Ted Leo & The Pharmacists @ The Black Cat
In a year that saw its fair share of Springsteen-inspired punk, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists might be one of the few bands that can hold their own in such weighty lineage. If Springsteen mesmerizes tens of thousands as a workhorse of the arena, Leo's gregarious charisma and sweat-drenched performances are entrenched in the glory of packed, low-lit clubs. Over the course of a marathon 20+ songs at the Black Cat on Thursday, Leo even put on his best Bruce affectation to rally the troops, encouraging them to hold on just a little longer -- though the receptive crowd didn't need any prodding. With his anarcho-inspired t-shirt and faux–faux hawk (words cannot aptly describe his current do), he led the Pharmacists through a career-spanning set that included the standards (“Timorous Me,” “Me and Mia,” “Little Dawn”) but emphasized the forthcoming album, The Brutalist Bricks, to be released on Matador in March.
Leo's been threatening a punk-centric, Buzzcocks inspired sound for about a year, and the new material makes good on this promise. "The Mighty Sparrow" and "Where Was My Brain?" have been played out for the better part of a year and already feel like staples. A few other new songs deviate even further from type. One of the most exciting was "Cork and Bottle," a singsong ode to the drink, highlighting Leo's narrative abilities (a la Squeeze). "One Polaroid a Day," which saw its TLRX live debut only one night earlier in Philly, still felt shaky. The song's 70s AM Gold keyboard felt almost as foreign as the cheesy blinking lights accompanying it, Leo grimacing at the impromptu flourish.
Though the District can only partially claim Leo as a native son, his roots to the city, musical or otherwise, are profound. How many other bands rouse Alec MacKaye on stage twice in two years? Or employ Ian MacKaye as an emergency guitar tech when a string breaks?
Another District native son, fresh off a Three Stars turn earlier this week, Title Tracks warmed up the house for TLRX. The band's economical set served as a teaser for its forthcoming debut album, It Was Easy, due out in February on Ernest Jenning Record Co. The album's first single, featuring "Every Little Bit Hurts" and "Found Out" -- released on Dischord earlier this year -- saw taut bursts of bubble-gum reminiscent of the sunny disposition that singer/songwriter John Davis showed in the recently defunct Georgie James.
Title Tracks's approach is one of studied craftsmanship, with Davis focusing on the simplistic complexity of the three-chord pop song. His enormous appetite for styles and influences -- the band has already covered everyone from Bruce Springsteen to The Flamin' Groovies to Otis Redding -- was readily apparent in the mix. One Title Tracks song even showed a slight resemblance to the iconic introduction of Tom Petty's "American Girl. Live, nothing from It Was Easy captures the same jaunty punch of the two-song single; for all of the band's parsimonious melody, its choruses can be unusually meek. Surely bassist Michael Cotterman, formerly of the pop-punk band The Loved Ones, must know the importance of a well-placed vocal harmony. Can a brother get a mic?
It has been quite some time since Brooklyn's Radio 4 connected with the world. Back in 2002, the band caused a minor sensation with Gotham!, an album that repackaged the funky bass and angular guitar of late 70s post-punk for a new audience. Its immediate success led to an ill-fated flirtation with the majors, including 2004's much-maligned Stealing of Nation, followed by 2006's Enemies Like This. The band has taken pains to move away from the stymieing dance-punk label with each release, but Radio 4's latest, reverb-heavy brand of college rock sounds equally stale. Radio 4's set included just one song from old days, a slightly revamped "Calling All Enthusiasts" -- its lyrical plea for urgency sounding more like a cry for help than a call to arms.
