Broken Condom Babies

Don't be fooled by the name. Broken Condom Babies are not even remotely punk rock. On the contrary, the quartet smacks of made-for-television pop rock, circa '89-long before shows like The OC tried to go all hip and indie on our asses. One listen to BCB's self-titled EP and you'll be asking yourself, "Where the hell were these guys when the original Saved by the Bell was on the air?"

Here we have one crunchy, upbeat, life-affirming song after another, each with its very own after-school-special lessons. "Gonna Be Fine" makes the argument that if you buck up, it will all work out, and "Mistakes" suggests that you shouldn't sweat your mess-ups because we all make them. Clearly this group is not ashamed of sugarcoated prose, both figuratively and literally. In the Beatles-meet-Mickey-Mouse-Club head-bobber "Nothing's Funny", lead singer Aaron Grant tries to get slacker-deep but in an ironic and sickly-sweet kind of way: "Every Saturday was sugarcoated sunshine/Every character was helping me waste my time." The one track that does stand out in this quirk fest is the untitled white man's Motown ballad tacked onto the end of the CD. This is where Grant shows off his falsetto. Oh, how Hall and Oates would be proud-and so would Zack and Kelly, come to think of it.