I've finally spent enough time with Titus Andronicus' 90 minute "epic" - The Most Lamentable Tragedy.
It... really isn't the kind of album you can listen to all in one chunk. I wouldn't even really recommend dumping the whole thing on your iPod either, because of all the interlude tracks. There are quite a few tracks on this album that are literal silence, or one or two notes extended out for minutes. The album is broken up into five acts, and these tracks serve as intros/cool-downs to them.
The best way I've found to listen to it is to just pop on one act (they range from 10 to 20 minutes each) and put it away for a while before listening to another. Maybe this album should have just been 5 EPs spaced out over a year instead. If you do cut out all the tone setting tracks, there is still about an hour of wild and crazy punk to enjoy. It's not a bad album, but definitely could have been composed in a more succinct and satisfactory manner.
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I also got HEALTH's new LP, DEATH MAGIC
Odd that both of these albums remind me of The Knife. The Titus release has way too much filler, with some great tracks in between (just like The Knife's Shaking The Habitual). DEATH MAGIC def has that abrasive dance style that makes me miss The Knife.
This is noise-rock mixed weird artsy dance music. The Knife def did it better, because their pop influences have more of a world music vibe. DEATH MAGIC is more like modern American big arena pop. I love how brutal and loud it sounds, and that it incorporates a genre that's so different. They don't do enough to spice up the pop music though. It still comes off as disposable, despite all the knobs turned up (just like Sleigh Bells at their worst). The vocals are stale, and the lyrics are pretty boring too. I'd much prefer this was an instrumental album.
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Oh yeah, and a handful of new reviews.
I get in depth about Hot Chip, Drenge, Refused, Towa Tei, and The Sonics here.
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