'Dropped,' Phantom Planet
From 2008's 'Raise the Dead'

I've always been a sucker for a good power pop song, which is why I was enamored with Phantom Planet's first album back in high school. That's also why I joined the Phantom Planet fan club for one year back then (yes, I am serious), so that I could purchase the band's B-sides record, 'Polaroid.' I admit that I lost track of them after drummer-actor Jason Schwartzman left the band and 'The O.C.' killed 'California.' But then the band released their new album, 'Raise the Dead,' in April, with it the sound that I once adored ... only edgier. I can accept less pretty piano and more slurred rocker outbursts when you give me a song like 'Dropped,' the perfect Phantom Planet tune, replete with drum bops and electric keyboard-driven melodies, gritty singing layered with a second, higher-pitched vocal track. The tune makes me want to clap. It makes me want to dance. I also want to pat these guys on the back for writing that hook and those simple, demanding lyrics: "Tell me that you want me/Tell me that you need me/Tell me 'cause I'd like to know."