A couple of days ago, Michaelangelo put up a note on his Tumblr blog, quoting a wonderfully pretentious line from the new Ted Leo and the Pharmacists album, The Brutalist Bricks. Sometimes I find myself in the mood for a good piece of pretentious nonsense, so I gave the album a spin on Rhapsody (yes, I know that’s an anachronism–sue me). It more than met any expectations Michael had created. It’s just about the funniest collection of late ’70s new wave cliches I’ve heard since, oh, the late ’70s. I was especially fond of the song that shifts from a Nick Lowe rip into an Elvis Costello rip and then back again. The Jam rip may be even better, since it not only lifts their music, but their overwrought political phrase slinging as well. All that’s missing is a cod reggae track. It’s all so intensely sincere. I haven’t laughed so hard at a record in months.
But then, tonight, I’m looking at The AV Club, and I see they’ve reviewed the album and given it a B+. Hmm. Fair enough, I think, but what kind of B+? An honorable B+, or a somewhat cynical, this gets a fairly high grade because it’s so wonderfully ridiculous B+? I was expecting the latter, but surprisingly, what I got was the former. The reviewer, who I’m not familiar with, considers it a good, if not great album. Even more surprising was the comments section. The AV Club has some the snootiest, most cynical commenters on the web, and in the case of this particular piece of flapdoodle I thought they would deliver their best. Instead I got oodles of Ted Leo love, including sincere comparisons to The Drive-By Truckers (huh?), Yo Lo Tengo (as if), and The Clash (oh, fuck you). I expected cynics, and found fanboys—fanboys who can’t tell the difference between Ted Leo and The Clash.
I’m not upset or surprised by this so much as confused. Actually, I’m not even confused, just stunned once again by further evidence that whoever it was that said 90% of everything is crap was referring to the audience, as well. 90% of the audience is crap. There. I’ve said it, and I’m glad.
(Oh, and critics, too. Don’t forget the critics.)
