REVIEW: The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus

   

    When Titus Andronicus announced The Most Lamentable Tragedy, the question wasn't whether it would be good, it was how good. The band has proved itself to be incredibly consistent over the past three albums, minus some minor ups and downs. The Airing of Grievances was great, The Monitor was incredible, and Local Business was good. TMLT features some of the band's best and most interesting material, but its spread so thin. The album is fantastic at points but tiresome at others, which makes for an inconsistent, but great listen.

    The first thing that makes itself apparent about the album is its length. TMLT is 93 minutes, compared to The Monitor's 65 minutes. To give an idea of how long this is compared to other rock operas, the Who's Quadrophenia and Pink Floyd's The Wall are both 81 minutes. TMLT is 12 minutes longer than these already long albums. To pay attention to an album for 93 minutes is an incredible feat, even if the music is fantastic. While most of the material on this album is fantastic and keeps the listener's attention, not all of it does. The experimental drone tracks are interesting, but don't work too well in the album. The tracks "Sun Salutation" and "Auld Lang Syne" are interesting in theory, but break up the flow of the album. The silent "Intermission" track works better than expected, even if it's unbelievably pretentious. 

     Besides these weak tracks that are mentioned above, almost every song is fantastic. "No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant" features incredibly knotty instrumental break-downs that are relatively new sounding for the band. The Eastern-influenced "More Perfect Union" is an epic exploration of family. "(S)HE SAID/(S)HE SAID" is one of the best songs on the album, even if it's four minutes too long. "I'm Going Insane" is one of Titus's best songs, despite its repetitive lyrics. "Into The Void (Filler)" is anything but filler and it features some of the best guitar and bass riff's in the band's discography. 

    Titus Andronicus seems to be trying a lot of different things of this album, some which succeeds and some of it fails. The idea of doing a very personal rock opera was an interesting one, but between bad mixing and growled vocals, it's hard to keep up with the story. It's possible to grasp moments of the story after repeated listens, but repeated listens are hard when the album is this long. Some of the tracks on the album don't work, but for the most part the band has created some incredible tracks that sound like classic Titus songs, but still fresh and new. This album comes close to the masterpiece it might have been, but its flaws are just too glaring to ignore. I'm going to give this album 8/10 stars for being mostly fantastic, but seriously flawed at other points.

BEST TRACKS: "No Future Part IV: No Future Triumphant", "I'm Going Insane", "Into The Void (Filler)"

★★★★★★★★☆☆

MUSIC: Eagles Of Death Metal Release New Single

The Eagles of Death Metal have release their first new song since 2008, entitled "Complexity". The single will appear on the band's upcoming album, Zipper Down. The single is a fun, catchy number that the band does so well. Listen to it here!

NEWS: RATATAT Announce New Album

RATATAT have announced a new album, entitled Magnifique, It will come out July 17th on XL as their first album in five years. The fantastic "Cream On Chrome" will be on the album, along with the "Intro" track the band shared about a week ago. Check out "Cream On Chrome" and the tracklisting below!

1. Intro
2. Cream on Chrome
3. Magnifique
4. Abrasive
5. Countach
6. Drift
7. Pricks of Brightness
8. Nightclub Amnesia
9. Cold Fingers
10. Supreme
11. Rome
12. Primetime
13. I Will Return
14. Outro

NEWS/MUSIC: Titus Andronicus Announce New Album, Release New Single

Titus Andronicus have announced a new album, called The Most Lamentable Tragedy, due out July 28th on Merge. The band also released a single called "Dimed Out" (embedded below), which is another great punk anthem that the band does so well. The album is going to be a 29-track rock opera about a "transformative odyssey", which makes me incredibly excited for this album.

REVIEW: Foil Deer by Speedy Ortiz

    Speedy Ortiz's music is as sharp as a blade. Tangled and distorted guitars intertwine with Sadie Dupuis's trenchant lyrics. It makes sense then that a central theme of their sophomore album is blades. In the first track, "Good Neck", Sadie sings, "Watch your back, because baby's good with a blade". On "Dot X" Sadie warns, "Don’t ever touch my blade, you fool, you’ll be cursed for a lifetime". Major Arcana was a mostly live record about breaking up, but this time around, the band is on the attack. Everything that was was fantastic about their first record returns on this incredible follow-up, yet they manage to bring some new sounds to the table which work well for the most part. Through lyrical and musical progression, the band is able to set themselves apart from the 90's bands they were continuously compared to after their debut and create an incredible piece of art.

    Foil Deer was recorded after Sadie received a MFA in poetry UMass Amherst and with a better recording atmosphere than Major Arcana. These two factors give the album a much bigger feeling. The album changes moods and style often, while Major Arcana largely stayed in the same territory. The best example of this musical agility is the track "Homonovus". At the beginning of the track, the  guitar is quietly knotting around Sadie's vocals, but as the track goes on, the guitar gets louder and louder, until it reaches an incredibly discordant climax. The opener of the album also achieves this build-up, but it's less sudden and extreme than on "Homonovus". 

   Even though Speedy Ortiz does discordant and noisy extremely well, the band also shines on their slower moments. "Zig" starts out with just Sadie and acoustic guitar. This intimate moment is reminiscent of when Speedy Ortiz was a solo project on "The Death of Speedy Ortiz", but the track then builds into a great rock track. The track "My Dead Girl" also shows the softer side of the band through dense and mysterious lyrics delivered in a haunting manor. Closing track, "Dvrk Wvrld", one of the best tracks on the album, features Sadie's most personal vocal delivery ever. When she says "I think I take too many, this one’s the last for a while", it's impossible to not feel sympathy for her, despite not knowing what she's talking about.

   Despite all of the albums strong suits, there are some minor things that make this record just miss perfection. The three track progression of "Homonovus", "Puffer", and "Swell Content", while all fantastic on their own, lack consistency. "Homonovus" is nosier than anything the band has every done, "Puffer" is a funky R&B track, and then "Swell Content" is almost pop-punk. At moments in Major Arcana, it can be hard to tell when one track ends and another begins, so the band has shown how cohesive they can be. Because of the risks and experiments this album takes, it lacks the incredible cohesion of their previous record. I'm going to give this record 9/10 stars for surpassing their previous full length in every way except cohesion. 

BEST TRACKS: "The Graduates", "Dot X", "Homonovus". "Zig", "Ginger", "Dvrk Wvrld"

★★★★★★★★★☆ 

MUSIC: Crystal Castles Return With New Single

When Alice Glass announced she was leaving the band last year, many assumed that Crystal Castles were done. The single above seems to indicate that the band is definitely not broken up. It's a great song to return on I'm excited to hear more from the band.

MUSIC: Ratatat Release New Single!?!

Ratatat's Youtube channel has just posted the video above. It seems to be a new single from the band called "Cream On Chrome", but there is no information about it anywhere. This groovy track is the first thing the band has put out in five years. Enjoy it and hopefully we get some more info shortly.

EDIT: Pitchfork reports that this is an official release. No other information has been given.