Phat Pharm

I've been listening to a lot of Ted Leo + the Pharmacists these days. I discovered one of his prior albums, "The Tyranny of Distance," through Pitchfork or some similar site, and really liked it, but never bothered to pick up any additional albums. Which is stupid, because almost always, if I like one album by an artist, I'll like some of their other stuff.

And, wouldn't you know, Ted's newest album, "Shake the Sheets," is completely terrific. It sounds to me like what Blink 182 or Good Charlotte would sound like if they knew how to write songs and play their instruments. It's straight forward poppy punk, but with really clever, satirical lyrics and just fantastic guitar work.

The whole album features Ted's take on world events, the Iraq War in particular. But this isn't lame grandstanding like Paul McCartney's "Freedom" or maudlin captitalization on tragedy like Neil Young's "Let's Roll." It's a heartfelt, honest appraisal of world crisis, voiced by one of rock's best songwriters of the moment.

Leo's always had a way with hooks. "Tyranny of Distance" and "Hearts of Oak" both featured numerous, numerous catchy, loud, exciting fun tunes. "Timorous Me" on the former, in particular, tends to sneak its way onto my mix CD's and mp3 player rotation more often than not. But "Shake the Sheets" ranks as his best work to date, a rousing, engaging set of songs that hasn't grown old for me yet after over a dozen listens just this week.

I'm still debating whether or not to check out Leo's show tomorrow night at the El Rey. Tickets aren't on sale online at this point, leading me to suspect a sold-out situation. I could probably just show up and buy tickets at the door, but we're in a tough financial situation here these days at Crushed By Inertia. So, we're looking at two choices: go to the show or start selling off non-vital organs.

By the way, it turns out Leo's got a pretty good blog going as well. He references Homestar Runner, always a good way to earn my respect. And he's even willing to admit a fondness for Kelly Clarkson's latest single, "Since U Been Gone" (which is not a Prince cover, despite the extremely deceptive capitalized U in the title). Any professional musician brave enough to admit on their blog that they like ol' Dinosaur Arms is a blogger worth reading.