Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living With The Living

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, "A Bottle of Buckie" (YSI link)

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, "La Costa Brava" (YSI link)

Sorry for the slower posting, but I've been sick as a dog and working on a few other projects. Things'll be picking up again now, I'm going to try to emphasize some recent(ish) albums that I've been meaning to post about for weeks. Through a combination of my own forgetfulness and the sheer quantity of great music out there, I tend to fall behind on the indie scene. I can't think of a better person to start with in looking at that scene than the one and only Ted Leo.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists have a new album out, Living With The Living, and it's another great release. It's standard Leo fare - consistent, almost no filler, pop punk with some soul and reggae influences. While listening to it last night, I came to the conclusion that I've always compared him to the wrong person. Since being introduced to his music a few years back, I've always referenced Billy Bragg. While that's not a ridiculous comparison, I think that a more apt one is Elvis Costello. Something about this album made this comparison crystal clear. Maybe it's the great backing bands, or the perfect power pop sounds, or that wonderful ability to blend the poltical with the personal. I'm sure it's a combination of those things, but I hope that it will interest even more people in Leo's music.

-Not sure if you've been following this fake controversy over Nancy Pelosi, but it's been a perfect example of how pathetic the media has become over the last decade. Media Matters has been all over this, make sure to take a look at this takedown of CNN, which has willingly gone into the same gutter as Fox. Shit's disgusting mang.

-Speaking of pieces of shit, Don Imus may finally have pushed too far. Here's a transcript of his recent racist remarks on the Rutgers women's basketball team, a.k.a. "the nappy headed hoes." Ugly stuff. He's been helped out by his buddies in the media like Howard Fineman and Thomas Oliphant, who should come under the same pressure as Imus. Digby seems to have the right take on Imus, sad that more people didn't speak up when he would make anti-Semitic comments all these years.

-Finally, take a look at the biggest shit of all, Bill O'Reilly, going crazy at Geraldo Rivera on his own show and Geraldo completely destroys him in the argument. Oliver Wills has the background on the story, just to ram home what an awful person O'Reilly is.