I guess some people like music like this
I saw Titus Andronicus open for Bomb the Music Industry Sunday night. And it occurred to me that they were one of the few bands I've seen live that had no redeeming qualities. If I can make some statements that nobody will care about and are probably false:
- they take the punk out of punk
- they take the rock out of rock and roll
They didn't play in tune, they took 45 minutes to set up, the lead singer talked a minimum of 5, often 10, minutes between each song. These talks were anything from irrelevant political ramblings to uninteresting facts about Lou Reed's Berlin album and the kind of musings that really jerk off an audience of Brooklyn hipsters who primarily were under 21 and many around 18. They all look like Rivers Cuomo. I hate to say it but you can often size up a band by what the members look like. The main musical concern is that I don't think they have any concept of themselves. That is to say that their music sounds like 90's punk, but played much worse than any 90's punk band. Their guitar solos sound like 90's rock, but played worse than J. Mascis or Ted Leo for that matter. Their slow jams sound like southern folk-rock, but played worse than Laura Stevenson who played just before them and played many slow jams and sounded incredible. She played a new song, a lot slower than the one I linked here. And yet, they are kind of famous! People know them. They know the words. Jeff Rosenstock personally invited them to open for BTMI. It's a concern of mine and I don't fully understand it. If someone asked me (and people often do) "what is indie rock?" or "who is an indie rock band?" I would respond (if I wanted to be real negative about it) by saying generic rock music played in Brooklyn, NY. Check out Titus Andronicus cause they sound like everybody and like nothing.
I'm usually not so negative or at least don't fucking care enough to say anything bad about anyone. This blog is meant to bring listening pleasure to myself and whoever's bored enough to read it. But hey, I'm allowed to hate and I'm sorry if you like them. I'm sure there's a lot in their music that I just don't get and it's my fault for being too closed minded and judgmental.
I saw Titus Andronicus open for Bomb the Music Industry Sunday night. And it occurred to me that they were one of the few bands I've seen live that had no redeeming qualities. If I can make some statements that nobody will care about and are probably false:
- they take the punk out of punk
- they take the rock out of rock and roll
They didn't play in tune, they took 45 minutes to set up, the lead singer talked a minimum of 5, often 10, minutes between each song. These talks were anything from irrelevant political ramblings to uninteresting facts about Lou Reed's Berlin album and the kind of musings that really jerk off an audience of Brooklyn hipsters who primarily were under 21 and many around 18. They all look like Rivers Cuomo. I hate to say it but you can often size up a band by what the members look like. The main musical concern is that I don't think they have any concept of themselves. That is to say that their music sounds like 90's punk, but played much worse than any 90's punk band. Their guitar solos sound like 90's rock, but played worse than J. Mascis or Ted Leo for that matter. Their slow jams sound like southern folk-rock, but played worse than Laura Stevenson who played just before them and played many slow jams and sounded incredible. She played a new song, a lot slower than the one I linked here. And yet, they are kind of famous! People know them. They know the words. Jeff Rosenstock personally invited them to open for BTMI. It's a concern of mine and I don't fully understand it. If someone asked me (and people often do) "what is indie rock?" or "who is an indie rock band?" I would respond (if I wanted to be real negative about it) by saying generic rock music played in Brooklyn, NY. Check out Titus Andronicus cause they sound like everybody and like nothing.
I'm usually not so negative or at least don't fucking care enough to say anything bad about anyone. This blog is meant to bring listening pleasure to myself and whoever's bored enough to read it. But hey, I'm allowed to hate and I'm sorry if you like them. I'm sure there's a lot in their music that I just don't get and it's my fault for being too closed minded and judgmental.
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