Since the
Mr. T Experience is on an extended hiatus, what with
Dr. Frank off being best-selling young-adult novelist
Frank Portman (actually, read
King Dork, it's really very good!) and everything, there was an opening for "Most Adorable Punk Band In The World," and lo and behold, the
20 Belows showed up to fill it. And this Copenhagen-based quartet's not giving up the crown without a fight: these guys could be the cuddliest group of pop-punks ever. The key is lead singer
Ulrich Basler's boyish, high-pitched voice, which is the textbook definition of "winsome," to a degree not seen since the first EP by
Mitch Easter's
Let's Active back in 1983. The uniformly lovelorn lyrics, with titles like
"This Boy's Giving Up" and
"The Happy Songs," almost sound like they were designed to appeal to the nascent mothering instincts of
Manic Panic-wearing teenage girls the world over, at least long enough to let the
20 Belows cop a quick feel. There's also no evidence of the adolescent gross-out hijinks so common to similar bands in the style like
the Queers and
Screeching Weasel. Nope, it's just 13 killer punky
power pop tunes, one after another, making
Headaches and Moodswings a major league mood elevator despite the title. ~ Stewart Mason