Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

The one thing I hate about talking to people about music is the introduction. "What kind of music do you like?" My first instinct is to start spouting off artists, but I know that isn't what they want to hear. They're looking for genres. And frankly, I never have had a favorite genre. Maybe not even a favorite sub-genre. But recently, I began to develop an answer to this question. The Best Genre Award goes to "punk bands that rip off Springsteen".

But Titus Andronicus aren't your average Brucepunk band, and they aren't your average hipsters. They don't care much for writing poignant narratives about boys and girls and their artistic endeavors. And lyricist Patrick Stickles isn't the umpteenth incarnation of Jack Kerouac. No, they're far more interested in writing sprawling concept albums about the Civil War.

There'll be no more counting the cars on the Garden State parkway
Nor waiting for the Fung Wah bus to carry me to who-knows-where

That lyric comes from opener "A More Perfect Union", a masterpiece both musically and lyrically, and a serious contender for my favorite song of 2010 so far. I don't like to throw the word "epic" around, especially since its awkward recent integration with real life, pseudo-clever high school kids, but The Monitor is certainly worthy of the prestigious (albeit overused) term. There's a total of two tracks under five minutes long, both of which are little more than battle cries, and fourteen-minute closer "The Battle of Hampton Roads" has a bagpipe solo.

A bagpipe solo.

From start to finish, The Monitor is a mess of stirring sing-a-longs and euphoric celebrations of paranoia, coming together to create what very well might be the best record 2010 currently has to offer. I'd like to think I speak for all fans of the band when I say this... Titus Andronicus forever!