Patrick Stickles

Titus Andronicus: Baby, we were born to die

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 | musiX | No Comments

A concept album loosely based on America’s bloodiest war? By a band named after Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy? Fucking count me in.

New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus brings us The Monitor (XL Recordings), a record that could have easily buried itself under all that angst and pretentiousness if it wasn’t so much fun. It works because the album perfectly skirts the very fine line between artiness and drunkenness (both of which bookend godliness). We get sloppy 2 a.m. singalongs, we get not-so-subtle references to the American Civil War and the Garden State’s favorite son (not this son), and we get heady lyrics delivered with melodramatic rancor (not this Rancor) by guitarist/vocalist/mastermind/beard devotee Patrick Stickles. It’s a punk rock record on which half of the songs clock in at over seven minutes (”The Battle of Hampton Roads” is an epic 14). Opener “A More Perfect Union” is the album’s defining moment—if you don’t get goosebumps while listening, place your middle and index fingers in the hollow of your neck and feel for a pulse.

Of course, no one had to convince me. The band’s debut The Airing of Grievances made TDoL’s 2008 year-end list, and the performance I caught that same year was a sweaty heap of rock ‘n’ roll fun (though the multiple guitarists failed to do anything more than just make things louder).

Titus Andronicus is currently on—wait for it—The Monitour, and is even offering free admission in exchange for a floor to crash on. Five intoxicated, unbathed rockers in your living space into the wee hours—sounds like a bloody good time.

“A More Perfect Union” - Titus Andronicus

Video for “A More Perfect Union”

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