titus andronicus - the monitor

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*

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