titus andronicus - the monitor

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

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