and got the "exclusive" or downloaded the DRM free copies (thanks Apple) you can hear Max doing the Saves the Day song "Third Engine" which I actually enjoyed thoroughly. While Conley's rendition of "Every Man Has a Molly" is somewhat painful to listen to, but it grows on you and is actually a bit of fun.

This album is pop-filled-emo at its finest. It is catchy as hell, and fun to think along to if you can't sing because you are in public, but I know you want to. If you are looking for a good time, pick it up, see how it grabs you, or go download a song or two and see what you like or don't like about it. I personally enjoyed it, but I have been reprimanded for taste before. Enjoy.

THERES NEVER ENOUGH TIME!!!

Or so it feels,
I think that I have to give this one another go... maybe I won't always review new albums. I haven't been able to go to shows as much since my show buddy left and went down to Charlotte. I have been to a few since he left, but there haven't really been any that I was into that much. Against Me! was a pretty awesome show over at Webster Hall, but that is about it. There is a great lineup for this summer, but I don't know how the cash situation is going to pan out. Well if you are reading I guess that you are doing me some sort of favor so I'll have to post something. I guess I'll start with the Two Tongues project. See you in a bit.

Boys Night Out - Boys Night Out

Well here we go, let's follow up Trainwreck shall we boys? Now the question is how to do it. At first listen you may feel a little bit of pop genre, less if not no screaming and we all love group vocals right? "Get Your Head Straight" is a quick opener with recurring lyrics, but its catchy if anything. "Swift and Unforgiving" is also a little too repetitive and cliche with the lyric "Loose lips sink ships" and "We all drown." It gets the album going with cleaner guitars and a great display of the bands musical talent on an overall scale. "The Push and Pull" is a song of being "in love with conflict." Its a little dark yet still catchy. The first single "Up With Me" isn't necessarily a change of pace but it feels like an introspective song. It sings "I've changed, it's comforting." but is still a little too repetitive.
"The Heirs of Error" is an incredible song and the first time we get a taste of those group lyrics shouting "We will Rebuild." Its a song about inheriting the burden that those who came before us left. Its a song of the young knowing "We are going to pay for past mistakes" and that we are "ill equipped to handle this." The sixth track "Let Me Be Your Swear Word" is a more upbeat and melodic. We get that reminder of the alcohol driven angst of BNO singing "You and me and the bottle make three" and "This bottle's gonna to take us home tonight" making it an easily enjoyable song. Here's where it gets a little tricky... Are we sampling Trainwreck on "Hey, Thanks" or is it just the beginning. You have to love the "We all suffer together, but we all die alone" chorus and the group lyrics. "Fall for the Drinker" follows up opening dark and dreamy. It's a song toasting to us and to the drinkers of the world. Singing "We're all here now" and "Tonight, to hell with everything else/ We'll drink hard, we'll drink to ourselves" it gives a beautifully dark singalong song. "Apartment 4" is a little harder with an whining guitar to compliment the lyrics. This song and "Reason Ain't Our Long Suit" are stronger and thrashier than earlier songs on the album. "Reason" sounds like a mix of Trainwreck and Make Yourself Sick singing over and over "We're better than ever." Now for the song that you never saw coming "It Won't Be Long." Many fans might not talk about this song, but it begins slow with lyrics over a dark piano. Unable to place the song it reminds you of you have to keep listening. The lyrical styling is placed somewhere in the nineties, honestly. Its slow yet moves you a bit, and its a really good song, thats all you can say.
What else is there to say? Well to begin, a lot of people are going to hold Trainwreck as the best work the band has ever or will ever create. It could be true, Trainwreck was incredibly dark and sadistic, the kind of music you would continue to expect. Yet, it was a concept. It told the story, and now the story is over. There is only music now, and it is a strong followup to the records that were produced before it. By the way, don't mind the sticker on the packaging saying "Following in their own tradition of greatness, 'Boys Night Out' Will thrive alongside the likes of Thrice, Brand New and Fall Out Boy." It just sounds cocky and who still wants to stand up to Fall Out Boy?

3.8 out of 5 Stars

-- Bart Gentile

Funeral for a Friend Knitting Factory June 12, 2007

This is really the reason I made Tales Don't Tell Themselves the first post. I happened to go to the show on Tuesday and they really were still a great live band. To top it all off they are a UK band and although the Canadian outfit known as Alexisonfire showed them up a little Funeral was still adored by the fans. Here are some pictures that I took with a cell phone... I know I need a digital camera.
But you have to admit that a lot of emotion and heart goes into their live performance. Granted, it was the Knitting Factory in NYC where you could whisper and it would sound loud in such a small venue, but I walked out deaf. It was a very powerful show and the entire band was into it. Members of both Alexisonfire and Funeral crowdsurfed at some point and had an amazing stage presence. They didn't play too much off the new album. They kept it a strong and loud show and that's just what everyone wanted. As you can see in this last picture, they were well recieved by the fans in NYC.
I would definitely recommend seeing them, if not soon then at the Vans Warped Tour this summer.

Their upcoming dates are:
06/15/07 St. Louis, MO
06/16/07 Lawrence, KS
06/17/07 Colorado Springs, CO
06/19/07 Boise, ID
06/20/07 Seattle, WA
06/22/07 Orangevale, CA
06/23/07 Bakersfield, CA
06/24/07 San Diego, CA
06/26/07 West Hollywood, CA
06/27/07 Las Vegas, NV

Various Dates Scheduled Nationally for Warped Tour

Funeral for a Friend - Tales Don't Tell Themselves

Not a terrible concept.


Funeral for a Friend's third full length album has recently caused some debate among fans. With a very different sound to this concept album, fans may not like what they are hearing when they start listening. The story is terribly simple (Think Perfect Storm meets Cast Away), but is also very catchy. We have the main character who gets lost at sea, his crew is killed during the storm, he is presumably alone on an island wishing to be home. Into Oblivion (Reunion) starts off with a little technopop intro and very few lyrics in the song. It does set the stage thematically, which was the band's intention according to Matt Davies (lead singer), he has also been quoted saying that this album was a way to overcome his fear of the ocean. Great Wide Open has a great ending like most of the songs on the record, singing "the rush of the flood sends the blood to my head," and "climb out into the great wide open." The Diary isn't really anything completely special, but the back and forth between the male and female voice (the sailor and his wife) asking "When will you be coming home?" All Hands on Deck Part 1 : Raise the Sail sounds a little thrashier and leads into a very strong chorus. It shows a little bit of chaos maybe reminiscing the death of his crew and their loss of hope. It has a great lead into Part 2 : it follows a similar pattern with the music and keeps with the theme of death in the water. Out of Reach sounds most like their older and possibly better albums (Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation and Hours). It is the part of the song where the ships are launching to search and perhaps giving up as the crew is "to far gone to be saved." One for the Road shows the wife's lament over her loss and that she is waiting for him to come home. It is a catchy tune like many of these songs and has a strong finish. The last two songs are Walk Away and The Sweetest Wave and hold up pretty well. The first is about letting go, maybe the sailor telling his wife to let go and walk away from his memory. The Sweetest Wave opens with a piano and string set with Davies singing over it very nicely. It brings the album to a close in a very cinematic way. Obviously intentional and slowly drawing it is probably the most redeeming track on the release. It doesn't save it entirely but it brings something back. Its a good story even in its simplicity. There are many elements to this album that would allow one to enjoy it, and yes it is much more mainstream than their previous releases. The people who are going to dislike and downplay this album are the ones who are in love with the emocore that started this band. If you were to appreciate the talent that went into this record and the risks they are taking by trying to break out of that "scene" label that was bestowed upon them, then you would absolutely enjoy it.