The Racket Self-Titled. Release Date : 2005. Label: Independent. Rating: Good. (Screw points. To each his own!) These dudes played in the finals for FMA 2006 which I got the chance to judge in mid-August 2006. They were fun to watch, if ill-suited to the task at hand (competing to be the live soundtrack for a fashion show). Now on record, they're still pretty fun, and pretty radio-friendly, which means they could go really really far. I don't find there's a huge oomph behind their punky-melodic rock songs, but it's still the sort of thing the kids will dig. Decent if simple guitar work in "Shake." These guys just sound like they're having fun, so heck what's wrong with that. That "Heartache" tune is pretty fun though. And I love the singalong in "You Say." Song of choice : "You Say" is definitely the most interesting track. -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere The Racket website Published : January, 2007.