Lit
When Lit scored a hit with "My Own Worst Enemy" little did the Southern California band know how prophetic the song would be--it became 1999's most-played modern rock track according toBillboardand drove the accompanying albumA Place in the Sunto platinum sales. But it also set expectations unreasonably high for a follow-up. When that didn't happen two years later with the release ofAtomic, the band lost its major label deal. Undaunted Lit returns with what is arguably its strongest set of songs on this self-titled, self-released set. The disc feels lyrically darker and more personal than its predecessors but the band retains much of its melodic punk-ska crunch in songs such as "Looks Like They Were Right" and "Times Like This." Meanwhile, creeping maturity and the hard knocks they've endured result in unlikely ballads like "Lullaby" and a faithful cover ofthe Cure's "Pictures of You." Perhaps it's too early to count them out just yet.--Aidin Vaziri