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On the Shelf 154: Titus Andronicus
Nov. 10th, 2015 08:04 amTitus Andronicus is one of my favorite new bands of the last 10 years.
They are an interesting dichotomy. On one hand their music can only be described as punk (in the classic British 77 version), loud blasts of energy; yet the other side is this band that wants to make long multi-act rock operas with intros and outros and all that nonsense you usually only find in prog bands.
It is interesting in that given their genre and their style, I can't imagine all that many fans really take those ambitions seriously. The band probably wishes we got all five acts of the new album The Most Lamentable Tragedy (29 tracks! 93 minutes!) and not just think of it as a collection of punk tunes, but I suspect most do.
The point is moot in a way, because fans do love the band. My jumping on point was '12's Local Business LP, but the band is 4 albums-plus in with a song cycle about the Monitor & the Merimack already in.
Local Business was a fine album which shows the potential this band has. I don't think TMLT is the height of that potential. It still feels like a band putting some stuff together on the creative climb up.
It is pretty good. Like Local Business, it recalls a Joe Strummer led Clash circa Give Em Enough Rope. The band is a bit of a chameleon, though, which is one of their strengths, though also may be holding them back.
Though when I say chameleon, it is one firmly stick in 77. When the band doesn't sound like the Clash, they sound like Elvis Costello and the Stiff bands of that era circa My Aim is True; and when it doesn't sound like either, but it does sound like the FM rock of that day- specifically Springsteen circa Darkness on the Edge of Town or possibly even Thin Lizzy around those same years.
As a nod to some of the other influences of the band, there is a cover of the early Pogues song "A Pair of Brown Eyes"
So in the baseball parlance, this isn't a home run, but it is an extra base hit. Nothing wrong with that. It's solid. I just think the band has it in them to deliver a bonafide genre classic, just have to wait a bit longer.
They are an interesting dichotomy. On one hand their music can only be described as punk (in the classic British 77 version), loud blasts of energy; yet the other side is this band that wants to make long multi-act rock operas with intros and outros and all that nonsense you usually only find in prog bands.
It is interesting in that given their genre and their style, I can't imagine all that many fans really take those ambitions seriously. The band probably wishes we got all five acts of the new album The Most Lamentable Tragedy (29 tracks! 93 minutes!) and not just think of it as a collection of punk tunes, but I suspect most do.
The point is moot in a way, because fans do love the band. My jumping on point was '12's Local Business LP, but the band is 4 albums-plus in with a song cycle about the Monitor & the Merimack already in.
Local Business was a fine album which shows the potential this band has. I don't think TMLT is the height of that potential. It still feels like a band putting some stuff together on the creative climb up.
It is pretty good. Like Local Business, it recalls a Joe Strummer led Clash circa Give Em Enough Rope. The band is a bit of a chameleon, though, which is one of their strengths, though also may be holding them back.
Though when I say chameleon, it is one firmly stick in 77. When the band doesn't sound like the Clash, they sound like Elvis Costello and the Stiff bands of that era circa My Aim is True; and when it doesn't sound like either, but it does sound like the FM rock of that day- specifically Springsteen circa Darkness on the Edge of Town or possibly even Thin Lizzy around those same years.
As a nod to some of the other influences of the band, there is a cover of the early Pogues song "A Pair of Brown Eyes"
So in the baseball parlance, this isn't a home run, but it is an extra base hit. Nothing wrong with that. It's solid. I just think the band has it in them to deliver a bonafide genre classic, just have to wait a bit longer.
