This brief glance into this cheerful trio's oeuvre (few of the nine tracks last over two minutes) reveals a band that owes much to Green Day and could end up owing more to They Might Be Giants if it plays its cards right. MXPX have Green Day's searing punk energy and musical smarts, and songwriter and bassist Mike Herrera displays enough lyrical skill on songs like "Party II" and "The Opposite" to signal he might have a future beyond mere third-generation punk emulation. There's the condensed polka-beat of "Letting Go" with its teen angst-y "deep inside my soul I've got a voice," the aforementioned "Party II" which deals with that difficult apartment party chucking-out period known to all ("cleaning up is the very worst part"), and the goofy "Yuri Wakes Up Screaming" in which Yuri does just that, at various tempi. The biggest compliment you can give to THE RENAISSANCE EP is that it's just too darn short.