Bracket: E Is For Everything On Fat Wreck Chords

It's grossly unfair to underestimate the virtues of a band that does an effective job whipping out a brassy, hopped-up mixture of punk and power-pop: So many bands are doing it these days that it's easy to overlook the few that pull off the mix to near-perfection. Bracket is one of those rare bands, and its new, minimally hyped "E" Is For Everything On Fat Wreck Chords is a minor miracle. Sure, it's not important or revelatory or even particularly fresh, but Bracket plays with such caffeinated, joyful bluster that you can't help but bounce around in fits of glee when you hear it. "E" Is For Everything On Fat Wreck Chords comes and goes in a mere 27 minutes, and that punchy brevity is evidence of a band that knows when enough is just right. And although a fuller-length Bracket album comes out in the spring, you shouldn't pass on this one.