Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong isn’t an official member of LA-based ska-punk revivalists the Interrupters, but last year’s Fight the Good Fight, which Armstrong co-wrote and produced, shimmers with same kind of magic that made “Time Bomb” so undeniable a million years ago. In a way, the Interrupters are an ideal version of Rancid; shorn of cornball punk signifiers and free to indulge in the pleasures of pure pop, they are nothing more or less than a delivery system for simple joy. It’s music you can’t help but crank in the car, and that might be the best kind of music there is.

by Chris Stamm