Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Brutalist Bricks (Matador, March release)

God, how did I get to be so old? The first time I heard Ted Leo was 11 years ago. I was crashing on my friend John's couch just off-campus, and his pink haired Asian girlfriend brought over a copy of tej leo(?), Rx/pharmacists and we all got stoned and listened to it. Shortly after this first record was cut, Leo already had a cult following, but I remember being underwhelmed. I just flat-out didn't get the record. It was sometime the next year, when Treble in Trouble was released that Ted Leo started to make sense to me. Once I could relate to his music better, through the more straight-forward pop punk/indie rock sensibilities of this second record, the appeal of his first release made more sense. Ever since then, I've been unabashedly fond of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

The Brutalist Bricks, which is Leo's first release on Matador Records, is probably my favorite album of the year so far. Lately I've been missing Elvis Costello's 70s/80s releases so an album that is so redolent of Costello/Joe Jackson influences really hits a sweet spot for me. It's Ted Leo's most polished work to date, and the best indie pop album I've heard in a long time.

Leo has always worn his influences on his sleeve, but at the same time Brutalist Bricks retains a resolute integrity. Which is review-speak for saying that even though he's happy to give credit where credit is due, Ted Leo would still slap the taste out of your mouth if you suggested his work was anything other than singular and intensely personal. Lyrically, the album is clever without being facile, and introspective without being hamfisted.

I get the distinct impression that this is one of those few albums that, in five or ten years, you'll be able to listen to and say "Oh, right. That's what it meant to live through that late, unlamented era." "Even Heroes Have to Die" closes with "Hidden in the writing on the wall/Many are the beauties of the fall."