– Slant Magazine
Release Date: 08 March 2010
Genre: Punk / Alternative Rock / Indie
Publisher: (C) 2010 Matador Records Limited
Label: Matador Records
Time: 45m 05s
Review Date: 08-November-2011
Format: CD
JivePK: Not currently a Jivewired Member
Find it at:
Amazon | iTunes | Matador Records
Track Listing:
01. The Mighty Sparrow 2:37
02. Mourning In America 2:59
03. Ativan Eyes 4:22
04. Even Heroes Have To Die 3:46
05. The Stick 1:57
06. Bottled Up In Cork 3:18
07. Woke Up Near Chelsea 3:51
08. One Polaroid A Day 4:10
09. Where Was My Brain? 2:19
10. Bartolomeo And The Buzzing Of Bees 3:21
11. Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop 2:26
12. Gimme The Wire 2:55
13. Last Days 3:45
Review:
Sometime in the future, we may look back at Ted Leo's legacy as a galvanizing force for the indie underground, smashing indie's shoegazing standstill with a veracious intensity that will leave some poor sap somewhere off indie's beaten path too embarrassed to be that one guy still not dancing or singing along. At some point, being uncool stops being sneaky cool and really becomes ostentatiously uncool. Ted Leo is here to save you from yourself. I think we all owe him a debt of gratitude for that. That being said, in the here and now, this album is, plainly put, helplessly addictive.
Seeing as this review is coming about 16 months too late, I'll cut right to the chase: If you are into early Elvis Costello or The Kinks, or Nick Lowe when he truly was a basher, you will love Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and you will love this album. Musically speaking, this album is almost perfect. You shouldn't waste any time. Go to one of the links above and download "The Brutalist Bricks" and you can listen while you read my review. This album slipped beneath my radar, shame on me, but on the plus side, if you missed it too, you get the opportunity to unearth a hidden treasure. I'll even make you a guarantee: If you like your indie punk with a cool retro feel that doesn't come off as too garage, you will absolutely love this album, and if you don't, I will buy it from you for full purchase price.
"The Brutalist Bricks" is a smart combination of punk, folk and soul with slick retro-hooks piled upon even more piles of slick retro-hooks. Packed with both blistering and stimulating guitar solos, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists remain a combustible ball of energy fueled by expansive soundscapes and an ebullient sense of pace and texture. The songs are lyrically impassioned and relevant but do well to make their points and move on. Too often politically charged music becomes almost sermon-like. Ted Leo gives you an album chock full of topical think pieces, but they're the PSA versions; short, sweet and to the point, leaving his indelible commentary to spend the day with you.
The whole package is quite irresistible, and it's Leo's music that will ultimately grab and hold you. That's because Ted Leo has an incredible ear for melody, hence the comparisons to early Elvis Costello. In fact, "The Brutalist Bricks" reminds me of my personal discovery of Costello's "Armed Forces" in 1979, an album that changed my musical tastes forever. Bestowing that notoriety on this album would probably be a bit far-fetched but it does compare favorably, and if the guitar solo and bridge on "Bartolomeo And The Buzzing Of Bees" doesn't elicit a similar response from you I'd be shocked and surprised. Putting comparisons aside, which really only serve as a frame of reference anyway, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this album is uniquely Ted Leo's. Let me be clear about one thing: "The Brutalist Bricks" compares favorably because Leo is equally talented, and not because this album sounds like anyone or anything that preceded it.
The album kicks off with an absolute juggernaut, "The Mighty Sparrow" and rarely slows down or pauses to catch it's breath. In fact, the first five songs are propulsive punk anthems that could literally cut glass. But it is the five-song sequence that starts with "Bottled Up In Cork" and ends with "Bartolomeo And The Buzzing Of Bees" that is the highlight of this LP. "Bottled Up In Cork" is a raging social commentary cleverly hidden in an upbeat, poppy arrangement that works incredibly well. "Woke Up In Chelsea" is a no-holds-barred, angst-ridden social commentary that works equally well, with a guitar solo that is a veritable nuclear assault to boot. "Where Was My Brain?" is frenzied and unbridled chaos.
I have nothing negative to say about this album other than the song "Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop" seems dreadfully out of place. It's hard to say if it is a good song or not because it feels like a wrong turn or a temporary detour. But Leo follows it with two very strong songs to close out the album -- "Gimme The Wire" and "Last Days". Likewise, every other song on "The Brutalist Bricks" is above average or better. Assuming that Leo's academic or socio-political rationale hasn't impeded your aural pleasure points, you'll feel the urge to get up, dance and sing along. Don't worry, it's all good. You'll still look and be cool. Ted Leo made it cool.
~ Michael Canter Jivewired.com
About Ted Leo & The Pharmacists:
Anyone who was lucky enough to see Ted Leo and the Pharmacists live over the last year or so got an advance preview of some of the songs that make up THE BRUTALIST BRICKS. I was at a more than a few of those shows, and let me just say that as someone who has witnessed some of the most important rock shows in the last twenty-plus years* I could not believe what my eyes were seeing and my ears were hearing.
So many times bands play ‘the new stuff’ and it’s time to pull out the old iPhone and check your fantasy basketball stats. But these songs sent a shock of genuine excitement through the crowd, as if the band was cranking out an old favorite like “Me and Mia” or “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?”. I was even a little suspicious - you know how when you see a band and they play something so good that it just has to be a cover? That’s how I felt about hearing “Where Was My Brain?” and “Bottled In Cork” for the first time. Surely these were not new songs!
But when Ted Leo himself told me post-show that they were among the new stuff, I knew what I had to do. I sat the band down, looked them in the eye and said with songs like that on deck, the new Ted Leo and the Pharmacists record was theirs to lose and they better not mess it up.***
I am happy to say that they most certainly Brought It. From the opening facepunch of “The Mighty Sparrow” to the thank-you-goodnight stomp of “Last Days” THE BRUTALIST BRICKS is a ripper that distills all that TL/Rx have been working towards over the last decade into thirteen monster tracks.
I know what you’re saying – what makes it so great, loudmouth? Well, jerk, it starts with the songs. While I love all the preceding TL/Rx records like they were related to me, this baker’s dozen is inarguably the strongest batch that Ted has ever assembled. There are straight up HITS on this thing. From “One Polaroid A Day” to “Bottled In Cork” To “Even Heroes Have To Die” and beyond, this album is stuffed with straight-up capital C Classics.
But enough about Ted - how about the Pharmacists? Could they be more in the pocket?**** Chris Wilson’s drumming has never sounded better. Marty Key holds down the Thud Stick***** it owes him money. And James Canty is Mr. Everything, taking the songs to another level with his whipsmart guitar and keyboardings. Ted is the anchor, but the Pharmacists are the reason the whole thing crushes like it does.
As a fan of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, THE BRUTALIST BRICKS is everything I hoped they would bring to their Matador debut. It’s the intersection of songs and performance from a band that embodies the perfect synthesis of head and heart. Music is generally a case of individual taste, but if you don’t like this record the only thing I can think is that you’re wrong and kinda stupid and I don’t want anything to do with you.******
--Tom Scharpling (Famous Television Writer and Radio Host)
*Um, the first night of A.R.M.S Concert at Madison Square Garden, anyone?**
** What, you don’t remember the A.R.M.S. concert?! Clapton? Ron Wood? Jimmy Page doing songs from the DEATH WISH II soundtrack? Doesn’t the debut of what would become The Firm mean anything anymore?
*** I have since been told this is not how things ‘went down’.
**** No!
***** That’s right, the Thud Stick. You might know it as a bass guitar.
****** Unless you have a board tape of the December 9th 1983 A.R.M.S. concert? Anyone?
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