Is Ted Leo the Ben Folds Five of today?

Also: Piano. It makes things better.

Seriously, I don't consider that hyperbole either, the man just really knows how to write a song - passionate, yearning, exuberant, and believe it or not, even fun.

In fact, indie-rock doesn't come any funner.

He is very mancrush-worthy though, I'll admit that, not necessarily looks-wise so much as he just exudes down-to-earth likeability, kinda like Jon Stewart (my other mancrush fwiw)

Ben is all novelty goofy, while Ted just brings the songs home. Although Hillary makes a good point. He could stand to shave a minute off a lot of songs. Shake The Sheets wasn't as good as the two before, IMO.

Hmm. Ok.

I didn't actually mean this to be a TED LEO SUCKS thread, cuz Ben Folds Five is pretty ok.

honestly I have a hard time arguing this b/c Ted is just one of those guys I really can't imagine anyone not liking, maybe my ears are weird but when i put him on all i can think is "wow, this is fast and hooky and catchy and this guy can actually sing, and he does the falsetto thing and now he's yelling and now I'm yelling too."

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i'll concede his lyrics can be overwrought sometimes, but mostly i don't even know what he's saying cuz I'm so caught up in the songs.

Also, I am so not getting the catchy thing. Perhaps I am spoiled by stuff I think is much, much catchier.

My question was basically "does TL fill the same role as BF5 did?"

I thought he might because of these similarities:

- counterculture vibe
- famous, but kinda indie act
- not really on the radio (see above)
- vaguely (but safely) punk
- sensitive/earnest/nice
- atypical (for modern rock) instrumental bits
- "good lyrics"

Despite those last two, I mostly see the similarities as sociological or general aesthetic ones, rather than common musical traits. "Battle of Who Could Care Less" doesn't sound anything like "The High Party". But I wondered if high-school kids of today listen to Ted Leo in the same way that me and my nerdy-but-cool didn't-really-know-what-indie-was friends used to listen to Reinhold Messner.

(And Hillary, I totally agree with you on the "catchy" thing. When it comes to indie rock, though, "catchiness" seems to be very variable, person-to-person. I remember how my jaw hit the floor when Matt Perpetua said the Fiery Furnaces were catchy but the Arcade Fire weren't...)

How about when it comes to _everything_? It also makes you (read: me) want to punch people when they things are not catchy that are or that are when they are not (the latter to lesser extent). I got really rather heated in a discussion about the Descendents in this area (me = love; other people in the discussion = not so much).

admittedly 'ties to indie rock' is a stupid and ridiculous phrase, but i';m at work and my brain's fried.

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anyhow ted leo's got hooks, his songs are uptempo and not long, so that's about as 'catchy' as it gets in rock, nevermind indie rock. he's got indie cred galore, and popists repping for him on both coasts so i'm not sure how he's failing on either of those counts. much love from olympia and athens, maybe it's different in chapel hill or louisville (where you at hillary?). other than different tempos, hooks, instrumentation, subject matter, "influences", hairstyles, and fanbases the ted leo-ben folds comparison makes some sense.

(xp heh blount, hillary is at the same place as you)

I will say that my first Ted Leo listen was really colored by the pusher referring to it as punk, which it is really not. He has punk pants on, but the music's more just rock. And decent rock, at that. It just doesn't really interest me.

Poppists. Bah, humbug. Give me "Incomplete" over any of Ted Leo's songs.

it was actually pretty packed but i could see some dancing from my limited vantage point (being in the front row and all). good show though, Ted admitted feeling a little "ragged" but also seemed very excited to be playing in front of such a large crowd by his standards (i could have sworn he said it was his biggest ever?? - maybe just in Atlanta?)

disappointed that he opted not to do "Since U Been Gone" at the behest of myself and a few others - Ted said he wants it to be something he "did" rather than something he "does" but i think he overstates the gimmick - great song as it is, people aren't gonna be clamoring for him to do it even a year from now, let alone five or ten.

this applies to ben folds?!?

this applies to ben folds?!?

it sure did, although it's hard to imagine it now. swear-words + buzzy bass thrashing + chunky punky piano chords ("YOU BITCH!"). (keep in mind that mainstream punk was NOFX, early blink and heh the mighty mighty bosstones.)

Off the mark whoever said Ted is today's Ben Folds......I remember Folds being pretty big as far as singer-songwriters go back when I was in high school -- major play (for "Underground" and "Brick") on the radio and TV. I've never heard a Ted Leo song on the radio or on MTV, and I bet only a handful of kids currently at my old high school have ever heard of him.

Today's Ben Folds Five? It'd probably go to Jack Johnson or someone like that....

today's ben folds five is ben folds five, btw.

Does "we've" refer just to the papers? Because I don't remember praising M.I.A. _or_ LCD Soundsystem any time lately.

http://www.zigzaglive.com/live/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Ted%20Leo%20hot.jpg http://stereopirate.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/benfolds-mso1.jpg

Rudeness.

the "slightly alt" high school girl who lives in my house, and all of her slightly alt friends, basically worship Ted Leo. His songs, his politics, and what they term his "chiseled profile".

HIS "CHISELED" PROFILE!! GET IT???