CD Review: Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

This is a pretty kick ass album from some of New Jersey's newer finest due out on March 9th. You got period references from the album title on down, which is awesome because there's a sense of consequence, of dramatic weight to historical ideas, even if it's just mentioned in passing. Oh and in the epic first track "A More Perfect Union" they mention the Fung Wah Bus, which has taken my ass PLACES.

The songs have such a rugged feel to them, the mid-tempos giving room for the crunchy instrumentation and vocals to affect you and grab your attention without dragging its feet. It's a total rush and you feel invigorated by it, because under all the raucousness there is a sometimes folk-punk feel that keeps everything grounded. Kind of reminds me of the Husker Du song "Folklore", which is one of my favorites by them. The whole album feels at times like a punked up version of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, which may seem like a big comparison but it rocks that much. They are here to teach you a lesson. A lesson of how to breathe fire and ruin someone else's pristine and proper shit just for the hell of it.

There is some dilly dallying between some of the tracks, sound bytes, I would have probably left it as a separate track like "skits" in rap albums. I understand it helps the overall flow of the album but sometimes the listening experience can't always be so patient. Yet, on the snappy interlude between "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future" and "Richard II" the songs are bridged so wonderfully. In fact, I'm actually really liking the interludes, it is meant to round out the album and it makes it more of a continuous journeys, and I love journeys like I love potato skins, and I am all about the potato skins and run on sentences.

As I stated before there are some tracks that break 8 minutes in length, but for as much as I hate uber-long songs, I love The Monitor's lengthy work because it switches things up within the music, adding melodies along the way and keeping me constantly engaged, like the biggest, leave-everything-on-stage Bruce Springsteen tunes. The intros, the outros, pianos, rumbling toms on something like "A Pot In Which To Piss" is exhilarating.

It just feels like such an American record. Not that I'm a nationalist or anything, but couple this on a road trip with My Morning Jacket and you're pretty set for the east coast. I always have thought that there has been too much posturing in indie music and bad bands that look like they should just stick to being in Paper Magazine. These guys have testicles, a bad ass name, and for as much as people shit on Jersey, they should hold that state in esteem after listening to The Monitor.

For more on them, go to their MySpace (yes, still exists): Titus Andronicus

They will be swinging by Bowery Ballroom for The Monitor record release show with Brooklyn's excellent Parts and Labor. When you say? March 6th. The album is out on March 9th. 6. 9. I'm a pervert.

Titus Andronicus "Four Scores and Seven Years" parts 1 and 2 from Pitchfork



Parts and Labor "The Gold We're Digging"

The Gaslight Anthem Comes To Brooklyn Bowl FTEpicW

You have to love when bands play venues that are more intimate than their popularity would suggest. Not too small mind you; private performances should be put in the awkward section. New Brunswick, home to favorites of mine like Lifetime and old Saves the Day.

The Gaslight Anthem, a wonderful throwback to a band like The Replacements with rumbling, full vocals (can you say Bruce Springsteen, who has played with them several times both being from the same areas of Jersey, or even Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio), it's music you fall in love with and to without preening or feeling "emo". Call it soulful punk, call it whatever, their music is like one big heart, and every time it beats it doesn't just pump blood through them, it pumps blood through everyone listening. It's like standing in a rain but feeling the warmth of the sun beating on your face at the same time. You know what I just thought of? The climax in Bridges of Madison County. That's right. If you intermittently watch that movie and switch to doing other things or watching other things and push to the end, you'll break. Trust me.

So they are playing Terminal 5 on October 15th, but you know you really want to see them on October 16th, at the newly minted Brooklyn Bowl. I guess you could call them "punk darlings"?

It'd be nice to have this on a double bill with The Hold Steady. However, we get Murder By Death as the main opener.

All I know is, I'm not going to be dying on that Saturday Night.

Static Radio NJ - Doing Lifetime Proud

One of the first things that me and one of my colleagues at work got into good conversations about was bands that we both liked; an unpretentious roll call of all sorts of punk bands from old to new, and it's always refreshing to go back to basics and discuss music not in an elitist sort of way, but just a natural "hey I think they are pretty good too" sort of way.

As a big fan of Lifetime/Kid Dynamite, old Saves the Day, the Bouncing Souls, any sort of New Brunswick cut time-change tempo-pick it back up mode of catchy, scrappy, crunchy hardcore punk with big sing alongs, my colleague has now turned me on to Static Radio NJ, who have been around for a few years but me missing the boat almost all the time because I can't keep up with music and stick to old standards, I just gave them a first listen from their new effort An Evening of Bad Decisions which comes out September 9th and is streaming on PunkNews.org here.

There's always something to be said for bands that simply fuse an high energy emotional level with pummeling fast punk. There's no frills about it, but there's a genuine empathy with this particular brand, Lifetime had it as well and so do a plethora of other bands but you can never have too much. It could be macho but the quickness of the songs and slightly shimmery melodies drenched in distortion make it as I stated before, rather scrappy, not over the top. There's humor and self-deprecation in the lyrics, which makes for down to earth listening, even if that literally means floorpunching.

They are playing at Lost & Found bar in Greenpoint next Tuesday, August 19th, check them out if you can!

Check out their MySpace page.