Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Label: Lookout!Genre: Pop, Rock
This one's unabashedly from the "New to Me" file. When I first heard of Ted Leo/Pharmacists about a year ago during a two-month stay in Washington D.C., I stayed away because the name sounded too much like some yokel cover band. But everyone around me seemed so pumped that the band was headlining the free concert at our humble film festival that I wandered by to check them out...and was duly impressed. Ted Leo serves D.C. well even if he doesn't live there anymore, calling on a falsetto'd agit-prop style that may remind you of D.C. indie godfather Ian MacKaye, yet the Pharmacists wrap Leo's personal-to-political vocals in a pop-inflected shell that's closer in sound to Capital City vets Unrest and Velocity Girl. The songs aren't coming to 3hive from straight out of the proverbial wrapper, but there's plenty of it for the taking (and more on their website), and if it's new to you too then all the better.
Biomusicology [MP3, 3MB, 96kbps]
Bleeding Powers [MP3, 2.1MB, 96kbps]
Congressional Dubcision [MP3, 3.9MB, 96kbps]
Criminal Piece [MP3, 2MB, 96kbps]
Ghosts [MP3, 1.4MB, 96kbps]
Loyalty to My Sorrowful Country [MP3, 1.8MB, 96kbps]
Me and Mia [MP3, 2.5MB, 96kbps]
www.tedleo.com
www.lookoutrecords.com
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Me and Mia, Timourous Me and Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone are essential to anyone trying to learn Ted Leo. I'm pretty sure they are all available on his website.
Posted by: Dylan at April 22, 2005 09:52 AM
How could I not include "Me and Mia," you ask? How? HOW? Uh, well, I just forgot, and, uh, I got lazy. Story of my life. It is there now, but there are still plenty more tracks on Ted's website, so head on over there once you're through here.
Posted by: Shan at April 22, 2005 11:50 AM
the song "timorous me" saved me on my sat's last year. "timorous" was a vocabulary word.
and i suppose it helps that mia is my best friend! :)
anyways, thank you so much. so so good. ted leo/rx are beyond amazing.
Posted by: katherine at April 22, 2005 02:11 PM
It's possible fans of the group all overestimate his popularity, and nobody thought them obscure enough for the drop box. But I think it's only since Shake the Sheets that they've really found his way into more popular indie currents.
The Lookout! site hosts more of his (arguably) better material: Under the Hedge, Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone, High Party. Lookout! obfuscates their media URLs to prevent outside linking, so go there yourself!
Thanks Shan.
Posted by: Kieran at April 22, 2005 10:38 PM
Sorry about that... didn't mean to sound mean or argumentative. Just a humble fan lobbying for their favorite Ted Leo/Pharmacists song. :)
Posted by: katybeth at April 24, 2005 01:53 PM
Yes, better later than never, but ted has been around for oh the last 10 years. Chisel anyone? Ted has been like the crown prince of indie-pop for a long time, and shake the sheets is brilliant despite it being released last summer! He is a dear friend of our label AceFu, as well as an ep with us! Thank you for finally including Ted in this blog!
Posted by: tai at April 27, 2005 02:28 PM
umm yeah i love them lol yeah right
Posted by: Abby at May 3, 2005 12:57 PM
I cant believe these girls..thinking they r sooo cool..i mean like come on every one that age wants to become famous...like me..im 13 and i really want to become famous...but do you see me being a star..i think not..i just wish i was..
Posted by: Abby at May 3, 2005 12:59 PM
poooopy lol
Posted by: poop at May 3, 2005 01:00 PM
I LOVE Ted Leo/Pharmacists, in fact I was just going to suggest this to you guys even though it isn't new... but you beat me to it! Oh, how I love 3hive. One thing though... HOW HOW HOW could you have overlooked "Me and Mia"??? IMO, it's the best of the downloads up on their site by far...
Posted by: katybeth at April 22, 2005 09:24 AM