I thought I had Ted Leo figured out relatively well. But "The World Is In The Terlet" is without a doubt one of the more baffling things I've ever heard from him. D.C. post-harcore was always one of the more optimistic breeds of post-punk, but here, barely 30 seconds in, Leo declares "the Western world will perish in 15 years" before launching into one of those punk apocalyptic mini-freakouts.

Before that, he sang some lyrics about his band that has a silly factor entirely out of character for Leo. My guess is that the song is meant to be taken with more than a little sense of humor, but whether that helps or detracts from the rest of the song, which is disjointed and anti-climactic to a ridiculous extent, is up in the air. Taking it as a spoof of a "we're all going to hell" punk song kind of helps it, but that also seems out of character for Leo, who unlike most contemporary indie rockers makes no bones about his political conscience.

Maybe the fact that the song was written and recorded in one day, for the Best Show on Jersey City's WFMU, helps explain the sort of randown, strewn together feel (and the fact that Leo wrote the lyrics based on the suggestions of listeners. While on one level I feel like I'm supposed to be incensed, I still can't let myself dismiss the song outright. Thoughts?  [Pitchfork]