“In A Big City” - Titus Andronicus

This post was inevitable, as is the following flood of random observations I have concerning this new Titus Andronicus video and all the semi-related subjects. I’ll try to control myself.

The Isaac Ravishankara-directed video itself: pretty great. Beardless Stickles looks more grown-up, and, after the initial shock of  the beard loss, I find it quite fitting. Also, the man still looks super-serious and more than a little prickly and pissed off. He sells the face shot-heavy video. The video really picks up at the end, when the quick-switch between face shots ties itself to the song’s beat, when the song itself is subtly gearing up for its excellent climax. 

As for the aptly-titled, toned-down (compared to The Monitor) Local Business, it’s similarly sneaky; a smartly stark departure from The Monitor, it could be said. A review of that possibly coming soon. Also, apparently Grantland is in the business of premiering music reviews. As I quite enjoy Steve Hyden’s music reviews (including one of this very album), I am quite okay with that.

Minimal tangents and rambling. 

- Tyler Hanan

“In a Big City” - Titus Andronicus

Ah yes, the highly-hyped, dirty punkers Titus Andronicus return. Though it’ll be curious to see how they follow up an album as ambitious as The Monitor, first single and album opener “In a Big City” is a fun first taste of Local Business (out October 22nd on XL). Paired with a lyric video surpassing the low bar set by most others, the track seems to be just that - a taste. Though we have two (great) songs now, is there really any way we can predict what else Stickles and Co. will do on the other eight tracks? “The Monitor” was a whole even greater than the sum of its (also great) parts - it’ll be interesting to see how different, how new, Local Business will be. For now, this is pretty awesome. 

Edit: Also, check out the just-announced fall tour dates with the similarly excellent punkers Ceremony. The tour will include an exclusive split 7” featuring this song and the Ceremony track “Everything Burns.” [link]

- Tyler Hanan