[This review originally appeared in All The Rage.]

Phantom Planet
Phantom Planet
(Epic Records)

Phantom Planet’s last album, The Guest, was a well-made but unremarkable recording. Tuneful yet timid, it was like the good-looking guy with no personality. With two Hollywood actors in the group (including Rushmore’s Jason Schwartzman), the band seemed a charming sideline. All that has changed with their new self-titled release. (more…)

[This review originally appeared in All the Rage.]

Simon Brawl
The Tennessee EP
(Rack ‘Em Up Records)

On one hand, Murfreesboro bruisers, Simon Brawl, have captured their sound in the perfect recording style. In Head for the Mountains, the guitars are twangy and raw. The bass is trebly and live. The drums are noisy as hell. Garson Combs’s voice is desperate and kind of crazed. The song itself is half chunky garage rock and half psychedelic Southern rock. Where all these elements combine in the other songs, you’ll find great, meaty rock ‘n’ roll.

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[This review originally appeared in All The Rage.]

MTX
Yesterday Rules
(Lookout!)

For the better part of twenty years, The Mr. T Experience (now dubbed MTX) have been stalwart exponents of bratty West Coast pop-punk. Literate yet irreverent, MTX paved the way for Green Day, Blink 182 and a host of others. Whereas “growing up�? for other pop-punkers has meant writing confused, over-earnest tracks about war, racism and other weighty global issues, MTX manage to connect maturity and wit with an élan that few others have approached.

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