Local Business
*Local Business*’s opening lyrics are: “Okay, I think by now we’ve established that everything is inherently worthless, and there’s nothing in the universe with any kind of objective purpose.” It’s grim to read, but when performed it sounds like life-affirming rock \'n\' roll meant to crush such existential dread. Patrick Stickles has a lot to say, and he’s not afraid to bare his own insecurities and personal frustrations while he’s at it. Eating disorders, consumerism, nihilism, and the absurdities of human nature are explored from various angles. Yet Stickles can pull it off and make his point of view thought-provoking, relatable, and even funny due to his odd mix of hopelessness and lust for life. *Local Business*, Titus Andronicus\' third full-length, isn\'t a concept album like the Civil War–themed *The Monitor*, but it\'s ambitious in its own right. Rather than featuring a large group of revolving musicians as before, here the band is stripped down to five members: three ragged, crunching guitars and a steady drum-and-bass rhythm section. The sound is tightened up and tough, with fist-pumping choruses and sharp tempo breaks. This is workingman’s punk delivered with a jolt.
Flying the banner of punk, Titus Andronicus' third album sounds like something knocked out immediately by five guys in a room and captured on tape without the need for narration, a brass section, or multiple tempo changes.
"I know the world's a scary place/that's why I hid behind a hairy face," sings now beardless Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles in "My Eating Disorder."
Titus Andronicus has always had ambitions exceeding that of most punk bands. They're just as likely to make an album about a Civil War ship (The Monitor) as they are to write a song featuring a poop joke (the amazingly-titled "Still Life with Hot Deuce on
Literate rock from the New Jersey band you probably haven't already heard of. CD review by Lisa-Marie Ferla