Phantom Planet

After four years of silence, Phantom Planet sound suitably recharged with a title track opener that's scrappy, climactic and Arcade Fire-unhinged. The bazooka singles (including "Do the Panic") are more restrained, seemingly written with the ears of radio programming managers in mind. But when they get a bit weird, as with "Leader" -- probably the hippest, hardest-grooving pop song here -- they're way more interesting, strutting with the panache of a band that's been twice around the block.

Phantom Planet claim their fourth full-length was inspired by the music of Charles Manson
and David Koresh — not quite the album you'd expect from the California boys who sang
The O.C.'s theme song. Still, like those cult leaders, Raise the Dead gives its macabre
subjects (and its lighter ones) an oddly upbeat spin. Jumping from Bowie glam to disco
punk, the band tosses in synths, arch backing coos and riffing saxes for songs th... More >