Titus Andronicus — A Productive Cough ANALYSIS & REVIEW

Published 03/14/2018

A part of me is sad and disappointed about this for strictly cheap sentimental reasons, only because I’ve happened to listen to this band’s stuff quite a bit for several years. That’s just a “me” thing, though, and there’s no real argument to it. I assure you that that small side of me does not find its way into my review or overall judgment of it at all. The rest of me is sad and disappointed because this work failed to come through in its already unsubstantial goal of drunken heftiness. Essentially, this is a work from a group of musicians who are obviously having fun with what they do, but either were not thoughtful enough in their ideas to make the work worthwhile, or they didn’t care about making it worthwhile in the first place. Either way, it came out as an unrefined, uncared for performance that’s really only suited for a live intimate drinking session with friends rather than a shared and marketed work for the public.

To be fair, nothing was awful. The group actually came up with more than the bare minimum for three chord structures, energetic builds, and some acceptable melodies that, at the very least, weren’t ever disgustingly boring or simple. While harmonic direction was mostly mundane, the songs “Crass Tattoo” and “Mass Transit Madness” were actually decent and exemplified at least some harmonic shape and motivic engagement.

However, the entirety of the album was completely lacking in one incredibly vital musical element: rhythm. Rhythm, ladies and gentlemen, is important. Hugely important. It’s one of the few agreed-upon fundamentals of music, and unless a musician is experimenting with unmetered drones and soundscapes, it’s essential that rhythm plays a role in delivering the music. There was not a trace of rhythm playing any sort of big role in these songs. The strumming patterns, the vocals, the drum beats, and even the brass additions were void of rhythmic worth. The down beat was pounded, the off-beat was non-existent, and the possible interesting musical ideas were reduced to being a slow march to the end of each song.

The lack of interesting rhythm also destroyed potentially interesting ideas about long forms, as every change felt like it came too late and every repeated phrase felt like it overstayed its welcome. If ever a songwriting checklist existed, rhythm would be one of the few boxes on there, and this band completely missed it. This was like baking a cake without flour. I can still enjoy some of the icing, along with a few spots coated in sugar, but it would have tasted much better overall had this essential ingredient been included.

This left the band’s sound, which was little more than a wash of electric guitar, a raspy voice, and shoved-in brass, as sadly the most consistently appreciative thing about this work. It drove a one-dimensional, alcohol-induced feeling into the ground, and while being rather numb with a lack of substantial purpose, the overall straightforward emotiveness was rather welcoming. This work didn’t suck, but it lacked a vital ingredient and an overall purpose.

One disclaimer I have is that I didn’t include their cover of “(I’m) Like a Rolling Stone” in scoring my three musical categories, with the reason being that it was basically just a re-recording at its core and wouldn’t have accurately reflected this album’s overall worth if its musical substance was weighed. It’s obviously one of the greatest songs ever written, and it certainly stuck out like a sore thumb here. It is reflected in my intangible influence score, as I take the whole work into account there, and with that I say that I thought its inclusion was a rather cheeky move in trying to bolster an underachieving work, to which it really can’t fool anyone. Hopefully Titus Andronicus, who have done admirably to keep punk rock alive, do better next time.