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946 Orleans Rd
West Ashley, across from Target
Phone: 843 571-4657
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"Phantom Planet's profile has grown larger than ever, but the band has done a bit of downsizing since the release of its 2002 album The Guest. That disc, the Los Angeles quintet's second, spawned ""California,"" later adopted as the theme song for The O.C. But in the interim Phantom Planet lost its first great claim to fame-drummer and Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman, who left to devote himself to acting-and tailored its sound into something wholly different. ""Phantom Garage"" would be a more apt moniker for the band that made Phantom Planet, a crafted but anonymous 11-song venture that veers from the loud and emo-ish path of its predecessors into an exercise in mimicking the Strokes and, on ""You're Not Welcome Here,"" the White Stripes, to a near-plagiaristic extent. There are some differences, of course; with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Phantom Planet goes for a bigger soundscape than the dry terrain of those other bands and generally flaunts more attitude than the fare found on The Guest. But Phantom Planet wears its intent clearly on its sleeve, and tracks such as ""The Happy Ending"" and ""By the Bed"" are just two that sound alarmingly like they could have been pirated from the leftover bin for either of the Strokes' two albums. The smirking first single ""Big Brat"" stands out a bit by sheer virtue of its hooky energy, but even that comes off as the kind of song that will later be held up as a period piece rather than a defining statement. Phantom Planet merits some praise for pursuing a new sound. Unfortunately it didn't find one that it can call its own.
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