titus andronicus - the monitor

http://i11.tinypic.com/4bfnofo.jpg

the airing of grievances is such a dope album hope this is even 1/2 as good

their last album had this perfect balance of sloppiness/messiness & classic rock fist-pumping released at the perfect moments, and this album... one ups it by being amplifying all those qualities (lots of long tracks) and expanding their sound to include horns & jamming pianos & stuff

i think i'm going to be the only person who thinks this is a super-flattering comparison, but this album is like if green day grew up in new jersey & then decided to write '21st century breakdown' at the age of 24

lamp, it's so good

iirc there were two mindblowingly awesome super rocking songs on 'the airing of grievances' but i was mostly bored by the rest. and they were right next to each other on the album.

they're fun live, too, bulging neck muscles etc.

*tho

the middle third is the hardest rocking partic the s/t and "upon viewing..." but i like the whole thing a lot. even the cheesy narration of the camus novel @ the end is p dope

prediction: i will spend a lot of friday nights getting drunk by myself and listening to this album

shout-singing along to the "your life is over" ending to the s/t song is a joyous 08 party memory of mine that i will treasure always

i liked that its underneath a p tuneful and introspective album despite the rocking

xp- yes! my live titus andronicus experience was at a bbq at sxsw and there was one 14 year old kid who was just absurdly into it, arms flailing around and screaming along to every word. it really loosened up the crowd and everyone moshed and sang along at that part.

when i saw them at pfork 08 i thought they were one of the worst live bands i had ever seen, but then i saw them in a lil club opening for los campesinos! & they were really cool

the middle of this album ("a pot in which to piss" & "four score & seven") is some http://i1.tinypic.com/833rrc8.jpg shit

also the climax of the 14 min final track

k i'm downloading this

between this & the real estate album, new jersey has put out two of my favorite indie records in a while -- i like that they're pretty much total polar opposites soundwise -- i guess in reality they're both about suburban malaise (lol new jersey)

this is kind of far and away the best album i've heard this year

btr than vmp wknd???

it might be a bit of afterglow but i think so! it's possible that vampire weekend will be better over a long run but this album is honestly just O_O

yeah idk i love the VW album... this is A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE

the recording on this is also way more hi-fi which i think is cool

this album is super EPIC

i keep jogging to this but i sort of distrust my motivations

jordan s were you a fan of the bright eyes album lifted, or: the story is in the soil, keep yr ears to the ground

?

your motivations for jogging???

those too, actually

liking this album a lot more than the debut so far, but i gotta say

your life is over >>>>> you will always be a loser

Diggin this album

jordan s were you a fan of the bright eyes album lifted, or: the story is in the soil, keep yr ears to the ground

― thomp, Thursday, March 18, 2010 8:34 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

i've never heard this, but i dig bright eyes in general

whiney! i actually thought you might

maybe i'll go out & buy this later today

i've never heard this, but i dig bright eyes in general

:D :D :D

still not really feelin this as much as u dogg but im going 2 see them i think next week or smthn hype

i don't think this band is my thing but they're playing a super small venue here soon (like less than 50 people), could be fun.

j0rdon did you like Desparacidos (bright eyes dude's rock band)?

saw these dudes a year or so ago, nothin' wrong w/ them but they just played totally straight ahead rock, like bar band shit, so I wasn't expecting all the indie hype

that will absolutely be a lot of fun xxp

Chris Richards in the Washington Post Clicktrack blog says:

They sound like the Pogues filtered through the Boss and then doused in gasoline, sweat and Red Bull.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/03/sxsw_choc_quib_town_yelawolf_c.html

I keep meaning to give them a listen, not sure if that description encourages or discourages me.

really dig this album but cringe at the bright eyes comparisons, oberst is fucking torture for me

hope it's more WIDE AWAKE Oberst than, say, any other Oberst

altho i do like some Lifted and, uh, some of his other tunes too

ha... was listening to this the other day and my girlfriend asked if it was new Bright Eyes.

I heard some of this, and it sounded great.

j0rdon did you like Desparacidos (bright eyes dude's rock band)?

― And guess what? I think Pitchfork is going to give it a BM. (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:40 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

never heard anything by them, if it sounds like this album i will check it out tho

not sure if it's exactly like them, but it has a certain ants in your pants anthemic type vibe

http://www.myspace.com/desaparecidos

(BTW go down to the comments and stop some weird embedded video that autoplays)

hope it's more WIDE AWAKE Oberst than, say, any other Oberst

― ksh, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 2:37 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

ehhhh kindof. more like oberst when he's at his most explosive.

honestly, I think the main thing reminding anyone of Oberst is actually about something Oberst does well -- the singer's voice here has that same kinda nervy, manic quaver at the ends of phrases, that shaky on-the-edge sound from the earliest Bright Eyes stuff. if not for that in particular, this record would "sound like Bright Eyes" only to the same vague extent it sounds like dozens of other things that sound like that. umm.

i sort of felt like it was something the guy could have learnt off of the oberst records. i think that's one of the reasons i don't trust it

(also this record and 'lifted' both have this thing where they kind of go: let me explain my angst to you in the most earnest and thorough and complete way possible! which i sort of am starting to feel too old for.)

idk, haven't listened to much bright eyes but mr. titus andronicus' delivery is in a more tuff, cool and as a result ...detached (?) way than anything i've ever heard oberst sing. not that it's not emotionally potent, but not to the same extent. like, his veins and muscles bulge out of his neck and his face turns all red when they perform live, but then he looks up and he's just a dude having fun playing rock and roll.

OH SNAP JORDAN PROJECT LODGE AWESOME

Its just the voice. Don't let that make you think there is any other reason to compare them to Bright Eyes.

^this.

i feel like "lover i don't have to love" is kind of histrionic enough to be a titus andronicus song

yeah what evan said, there's an unmistakable similarity but they strike much different chords imo, though they're probably going for something similar. oberst to me is whiny as hell and super self-loathing (and his lyrics...) and mr titus, who i'm just now getting into, is much more brash and confident and (lol) "punk"

"connor oberst and the e street band perform an opera by craig finn"

"craig finn as walt whitman" gave me chub tbh

that first description is actually kinda otm, lol

agree w/ matt that this reminds me of Desaparecidos

yep (but there is one song that sounds like sped-up Pogues)

OH SNAP JORDAN PROJECT LODGE AWESOME

yup, love the lodge.

i stayed awake on the road last night singing along to this as best as i could

my only quibble with it is that despite some gang vocal moments its not as immediately sing alongable as i'd like for a record i'm feelin so much

totally fucking love this tho

'not looking for a new new jersey/cause tramps like us baby we were born to die'

like i don't think there would be a faster way to win my heart than with those two references right next to each other

followed by SOLO

i've thought about this album a lot. I don't normally like this, never felt The Hold Steady at all and I'm not a Springsteen fan, but this album has struck a chord with me heavy. it feels very very real to me, like it's the closest thing to ever even approach a feeling or an amalgamation of feelings that are felt by a wide swath of young people right now.

This feels like the underside of all the whimsical, detached embrace to American cultural roots that we see in everything from fashion to tumblr-blogs that glorify anything khaki or wooden; it feels like a real working American man's despair in 2010, filled with nostalgia for stuff he doesn't know and smothered by more stimuli and "art" and relationships than any man should have to filter in one lifetime.

i cannot believe this album came from that dude.

Nothing sounds better while sitting in one's car at 8:27 a.m., drinking coffee and waiting for the bank to open on a Saturday morning, than this album.

it feels like a real working American man's despair in 2010, filled with nostalgia for stuff he doesn't know and smothered by more stimuli and "art" and relationships than any man should have to filter in one lifetime

see i kind of feel like they're reaching for this as a totally accessible and pre-existing mode

HOOS just out of curiousity what are you taking 'not looking for a new new jersey' as a reference to? it's not billy bragg, is it?

haha n/m i just saw you revice the other thread

xxp
of course it's pre-existing, isn't everything? but to reach for it and actually give it life as a compelling articulation that isn't trite or affected is pretty rare. they're not the first to try of course but their approach to it - references, self-awareness, guests, allusions to music ingrained in our culture, the speech samples - is so reflective of it that it creates this kind of subliminal resonance

ok maybe i should have just said "one band doing a 'tramps like us' joke was enough already"

i think maybe if i was a car owner i would like this record more

just read a blurb by hurricane fennessey in spin where dude says this was basically written about the relationship w/his boston gf falling apart as she went to bed early every night while he stayed up late watching Ken Burns' Civil War and being lonely and nostalgic about jersey

thats probably already on the wiki or something but i thought it was pretty illuminating

also the climax of the 14 min final track

― suge knight btw (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:33 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

THE FUCKIN DRUMS MAN
THE DRUMS

digging this so far

on first listen i am preferring the first one, like, a lot

thomp i am v confused

i thought you had already been listening and not-especially-digging all throughout the thread?

i had been l. and n.-e.-d. the first one throughout; out of curiousity, today, i have l. and somewhat d. the first

...

http://i1.tinypic.com/833rrc8.jpg

this band is playing for free in my town tomorrow night, thanks ILM!

starting 2 really cum around on how this album is really corny & overwrought & knows its bein corny & overwrought but is just like fuk it man theses are ~feelings~ & i got em

theme from 'cheers' is the 1 i like the best

fuk it man theses are ~feelings~ & i got em

otm i figured out this morning its an epic breakup album by a drama queen who doesn't know wtf he wants but he knows he's in PAIN and unhappy and doesn't want to leave this chick behind despite all her faults but also hates boston so much that he can't fuckin stay

^ that's characterization of our narrator, not a shot at dude

about the relationship w/his boston gf falling apart as she went to bed early every night while he stayed up late watching Ken Burns' Civil War and being lonely and nostalgic about jersey

^^^ wonderful imo

idk if wonderful is how i wld describe that????

also makes the line abt if theres a girl in this college who hasn't been raped even more ...

yah i have ~problems~ with that line

likewise

i think he's trying to use it as a shot at boston frat boys or something but its like ummmm

i mean it made a little more sense when on the 1st coupla listens thought dude was going 2 college in the carolinas

like i think in context its a little clearer

the things i used to love i have come to reject
the things i used to hate i have learned to accept
and the worst of the three you now have to expect
satan aint hard to see without craning your neck

he'll be 70 some inches tall
he'll be chugging a beer and grabbing his balls
hes the remote explosive waiting for someone to call
he's just 18 for now but hes going to murder us all

some days wanna give a little less than it'll take
is there a girl at this college who hasn't been raped?
is there a boy in this town thats not exploding with hate?
is there a human alive aint looked themself in the face
without winking or saying what they mean
without drinking without leaving something
without thinking what if somebody doesnt approve?
is there a soul on this earth that isn't too frightened to move?

he's trying to use it as a symptom of the soul killing hellhole version of boston he's painting

obv its still a questionable proposition to point to rape as a reason a town suxx insofar as it could trivialize it ("boston sucks, lots of girls get raped there") but idk like i think he's trying--if a 24 year old dude is allowed to do this?--to like invoke the emotional trauma of rape as being similar to his own level of unhappiness?

maybe

well yeah that's kind of how i took it, which is kind of where i start having a problem with it

right

i don't understand the problems with the rape line, it's a bit brash but makes sense in context and isn't insensitive i don't think

like i think in context its a little clearer

kinda feel like this positions rape as sum personal flaw or smthn tho? idk & its probably not worth getting into really but that line is just on sum which 1 doesnt belong here which 1 isnt the same tip

my reaction was always just *rolls eyes at strawmanning frat boys*

also the climax of the 14 min final track

― suge knight btw (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:33 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

THE FUCKIN DRUMS MAN
THE DRUMS

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, March 28, 2010 3:14 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

whenever i listen to the last track, i yearn for two banners to fall from my ceiling, one that reads FUCKING and the other that reads BAGPIPES

lmao

this is my fav part i think

and so now when i drink im going to drink to excess

and when i smoke i will smoke keep it in hold it in my chest

and when i scream i will scream until im gasping for breath

and when i get sick i will stay sick for the rest of my

days peddling hate at the back of a chevy express

each one will fly into the face of your idea of success

and if this be thy will then fuckin' pass me the cup

and im sorry dad no i'm not making this up!

i believe the actual line is "each one a fart in the face of your idea of success"

i only correct because it made me lol so hard

also <3 "my enemy is your name on my lips" or w/e the next line is

lol if it is fart, i was just pulling that off songmeanings

titus andronicus will fart in the face of your idea of success

"half the time i open my mouth to speak its to repeat something i heard on tv" absolutely kills me fwiw & its kind the heart of whats so rad abt this album? for me?

see for me its all the last 4 lines

But my enemy--it's your name on my lips as i go to sleep
And I know what little I've known of peace
Yes I've done to you what you've done to me
And I'd be nothing without you darling, please don't ever leave

like that broke the whole thing wide open for me

coupled with lincoln "mystic chords of memory" piece and the title its like yo we just fought this climactic battle and seem to have reached this point of no return and i'm leaving town to go back to jersey cause i can't fuckin stand it here anymore but i hope this isn't it cause my life would suck w/o u in a k clarkson stylee

that is true

and the self destructive self loathing coping mechanisms are not gonna do me any favors ("when i smoke i will smoke gaping holes in my chest" = so fucking awesome) but yo i'm a drama queen this is how i deal xp

it's great that he wrote an allegorical album that compares his relationship w his girl to the civil war and he is able to note how ridiculous it is, and yet he still goes at it full-throated, and he doesn't undercut either sentiment -- i think maybe the solos help

haha yah its just that i like that parts of the album where a more generalized kind of uncertainty & self-loathing & raw emotionalism take over from the relationship stuff & its like hes t-t-t-talkin baout my generation or smthn (xp)

yeah exactly i love that it wholeheartedly embraces this absurdly grandiose idea and just goes the fuck in on it. i texted a friend this morning "shoulda been called "The Montior, or How My Breakup Was Just Like The Civil War" xp

right i feel u xp

whenever i listen to the last track, i yearn for two banners to fall from my ceiling, one that reads FUCKING and the other that reads BAGPIPES

― hipster puddy (J0rdan S.), Sunday, March 28, 2010 2:36 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I made a podcast of rock songs that have bagpipes in them about three years ago, and the link appears to be in working order. So enjoy that, Jordan

http://www.allez-allez.co.uk/2007/10/parts-labor.html

@ j.sarge since this thread i cant help but hear parts of fevers & mirrors in this but i think the sheer stompin madness of the ~music~ on this album help makes it less pained & inward & more cathartic

tbh im really hopin enuff ppl are into this that at the live show "the enemy is everywhere" breakdown will be ~righteous~

neurosis – the last you’ll know

yeah but but purify

i want to like stand and salute u or something xxp

lj wrong thread dogg lol

nah man i was quoting whiney's bagpipeathon

but yeah wrong thread fundamentally until i hear this record

y'all selling it well, kiu

the thing is that like, tons of people, in the deepest depths of a fucked up relationship, obv totally identify with the idea of relationships as war, and then eventually realize how ridiculous that notion is, but in the back of their mind are still like "yeah totally" -- and this dude wrote an album

yeah lamp it's totally cathartic -- and bcuz he intertwines his relationship w/ moving to a new city after college, he's def able to make it a sort of generational catharsis too (lol first world problems)

j0rdan, your enthusiasm for this is almost persuading me to download it from emusic. the bright-eyes comparisons make me very wary of this act, tho.

listen to "a more perfect union" or "no future part III" (the mp3s they released beforehand), they're pretty indicative of what the album is like

i think if you like the hold steady then you have a bit of a predilection towards digging this, as long as you have some tolerance for melodramatic youthfulness

i'm a big fan of the hold steady.

i know

"no future part iii" is one of the best songs imo

its funny yall i warmed to the mid-album stuff real slowly, for a while i just had the first two on repeat and would skip no future and pot/piss and even 4 score. i'm still tending to skip theme from cheers, but the others have totally crept up on me. richard iii totally sounds like flogging molly, and i think that means i have to admit i like flogging molly.

btw sarge i assume u r familiar with this kickass song which may or may not have bagpipes but kinda sounds like it has bagpipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-64CaD8GXw

DUH

cmon son, i've watched "the departed" like 15 times

i know this tbh i just wanted an excuse to find it on youtube

my roommates are all gone so i listened to this on our big speakers, and dang -- i might've thrown my ps3 out of my living room window at one point

i love that this is such a formless album -- if i never saw it broken down on itunes i'd have a tough time figuring out what the tracks are -- it's like moments of triumph and calls to arms amongst a bunch of sprawling, growling mess and that really feels right

so on "the battle of hampton roads" it hit me that he is driving the fuck away from her flooring it screaming out of boston back to jersey and as he's driving he starts howling "please don't ever leave"

fuck

word -- i listened to this str8 thru in the car -- some real shit

ok so hey y'all

Saw this band rock the fuck out in a house party basement setting just now. Real nice folks with a great tight vibe. I heard a little bit of Springsteen maybe, but a lot more Mekons circa Rock & Roll with a dash of Fugazi sweaty group mindmeld. Lotsa anthemic chord progressions, and the electric violin also really recalls Mekons stuff. Great moments with three gtr players all hammering some simple 3-or-4-chord thing, several times I could have listened to them keep it up for ten minutes (usually it was over in 1 or 2). Typical basement PA garbage meant most of the vocals were lost, but the passion shone through loud and clear.

Also, they sounded nothing at all like Bright Eyes, who I have seen as well.

Conclusion: all hype is deserved.

It is important in this life to sound nothing at all like Bright Eyes.

it's more the vocals that do remind me a lot of earlier bright eyes..i can ttly i.d. w/ that comparison, also i dont dislike bright eyes

lol'd at the line 'prepare to be told that shits gay dude'

beginning of 'to old friends and new' sounds like loving cup

2d half of this album is my fav

The video reminds me of the Replacements and the Gaslight Anthem. Perhaps I will investigate further.

...though i gotta say i ain't feeling that beard

am listening to this...not bad at all

never heard of these dudes but yalls enthusiasm is contagious

i've been driving around looking at apartments all day just leaving hampton roads on repeat

when they go back in doubletime on "cause my enemy" i go the fuck OFF in my car

motherfuckers at stoplights be like O_O

motherfuckers behind keyboards be like :D

really tho i havent been this happy about a rock album since like, gaslight anthem

"IT's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!" *sky falls*

^slays me

It is important in this life to sound nothing at all like Bright Eyes.

can't be said enough.

incredible vocal doubletracking at the end of "four score and seven" - about halfway through the "it's still us against them!" chants the second voice becomes increasingly wearly, signifying for me this amazing detached sentiment saying basically "i'm getting fucking tired of this"

weary*

"IT's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!" *sky falls*

― k3vin k., Wednesday, March 31, 2010 7:35 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^slays me

― k3vin k., Wednesday, March 31, 2010 7:35 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

yes -- this might be my fav moment on the whole album

And I know it won't do much good
Getting drunk and sad and singing
But I'm at the end of my rope
And I feel like swinging

dope lyrics

i've been thinking about this album a lot in the context of, like, sufjan's 'illinois'

yessssssssssss i feel like swinging made me O_O when i got it

and yeah like this is that rare record where it gets at me emotionally on a personal level and also is really Saying Something Important and also has really rich music that i can get all cerebral about and be like "man did you hear the way those horns went into counterpoint and do you feel the emotional resonance of that minor thing they're hitting"

"IT's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!" *sky falls*

― k3vin k., Wednesday, March 31, 2010 7:35 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think it would be so dope if they made a video for this song and it was like ""IT's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!"" *fireworks" -- would be the most heroic shit ever

like the horns in the leadup to the bagpipes on hampton roads fuckin KILL me

xp yeah i think it's easy for the straight musicianship to get lost in how intentionally messy the album is -- something like "a pot in which to piss" builds so well, it doesn't rely on the monster solo as a crutch or anything & they don't introduce the pianos as signposts, it all really builds throughout the song

& something like "to old friends and new" has the same sort of release of tension as the songs w/ big solos even tho it doesn't have anything like that -- stickles is p much a genius tbh

hoos, last night i realized that a dude shouting "gimme a whiskey!" over classic bar band riffage is the biggest hoosnip ever

lol otm

looking forward to my local getting this on the juke so i can jam out with overpriced jameson & coke

just bought this due to all the positive stuff I've heard. vocals definitely sound like a mix of Conor Oberst/Will Sheff.

ok i'm only as far as "you'll always be a loser" and it resonates, so

Smoking’s been okay so far, but I need something that works faster,
So all I want for Christmas is no feelings, no feelings now and ever again

Yes, I have surrendered what made me human and all that I thought was true,
So now there’s a robot that lives in my brain and he tells me what to do.
And I can do nothing without his permission or wasn’t part of the plan,
So now in Rock Ridge pharmacy I will be waiting for my man.

^love the delivery here

IF I CAME IN ON A DONKEY
I HOPE I'M GOIN OUT ON A GURNEY

"theme from 'cheers'" is the song that has grown to knock me out once i've got accustomed to all of the heart-exploding solos & stuff

So let's get fucked up, and let's pretend we're all okay.
And if you've got something that you can't live with,
Save it for another day, all right?
Save it for another day.

i mean, let's get it imo

it's just, maybe i haven't listened to my fair share of anthemic rock music or w/e, but this album comes off as some raggedy, stream of conscious gut spilling, but it's such a well orchestrated album -- every song is long for a reason and pays off every single time & all of them have great musical moments, & as much as i love the last album, this album def strikes me as the work of a dude who is a super talented musician with as many good ideas as the touted indie bigwigs

like, "to old friends and new" shows that he doesn't have to resort to the heart-exploding solos to have a payoff that's affecting & cathartic -- in fact, the rising guitar squall + horns in the middle of that song probably hit harder than the solos & guitar codas depending on what mood you're in, and it's a very restrained and beautiful climax (not to mention the sing along) that really stands out amongst the rest of the songs

i'm also super glad that they had the wherewithal to do the whole cheesy sax solo + piano solo routine on "...and ever"

i haven't been this glad at a decent # of ilxors really taking to an album in a long time

i would like to personally apologize to patrick stickles for being too broke to purchase your album

i need to see this album played straight through live, preferably w/ big hoos doing slam poetry as the opener tbrr

i can't tell if i would try and mosh during the climax of "battle of hampton roads" or if i would just collapse into someone's arms

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22fucking+bagpipes%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

my mans here has really good quality live video here http://www.youtube.com/user/ZacMagnum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U52u-UtWd1Y&feature=related

kinda disappointed this dude has a beard tbch

idk tbh i get that a dude has to play it safe with his voice while on tour cause he has 4 billion songs to sing but imo without the unhinged ott delivery that song is not as fun to me?

also was not expecting that spoken voice to go with that singing voice

yeah agreed xp

I'm all for the idea of wordy, triumphant anthems via Springsteen-Neutral Milk Hotel-Arcade Fire-Hold Steady, but that voice wore me out before half the album was done.

too bad b/c the 2nd half is the best part. start from "a pot in which to piss" if you try again.

yeah seriously

"for the glory of the Newark Bears"

Oh I didn't give up, I made it all the way through the last 14 min track. Still wore me out, kind of like Meat Loaf does. Yeah, there's greatness in there, but maybe the kind you only need to hear once. A decade. Now if they had Meat Loaf do guest vocals, I'd see that.

stream of live in studio set by Titus Andronicus on 89.3 The Current here in mpls:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/05/titus-andronicus-live/

In all honesty, Titus Andronicus was probably too big for the Project Lodge. Stickles became a bit frustrated as the crazies up front kept disconnecting his mic cable. There were several “oh shit’ moments when the P.A. system was almost knocked over entirely, to the point that one of the Lodge’s employees felt the need to jump up front and hold the speakers up. During “Titus Andronicus Forever,” kids were even attempting stage dive off of the Lodge’s one-foot stage. During the heart-wrenchingly powerful “Richard II,” a kid crowdsurfed under the relatively low ceiling, in danger of kicking down a projector box mounted up there for film screenings and art shots. Then again, that's probably how a fucking punk show should be.

y'all convinced me to buy this -- and i'm really enjoying it

I really dig this album, and I enjoyed seeing them live (opened for Vamp Weekend when they played Washington Heights), but for some reason they often seem to be cribbing off this Springsteen/NJ thing more than advancing it, and when I hear something like, "Baby we were born to die," I'm 50% thrilled cause I'm a huge boss fan but also 50% put-off because it feels cheap (much in the same way that NJ band Thursday sings Needle and the Damage done in 'Understanding in a Car Crash' and I'm momentarily in love cause Neil Young <3<3 but then it feels less like a homage and more like heavily relying on the sentiment I already have for these lyrics and not creating new sentiment). Also, it feels weird to be championing 2003 emo music in 2010.

this music isnt 2003 its timeless

i thought they were dope live too but they need a hype crowd 4 the manic group catharsis moments 2 really hit

I am liking this, mostly because it is so loose and ragged

Okay fuck this has totally clicked with me and I love it so much.

I was just coming here to post that, this album is fucking great...

Yeah, I take back any reservations I had -- tho Gaslight Anthem is getting more plays than this now for me.

ditto but i really played the shit outta this for a month

unless the-dream's album is fucking titanic, i'm not sure if anything will surpass this on my year end list, prob not even lcd

This over Gaslight + Against Me for you, J0rdan?

i actually have only listened to gaslight twice so far, which is far less than AM! and titus, so not sure about that -- right now titus is my top 1, with against me! in the 3-5 range -- i just dig the total overblown epicness of the titus album which encompasses a bunch of really awesome musical moments -- also titus is a bit more identifiable to me, since i'm about to me drinking in my parents (non-) basement (lol miami) and was never actually a teenage anarchist

i remember just hating this band when i saw them a couple years ago, but i'm absolutely loving this. such an unbelievably well-sequenced record!

i've also just moved to dc after almost ten years in boston, and this is hitting me on this emotional level that music that sounds like this rarely does. i also don't know if stickles is bemoaning or wallowing in all that emotional isolation half the time, which is something i never wondered about, say, bright eyes (who i never really liked) - ultimately that makes this record so much more confusing and exhausting to listen to, which is of course the point

i would like to add to matt's point upthread that it's also perfect when you're hungover and alone in your room on a sunday morning in a city you don't know very well yet, dealing with unresolved Boston Issues and trying not to romanticize the idealized version of boston that doesn't exist - obviously this is a symptom of my own experiences but there's something specific about having lived there (and having had so much exposure to that "soul killing hellhole version of boston") that drastically affects my opinion of this record

i didn't articulate that very well at all but you know what i mean

god damn this album rules so much

When I'm an old man, I can be the quiet type,
and I can go without a moment of fun for the rest of my life.
I can read a good book, and I can be in bed by ten,
and I can get up early, go to work and come home, and start it all over again.

But while we're young, boys, everybody raise your glasses high,
Singing, 'Here's to the good times, here's to the home team.
Kiss the good times goodbye, oh yeah,
Kiss the good times goodbye.'

btw um

they played for 2 hours

i fucking love them

i peed next to stickles in a trough urinal and i said "does this make you feel like a horse too" and he said "i always feel like a horse"

http://i11.tinypic.com/4bfnofo.jpg

for all fucking time

this album is top 10 ever for me

i feel like i need to find stickles and hug him but i don't think he showers at all

me and my mans handed our glasses off to our dates to go into the pit during titus andronicus forever

lol

CONTACTS, SON

glasses define my face dogg there is no doing without

otherwise i can't even be seen ~while~ craning your neck

lol

*glasses fall down on a photo of h*os*

DEAL WITH IT

is what you're saying

well

talk about our grandkids
stroke our grey beards
funny we're still doin car bombs
after all these years

busy tonight with the excerpts, hoos

'car bombs' urgh

so irish

just want to reiterate: one of the best sets ever seen by a hoos

this album is still pretty cool now I'm giving it another listen

I mean I only gave it a listen coz hoos' current girl sitch reminded me of his posting itt but it's kinda synching up with me too in some weird way

love.

me + one of my bros are seeing these dudes tonight! PSYCHED

i figured out what was bugging me about "Richard II" which is that the melodic/harmonic structure is like a perfect imitation of old Okkervil River songs. plus the singers sound somewhat similar too.

but yeah anyway this album finally clicked for me and it is glorious

I'm three songs in but what's the diff between this shit and stuff like flogging molly or dropkick murphys

guess I should hear the album all the way through first

racist

more than halfway through and I guess this just isn't my thing

was trying to think why this rock band was getting indie acclaim, and then yeah ppl nailed it upthread, this is who the crits are crowning as the next hold steady, indie palatable bar rock

I guess I like my emotional punk harder/with stronger hooks and more abrasive instrumentation. this album is kind of polite and underwritten.

damn i don't think that describes it at all

yeah, i would not call this album polite

I guess I should qualify that by saying it seems polite when you consider what they're trying to achieve, this balls out catharsis, the singer gets into it but doesn't really get into it, that's cool, but the instrumentation doesn't really pick up the slack

there's not really any aggression

I'm wondering now if dayo is even listening to the right record, because I don't hear any of his criticisms when I listen to it. If anything, the record seems a little overwritten to me, there are a few places when things could have been a little streamlined to pack more of a punch. And I'm not sure just how much more you are wanting the lead singer to get into it, I mean, dude seems to be throwing a whole lot of himself into it. There are plenty of valid criticisms of this record - a little too precious at times, a wee bit overbearing with the whole Springsteen-indebted rock, among others - but I don't hear any of dayo's complaints among them. But, I'm sensitive because I really love this record and I want more people to discover the exuberance I hear in it.

yeah jon I realize that I come at this from a diff background, having grown up with super emotive power pop punk. when I say underwritten, I mean the sing along parts aren't really worth singing along too - they're not hooky enough. I guess I wish the songs were tighter, or made up for their sloppiness in some other way. like a good counterpoint to this record I feel would be the drones, whose songs have that same sort of rambly quality but their's a lot more base-level aggressiveness and viscerality that justifies it

this album seems polite as in it's something that seems like you should be able to mosh to and dance around to, but when you try to jump in there's just not enough sonic OOMPH to carry it

Okay, I totally get where are you coming from wrt to the "underwritten" now, yeah, this isn't something I come to looking for big sing-alongs (thats been this year's Superchunk, My Chem, and Against Me records), but I still feel a good sense of catharsis in it. I wasn't trying to be harsh with my post, I was just struck by your posts because I had pretty much the exact opposite reaction! I can see where you are coming from now, though I'm still not sure I agree with you on all of it.

i'm really stunned by the idea that this record, with its doubletime breakdowns and gang chorus singalongs and fuckin bagpipes and multiple-guitar-solo epics is lacking for any kind of oomph, and i too am coming out of a 90s power punk background

~~confused~~

FUCKING

BAGPIPES

IT'S STILL US AGAINST THEM, IT'S STILL US AGAINST THEM

hoos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEIxbO7g10g

ya mean?

xp

srsly when i saw them they closed w/that one and the whole club was going apeshit screaming along it was like O_____________________________________________O

if I went to a Titus Andronicus show, I hope I would be doing the same!

dayo yes just like that, i feel like titus is the anthemic high energy feel of am! given a stately lit snob strut, or if you like that they have more in common with the pogues than (say) flogging molly or dropkick murphys have in common with the pogues. what they lack in melodic momentum they more than make up in sonic & emotional fury, i think.

and plz do not let my previous post imply that i was not screaming along tbh

^______________^ may have been more appropriate but after that many beers it was more like \m/ >_________________> \m/

FUCKING

― k3vin k., Thursday, December 30, 2010 4:59 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

BAGPIPES

― k3vin k., Thursday, December 30, 2010 4:59 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

this will always
be correct kev
this will always
be correct kev
this will always
be correct kev
this will always
be correct kev
and that's
o
kay

haha hoos see titus andronicus comes nowhere near close to AM! on that front. I think my fondest show memories were seeing AM! around the reinventing axl rose period and climbing on stage and doing the sing along and getting the shit kicked out of me by all these other meathead punks. somehow I just can't see a Titus Andronicus show descending into that level of dionysian formlessness

for one thing, it's much too midtempo and mannered

i love these guys, but the show i saw of them was kinda lacking in a real sense of power at least from the audience's end. that said, they were opening for vampire weekend, and i bet if they were playing warped tour it would be explosive

haha man i cant ever imagine these dudes playing warped tour

which maybe says everything i'm trying to say

that like that would never happen, and thats acceptable to me, cause that's not why i listen to them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7AgIaF_o40

^^ gives me chills

titus are playing here with the pogues in march and i am amped beyond words to see em again

and AM! is already plenty lit snob stately fuiud

I want to break something

UP THE PUNX

i love Against Me (and Gaslight Anthem) even more than Titus and I think the Warped Tour unnamed dynamic thing might have to do with it

i mean i feel like dayo is totally right that what these guys do lacks the melodic momentum, the gasp-out-every-word-from-the-depth-of-the-mosh-pit-ness, of someone like an am! or even a rise against, but again: i think what they lack in that kind of immediacy they make up in richness and attention to detail.

but then, i came to this record with absolutely no idea what it sounded like and literally nothing to go on but

http://i11.tinypic.com/4bfnofo.jpg
― suge knight btw (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 5:52 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark

so i didn't have a lot of preconceptions or expectations.

plus the whole 'my breakup was totally just like the civil war, i swear' narrative had more than a few personal resonances for me, what with having a breakup that was totally just like the civil war (i swear) like the week i bought & over the ensuing two months that i processed this record.

rise against, fuck yeah

but then, i came to this record with absolutely no idea what it sounded like and literally nothing to go on but

yeah same here other than I knew it was j0rd's fave record of the year and seemed to be popping up in year end lists.

i think that's otm, and i first saw them at that vampire weekend concert. i don't even know that they lack gasp-out-every-word-from-the-depth-of-the-mosh-pit-ness, just that my experience of them lacks that xp

(so i think maybe you're not so otm about them not being great in a warped tour type venue. could be excellent)

where were they playing when they opened up for vampire weekend? i cant picture them in the large, possible open air venue that warped tour would necessitate, but maybe that's just because when i saw them it was an intimate as you can get

like, getting hit with patrick stickles's beard sweat and then smoking cigarettes with him after intimate

stickles is a dope last name

united palace theater last jan

ive only seen them in tiny spaces too they were p great live

think this album has tonnes of momentum & bombast when it needs to but theres a idk self-reflective quality to it that maybe prevents it from ever getting truly unhinged. like i have a feeling that even when hes screaming his heart out hes half thinking how ridiculous hes being yknow?

maybe thats why i love 'theme from 'cheers'' so much that knowing half-abashed quality adds a layer of sweetness and complexity to it like ur both sharing a joke thats also rooted in the truth

like its legit hard to play something so emtional str8 & i guess i can admire or ~get~ acknowledging it and trying anyway

like, getting hit with patrick stickles's beard sweat and then smoking cigarettes with him after intimate

sounds like torture, tbh

rong

stickles seems like one of the nicest dudes

this band is far too unattractive for me to ever listen to their stupid music

late to the game on this but: if you like this band and front like you hate the arcade fire you are full of shit imo

You're going to have to explain that one to me, because other than them both using similar types of instruments I don't see a whole lot of similarities between the two. I mean, yeah, both are white indie bands prone to half-baked concept albums, but, uh, thats about it.

well for starters they sound exactly the same

Um, no, they don't, at all.

gr8080 showing his hand a little by posting immediately after a slightly superior troll-job

I mean, this honestly feels like me popping into a goon thread and saying "if you like Waka and front like you hate B.o.B. you are full of shit imo". I mean, they sort of share a genre, but unless you've never heard indie rock before I can't imagine how you would think they sound so similar.

(xpost)

grongyongdy

they both made an album about the suburbs

that's the main one

but the tone an voice of the albums are so, so different

have to admit LJ is OTM

for real though there is little difference

tbh I think it's pretty good and even voted for (& nominated) its best track in the 2010 poll, coz christ fuck me what a song

obviously a band sounds like itself but to front like you are SO ABOVE arcade fire and then call this one of the greatest albums ever made is totally indefensible imo

ftr: i like arcade fire ok and i like this album ok

could do without the fake old-timey spoken word recordings

the tone of each album is different in an important way

like, to me, 'the suburbs' vacillates b/w really infantile songs about "the kids" & this kinda gross, almost elitist misanthropy about suburban life that just rubs me the wrong way, esp coming from grown 30 year olds

'the monitor' is an album that uses suburban life as a frame for a very thorough and oftentimes lacerating -- yet inspiring! -- look at one dude's life, and at times the lives of people his age -- it's a much more honest album imo

also there are no 8+ songs on the suburbs

8+ min*

2nd time through "the monitor" and all i can think about is Neon Bible

tbh, i think that says more about you than either of these bands

sure, blame the messenger

this band is prolly really popular w/ child molesters

oh you

at least Arcade Fire can manage to do a whole album of Springsteen inspired emo without actually name dropping him in the lyrics

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/aliens/hae48.gif

http://teslastaging.com/forums/images/smilies/Gestures/userArmsCrossed.gif

think moving to virginia suburbs/getting an awful office job really clicked something in me but i totally ~love~ this album now

time to relisten to that last the national album too

careful now!

listening to 'richard ii' right now and remembering last summer at the show being the remarkably drunk dude in the second row shouting imagined countoffs into the silences ("we've never seen the glory of the coming of the lord" "ONE TWO THREE" "THERE WILL BE PARTIES THERE WILL BE FUN" etc)

they're playing here next month and i'm super super amped, and then apparently they're playing that pfork show in NY where they're playing all Replacements songs and i might ahve already died and gone to heaven just imagining the concept of that

"imagined concept" is a great way to describe this band

saw this come up in my bookmarks and was like I bet a hoos bumped this

hahaha

My roommates just got a gig opening for them this month? Ironically not at their Montreal show but tomorrow at Brandeis.

congrats to your roommates band imo

easily my most listened to album of the past 3 months. really perfect on headphones when i'm at work.

xp yeah, they're pretty psyched. i have not been listening to the monitor as much as i feel like i should but when i do it's still a fucking titanic record of awesomeness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/06/pogues-titus-andronicus

Ha ha every quote from this dork is a classic

Playing in support of the Pogues "raised a lot of questions about the intersection of punk rock and commerce", Stickles said. "This is the greatest punk band from my ancestral homeland of Ireland, and it makes me sick."

shit that looks like an onion article but isn't

srs irishman there has a song that goes 'still drinkin' car bombs after all of these years'

titus andronicus - the hall monitor

file under "quotes that sum up why i can't listen to this band"

lmao at that pogues shit -- i don't listen to them and feel zero desire to, especially after reading that

THERE'LL BE NO MORE COUNTING THE CARS ON THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY

Patrick Stickles.

how in the fuck did this dork expect the pogues to act?

1st 2 pogues albums rule markers, seems like something u might digg if you can hang w/irish jiggyness

like honestly these dudes have been touring for fucking ever you think they really want to hang with you?

shockingly, it's not like playing some fucking basement in new jersey

i'm not real shocked by this

'young dude who believes in authenticity gets naive dreams shattered when he hangs out with his heroes'

like, that's actually kind of why i listen to this band

^^^ for the above plz read 'that was some stupid shit to say but i want to continue uncompromisingly liking this band so i'll pretend he didn't say it'

haha i was thinking "this is totes why a hoos feels this band" when i read that article

tbh it's only the bit about 'punk rock' and 'commerce' that actually slays me; I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some degree of courtesy given that I'm pretty sure lots of bands bigger or more establishment than the Pogues manage it

oh and "ancestral homeland of Ireland" o'course

true but i don't even listen to the pogues and it's totally evident that they'd be dicks!

So "punk".
It's exactly as Michael Azerrad recounts Ian MacKaye's fury and disappointment when Minor Threat supported PiL in DC, and Lydon turned up, did the show, and left. And didn't tell Minor Threat YOU GUYS ARE MY TRUE HEIRS!
fwiw The Monitor was my favourite album of last year, and Stickles' unembarrassed striving for ecstasy is what makes them great. He reminds me a lot of a young Jonathan Richman.

yeah i mean like part of what they do is rage out at the apparently inevitable shattering of their beliefs, like damn this whole adulthood gig is not what i thought it was at all, what the shit, that makes me mad and confused about what's supposed to happen now.

with a certain kind of cynicism their anger can seem to come out of naivete--"of course life isn't fair, you fucking baby"--but i think it comes out of an earnest place and is really exactly what they're about, throwing themselves on the gears of acceptable cynicism even if it kills them.

they believe, and if it turns out that belief is wrong they get mad

they also write and perform horrible music

there it is

<3 u grates

What I hated most about this band was a review I read that tried to portray them as one of those "fits right in with the 90's" bands. No they don't fit right in with the 90's. Most post-90's music with trendy contemporary scene/indie/EMO singing/singers/choruses fits in more closely with their own despicable decade. I know EMO started during the 90's but that's more of a footnote. EMO post 90's gets a whole chapter because it is much more prevalent and it's leaking like crazy into all sorts of other generes. And you've to be kidding yourself if think Titus Andronicus isn't borrowing most of their sound from post-90's EMO/scenesters/indie-tard music.

/punk rock

somehow feel this would happen less w/ more moneyed bands who don't have to haul their own gear around, be so exhausted by the time they get to the venue. shane macgowan is a horrible drunk but the rest of the band seem rel lucid & probably have luxurious accommodations shaken some hands ffs

i played two shows supporting touring bands in the past couple weeks & only one dude out of five full bands was friendly and hung out with us. second show the other bands didn't even come out of their van between sound check & their set & this is, like, small venue/loft shows so maybe they are even too naive for diy world & r just being unrealistic?

it was kind of surprising but i can understand not wanting to hear a full night of loud music every night for so long personally i would hate it

seein dudes (again) in like 2 weeks btw

my lady of the moment has promised to hold my glasses when i go into the pit, life is good

seein dudes (again) in like 2 weeks btw

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, April 7, 2011 8:51 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

lmao i am really tired and when i read this i thought i was reading the OK Cupid thread and was like <<raises eyebrows>>

lollll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM1sQhMGGS8

dang

missed their show last night, but i did run into stickles on the street and fist bump him

you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser you will always be a loser

lord, i imagine it would be amazing to be at a show of theirs and shout that with the crowd

correct

haha otm

And thats okaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy

officially bored with this album.

a year will do that. i'm def ready for the next one.

after watching that video i really feel like i know what New Jersey is all about

saw these dudes a year or so ago, nothin' wrong w/ them but they just played totally straight ahead rock, like bar band shit, so I wasn't expecting all the indie hype

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), miércoles 24 de marzo de 2010 13:43 (1 year ago) Bookmark

ha, cosigned a year later. dunno where puff puff is from but from discussions on other boards i feel this is the general opinion of a lot of people in the east coast hardcore / indie circles.

<3 this video

stickles is so great despite seeming like the most unbearable human being on earth

there still hasn't been a better album released since this one -- a full 417 days & counting

did anyone link their they might be giants cover itt yet

what is it with these people and billy bragg, anyway

billy bragg rules

i will never understand americans

haha really i'm just about him for 'new england,' total Song of My Teenage Years, and the nice harmonies on 'mermaid avenue'

i mean, billy bragg is alright i guess, i just listened to 'life's a riot' for the first time in oh let's say three years, this is about as often as i want to listen to it, i always enjoy it

anyway i got to "there will be parties" etc on 'richard' and went 'oh that is where i have heard that before' and it just seemed ... odd. like there's three tracks i think where patrick stickles drops in bits of billy bragg songs and i do not understand. it just seems a curiously unprovoked piece of bricolage, what did billy bragg ever do to new jersey

dude drops awful lot of borrowed lines in. i like it. highlight is the new new jersey/tramps like us bragg-boss one-two.

tramps like us were born to quote Brits like Bragg.

Titus were fun opening for Okervill River in DC a little while back but most of the crowd was there more for the headliners.

yeah i heard it was less than rowdy. i only want to see them if it's rowdy.

They were fucking rowdy and fucking great the free Seaport Show in NY tonight. Well, the event used to be Siren@Coney Island, now called "4 Knots." The setting is good though: hot but lots of room, surprisingly loud, an energetic crowd. Anyway, only the 3rd time I've seen this band, but tonight they were so galvanizing. So much passion and energy, it really took a lot of the crowd by surprise I think, after so ho-hum schmindie.

what was the most lol thing said during between song banter

"I'm out of breath, out of shape. So why do I get athletes foot. That's a joke."

:-/

p terribly formed

It was a low point, sure. His banter makes you think his songs won't be interesting, admittedly.

. . .

this guy

hoos i meant to text you a titus lyric tonight but i forgot

^these guys

<3

amy klein left the band

http://stereogum.com/854822/amy-klein-quits-titus-andronicus/news/

http://i.imgur.com/IiH4e.png

the stickles show

guess that NYT article was right

So last spring, she sublet her room in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn and toured the country in an old Chevy minivan.

“I’m fulfilling my artistic goals,” Ms. Klein said.

artistic goals: fulfilled

ok just put this on for the first time in a while and:

slays

new album lets go u fucks

they were awesome tonight in baltimore - opened with a very faithful version of "the boys are back in town" while wearing matching sweatshirts, the overall success of which was a surprise to say the least

played a bunch of new stuff too - whatever the new song is with the "built to last! built to last!" chorus is a killer

you were at that show!!! i am so jeal

d planet opened right??

yeah, they were really great too - to quote one over-enthused underage kid to another over-enthused underage kid in front of me, "they're SO MUCH MORE than 'ghost with a boner!'"

i wanted to see em in august when they played asefu's but there was some complicated reason why i couldn't (iirc the girl i was dating at the time's old boyfriend was in one of the opening bands and there was a non-zero chance i was gonna get bonked with a guitar if we showed up - or something)

the girl i was dating at the time's old boyfriend was in one of the opening bands

lol i think you told me this at the time

"they're SO MUCH MORE than 'ghost with a boner!'"

otm though i gotta admit the record kinda disappointed after i'd seen them & spent weeks listening to the shea stadium show on soundcloud

http://youtu.be/z_KgDBCvAPE

i have always been uncomfortable with jordan's animated gif at the start of this thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=59&v=0dX6LL7b8Y0

http://i11.tinypic.com/4bfnofo.jpg

great song, v excited for the new record

fire

streamin' and as a result prob leaked somewhere (or already leaked and motivated them to stream it) http://www.npr.org/2015/07/20/423220507/first-listen-titus-andronicus-the-most-lamentable-tragedy

This kind of puts me in the same position as the last Arcade Fire, where I honestly can't tell whether I like it, think it's stupid, or like it *because* it's stupid.

(And don't even get me started on my dating life...)

lol

titus are def kind of cheesy and painfully honest/earnest but also have such a sense of humor about themselves that they should get a pass, imo. this record is exhausting in a way the monitor wasn't even, despite its length, but the highs are really high. (things like the 5-minute silent intermission are...not among the highs although i get the intent)

https://twitter.com/TitusAndronicus/status/623842678913007616

btw i listened to "the monitor" again (for like the 20th time) on a road trip recently and man, this album is just so, so so good. perfect driving album too, it must be said

they are p good at being an anthemic rock band and really bad at being anything else

this is fucking great

"look alive" just came on and i'm

so

in

wait that was "lost my mind" ok but u get me

ilx is the only place in my life where this band is revered and not endlessly mocked.

i don't even know what it was i don't even care

this is so good

hoos i meant to text you a titus lyric tonight but i forgot

― J0rdan S., Sunday, July 17, 2011 8:36 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was just thinking this revive needs a sarge

:/

I'll give this a listen, but I've never heard the first record and I listened to Local Business once. I sort of feel that The Monitor was a perfect album for me at the time and it remains a beloved favorite of recent years, and I'm okay with this band being just that for me.

That's very much how I oriented myself after I heard (maybe twice?) Local Business--'they were there when it counted'--but the strong tracks on this new thing are really doing it for me.

w/e part-timers, local business is awesome

yeah i have friends who swear by it but idk

well i'm fucking in

this is gonna do me just fine

Anyone daunted by the album's length would be advised to skip ahead to "Fired Up" which, well, I don't wanna throw around superlatives, but I really love it

I'm getting goosebumps listening to this. 30 minutes in and loving it—but I guess I have another hour to go!

I Lost My Mind ---> Lookalike is fucking perfect

also Lookalike alone makes the album for me, i almost don't need the rest

haha wait

i keep fucking this up

I Lost My Mind (t@) ---> I Lost My Mind (DJ) i guess is what i mean?? the tracklisting keeps confusing me

oh its a daniel johnston cover wow

man that little signal riff that goes between lookalike and the johnston cover gets me

this should have its own thread? idk

uhhhh what the heck is stickles doing http://uproxx.com/music/2015/07/titus-andronicus-the-most-lamentable-tragedy-pitchfork-patrick-stickles/3/

guy sucks

seems like maybe he is attempting a parody version of controversial response tweets? at least i hope so?

seems p obv

complete album stream was a bit much to take in all at once, but I went back for "Dimed Out" & it felt like watching a dozen skateboarding videos at once

THE MOST LEGIT MUSIC SITE IS @STEREOGUM SHOUTS OUT THE GOD @TOMBREIHAN #BadReligions THEY ACTUALLY LISTEN TO ROCK AND ROLL SOMETIMES +@

— Titus Andronicus (@TitusAndronicus) July 27, 2015

if you asked me if i wanted to hear some sped-up bruce with a guy yelling over it, i'd probably say okay. but i'm not really getting this atm

"fired up" was the first of the emo street band cuts to really click with me i think

also i know ugh genius and everything but stickles himself has been annotating the lyrics which is sorta fun, sorta feels like reading in the margins of a precocious high school kid's notebook

http://genius.com/albums/Titus-andronicus/The-most-lamentable-tragedy

between the piano, the harmonies, the strings & sax Mr. E Mann really has a great Born to Run feel to it

the bigger moments really nail that feeling better than they ever have imo

also am i crazy or is "fired up" ganking from glory days

i'm officially in love with the whole first half of this, but i can still barely hang on past the intermission

i'm gonna try like i did with the monitor & start listening to it from the end backwards

Dude was such a doofus in the Replacements doc

Beginning and chorus of Lonely Boy sounds suspiciously like Havets Blå by Danish band Kliché...

Dude was such a doofus in the Replacements doc

― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, July 30, 2015 2:25 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i didn't actually see that, should i?

craig finn on fb:

I had the pleasure of attending the final of five shows Titus Andronicus played at Shea Stadium to celebrate their fantastic new record The Most Lamentable Tragedy. I had actually stopped by Shea Stadium for a visit about a week earlier and saw a bit of rehearsal, which ended up being like a private concert from one of my favorite bands. At the end I got up and we jammed on some covers and Patrick put forth the idea of possibly coming on stage during one of the shows that week.
I wasn’t able to attend until Tuesday eve, but what a show I saw. It was so so so hot. Possibly one of the top 5 hottest shows I’ve been to. (THS at Buffalo Mohawk still might be the hottest. Or Hi Tone Memphis. Or….) Titus played for 2.5 hours and it was glorious. They are such a great band and are firing on all cylinders. Patrick had texted me that I should be prepared to help sing “You May Be Right” by Billy Joel and “Bastards of Young” by the Replacements. Before the show I reviewed the lyrics.

When I got on stage we did pretty well with “You May Be Right” and a surprising amount of the crowd knew every word! Then Patrick said they were going to do some “Old School Minneapolis shit”, obviously introducing the Replacements song, right? He then hit the opening riff for THS song “Stuck Between Stations”. it was awesome. We did that one and then “Bastards” and then I got off stage and they continued to tear the place down. Ted Leo got up there shortly after me and they did an amazing Pogues cover as well as “Dancing in the Dark” by Springsteen. The whole show ended (of course) with the best, and punkest, version of “Freebird” that I’ve ever heard.

It’s an honor to be friends with Titus Andronicus, and it was amazing to be a part of one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Go see them play live this Fall, you won’t be sorry.

Stay Positive,
cf

the first half is pretty solid & up there with The Monitor for me but I always lose interest with the second side somewhere after Come On Siobhan.

https://www.slantnews.com/story/2015-09-17-titus-andronicus-twitter-rocks-just-as-hard-as-the-bands-does

Avoided the new one ever since it came out on the grounds that a) the last one sucked, and b) I figured that I didn't have time in my life for 90+ minute album by a band I mentally file as like-not-love. A few months later, I have even less time in my life for a 90+ minute album, but I finally broke down and am playing it now anyway and it's...pretty good! Could definitely use an editor--as much as the formless ten minute track I've listened to tries my patience, the sheer number of minute(ish)-long interludes feel like an even greater waste of time--but "Lonely Boy," the *first* "I Lost My Mind" (there are two songs by that name here) and especially "Fatal Flaw" are great Springsteen-by-way-of-early-Clash punk.

So let's get fucked up, and let's pretend we're all okay.
And if you've got something that you can't live with,
Save it for another day, all right?
Save it for another day.

i mean, let's get it imo

― jihad mane (J0rdan S.), Sunday, April 4, 2010 3:37 AM (seven years ago)

dag

haven't got into anything they've done since but this still goes hard

^^^

Pulled this out last week. Still great.

I was trying to figure out what the new album (A Productive Cough) was reminding me of and the surprise answer was Dexys' Don't Stand Me Down.

oh my god A Productive Cough is so good

just did a quick first listen, but <3 <3 <3 "Crass Tattoo"

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor - The Poll

I'M REAL HYPE RIGHT NOW

I cannot praise this record enough.

New Bob Mould-produced album comes out in a couple weeks.

It's quite good! It fits the "return to form," cliche since the balladry of the last one is conspicuous with it's absence. Punk storytelling at its finest regardless. I think it will be well-received when it comes out.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce to you the sudden and untimely death of Matt "Money" Miller, founding keyboardist of Titus Andronicus, cover model of "A Productive Cough," lead vocalist of "Home Alone (On Halloween)," my beloved cousin and the dearest friend I ever had pic.twitter.com/im7ioAFN3p

— Titus Andronicus (@TitusAndronicus) March 17, 2021

https://imagescdn.juno.co.uk/full/CS676430-01A-BIG.jpg