Pitchfork

When we first checked in with Titus Andronicus on Forkcast last July with "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey", they were ending the song's lengthy prologue with a defiant "Fuck! You!" before launching into the noisy, ramshackle main section. A lot has happened to them since, including a BNM nod last week for their full-length The Airing of Grievances, but this non-album track from the band's MySpace page shows they're just as foul-mouthed as ever. It begins modestly enough, with a tinkly chord progression on what sounds like a dusty and slightly out-of-tune upright, but the sentiment is barbed and the lyrics ooze frustration: "If you talk and no one's listening/ It's almost like being alone/ So it's all right, the way you piss and moan." Somehow, they turn these words into a sing-along.

Stream:> Titus Andronicus: "To Old Friends and New"
[from MySpace]