titus andronicus - the monitor

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.