New Again (?)

So guess what, folks?

Taking Back Sunday's new album New Again comes out June 2. It seems that my fellow TBS toadies don't know how to receive this news. Quite a bunch of us have already rejected the band, seeing how Louder Now was the band's attempt to give us the unique experience of a root canal for our ears. Based on this failure of sorts, an enlightened soul by the username of Mens predicts, "this album wilt suck."

i'm j-j-jaded.

Regarding TBS, i'm not too much of a realist. i still wear my Tell All Your Friends t-shirt with that same attitude of "i listen to Taking Back Sunday. Touche!" that i had in the 7th grade. Whenever the topic of Louder Now weasels its way into conversation, my eyes do this twitch thing as i try to defend my emo brothers: perhaps some jealous indie-nobodies sabotaged their recordings, or maybe the TBS boys just wanted to empathize with every other lesser mainstream band in existence at the time. Whatever the reason, i find them blameless.

But of course, it's been three years since Louder Now and i've gotten a bit tired of waiting. i haven't listened to the album since i bought it way back when, and i don't remember any of the songs except for MakeDamnSure. And i only remember MakeDamnSure because Adam Lazarra resembles a shaggy-haired Mexican jumping bean in the music video. It's not everyday that you see something that...special.

So now they're back (with a brand new rap) minus my homie Fred Mascherino (former vocalist/guitarist). Sadly, Fred thought it premium to ditch TBS for his solo career as "The Color Fred." Just for that, i hope that TBS makes a heck of an album without him. i mean c'mon, Fred is not even a color. Anyway, i hope that New Again does just fine without Fred's throaty-hamburger vocals, but i can't quite imagine TBS without it. Unfortunately, Fred's reasons for leaving are none too comforting. According to Fred, he left because "the band was more about cooking food than making music." Hopefully this didn't affect New Again too terribly; i think i will have nightmares for eternity if Adam Lazarra sing-screams in his quivering voice about Italian cuisine (unless there's a crazy breakdown in the middle of it). But let's be optimistic--of course they won't do that...i think.