I’ve listened to this about 1,000 times. Don’t know if it’s the go-for-the-throat vocals, the clever Springsteen ref, or the Dinosaur Jr. guitars, but I’ve been completely captivated by a band I wrote off after their debut. ‘The Monitor’ blows away anything I remember from ‘The Airing of Grievances,’ which isn’t saying much, since I remember about zero from the latter. I may need to revisit that one.
Forgive me for being turned off by a lackluster performance at Johnny Brenda’s once. There was a stretch where every hyped indie act I saw proved disappointing on any level. Pretty sure they opened for the Ponys. I’m still recovering from that experience.
Suffice it to say that I have a very sensitive BS detector when it comes to bands that fall into that category of new truth in indie rock, but Titus Andronicus have defied all expectations. Solid. I mean, who even releases a sophomore album anyone pays attention to anymore? Congrats, dudes.