If Rolling Stone Magazine is to be trusted, this Friday night might be last chance you’ll have to see New Jersey-based band Titus Andronicus in the intimate environs of a Missoula nightclub.
Just a few weeks ago, the magazine named Titus Andronicus one of the best new bands of 2010, putting them in the company of past prescient predictions from that publication with regards to now-big names like TV on the Radio, Amy Winehouse, and MGMT.
Don’t trust Rolling Stone? Maybe you should take the word of the band’s label, XL, which is the imprint behind some of the biggest alternative acts of the day, including Vampire Weekend, Beck, M.I.A., and the White Stripes.
On the merits of the band’s recent punk-infused geek-rock concept album, “The Monitor” – where famous Civil War-era quotes and a few Bruce Springsteen references are employed to reflect on distinctly modern struggles with alienation, frustration and stagnation – the band suddenly finds itself the darling of the music press and blogosphere.
Allmusic.com raved about “The Monitor,” as did the New York Times, which called it a “a glorious, rambunctious, unsettling album.” Meantime, Pitchfork.com’s blogger at the band’s South By Southwest performance in Austin last month called them “easily the best band I’ve heard at SXSW. These songs exist to be played live.”
Alas, most of the live videos of the band’s performances that one can find online suck (in terms of video or audio quality). Here’s an edited ‘official’ video that at least appears to give a sense of the band’s live energy:
Even on the album, it”s easy to hear that songs like “Four Score and Seven” – with its pounding march beat and anthemic howls (“I was born to die just like a man”) – will pretty much rock your face off when the band plays the Palace this Friday, April 2. Joining them are local acts the Thug Nasties and Velcro Kicks. Admission is $5 ($7 if you’re between the ages of 18-20); at that price, you’d do well to show up early, as I can’t imagine the band won’t pack the place.
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