The Monitor

Released

I heard this album for the first time when I was 18 and I really can’t think of a better age to discover it. The Monitor is Jersey punks Titus Andronicus’ second album, but every note is wrung out and hollered like it could be their last. Framing a breakup through the lens of getting really, really into the history of The American Civil War is a preposterous endeavor, but frontman Patrick Stickles weaves tales of melancholic self-loathing and paranoia with the same precision as the editors of a Ken Burns documentary. The songs are big, angry, tearful, with sections for any young person to exhume their heartache to — screaming along with “you will always/be a loser/you will always/be a loser” with the windows down going 70 on 17, ears ringing long after the acceptance is joyfully bellowed — “and that’s OK”.

Amelia Riggs

Suggestions
Thee Black Boltz cover

Thee Black Boltz

Babatunde Adebimpe
L.A.M.F. cover

L.A.M.F.

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Replica Sun Machine cover

Replica Sun Machine

The Shortwave Set
Chateau Revenge cover

Chateau Revenge

The Silver Seas
Clarity cover

Clarity

Jimmy Eat World
Cease to Begin cover

Cease to Begin

Band of Horses