One word: Fresh

I sold my car last week. The big beaut was rife with sentimental value -- I had put blood, sweat and tears in that bucket of bolts and it had given me back years of memories. And, because music is one of my biggest passions, I needed something just right to put me in a good mood on my final cruise. The Transplants' Haunted Cities proved to be perfect for my Kenwood deck.\nIt's hard to encapsulate what subgenre of music Haunted Cities falls under. It's mostly rock, with Latin, punk, rap and reggae undertones. Although they may constantly be paying tribute to the Clash, their record is thoroughly haunted (pun intended) by Sublime's Sublime. \nI have to be honest: I would not have purchased this CD if Travis Barker (of blink-182 fame) weren't promoted as the band's face. I was a huge blink fan and distinctly do not like Tim Armstrong's main group, Rancid. If you're not a fan of the high-school dropouts blink-182, don't worry, Cities is nothing like Take Off Your Pants & Jacket.\nWith a catchy, awesome, albeit not yet popular single "Gangsters & Thugs" running on the promo commercial, I knew there would be at least one good song on this CD. But the Transplants are better than just one Clash-esque, top-20 single. \nIt turns out I was already familiar with some of their previous work, but had not made the association in mind before listening to Haunted Cities. The T-plants's self-titled first album produced the mildly successful single "Diamonds & Guns," a song most probably know better as the piano-punk song behind every Garnier Fructis commercial.\nWith their first major label release, the punk-rock supergroup (rounded out by wildcard Rob Aston) has created a progressive album which, when it all shakes out, will be one of the ten best albums of the year. And top ten isn't bad in a year when The Mars Volta, Coldplay, the White Stripes, Audioslave and the Dave Matthews Band all drop epic or near-epic albums before July (not to mention a Red Hot Chili Peppers album that is due out later this year). \nCities isn't a perfect album, mostly because Aston tries a little too hard to be, well, hard. And "Pay Any Price" is annoying -- but it's the only skipable song on the CD. \nOther songs, "Killafornia" (with Sen Dog from Cyprus Hill) and "Hit The Fence," are certified badass. But more than that, the album has as much variety as a spice rack. "I Want It All" is a funky piano-driven song and has wicked guitar licks, much like "Crash and Burn." Look for "What I Can't Describe" to be the next hit off the album. The song has deadly lyrics (literally) with a happy organ piping away -- it's just a fresh song. \n"Fresh" might be the best way to describe this album. With Haunted Cities, the T-plants have bent musical purists to their breaking point with a forward-looking album that's too cool for any more words.