Subtitulo...

That's the title of Josh Rouse's new record and I won't be intimidated by certain friends into denying my love for Josh's music or this record. I know, I know a Josh Rouse post and a Rhett Miller post within a week of one another. I can hear the cries of sellout, middle aged, soft underbelly, romantic, pouring down from the bleachers. But fuck, c'mon, this a good record. I'm not going to say that musical history has been rewritten or anything but it's better than Nashville and has moments just as strong as anything on 1972 and I love that record. I think the fact that Rouse has made a record that incorporates elements of all his best recorded moments is what charms me about this record. You can hear the folk elements fo Under Cold Blue Stars, the white boy funk of 1972 and a touch of the country rock that was done so well on the 3 best songs on Nashville. Of course there's a certain overt simplicity that gets to be a bit tiresome here and there. This is particularly true lyrically for Rouse. I find myself alternately won over by his simple meditations on love, small towns, and girls got away and pushed away by their triteness. All in all I've been spending a lot of time with this record which must mean it strikes a chord with me somewhere. I've been playing this one a lot lately:

from Subtitulo:

His Majesty Rides