Album Review: Alice And Friends by Box Elders

After Box Elders' 2008 Grotto Records 7", the energetic garage rock trio from Omaha gained respect on the indie circuit while touring the U. S. With two distinctly memorable characters in the group -- Clayton McIntyre, a singer/bass player who resembles a Dogtown Z-boy (and often appears on-stage in a cape and biker shorts or a loincloth), and Dave Goldberg, a multi-instrumentalist who somehow plays drums and keyboards simultaneously with astounding efficiency -- Memphis' Goner Records took the bait and signed the band just as rumors circulated that the group was potentially signing to Matador.

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Box Elders did not take their name from an early Pavement tune. The Omaha trio honored instead the insect that infested the childhood home of two of its members, brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre. It's an easy pit for a music nerd to stumble into, but aside from the tape hiss, the McIntyres' band share little sonic DNA with Pavement. Rather, they seem to be just a few strands or family tree branches away from another set of unkempt Nuggets devotees, Black Lips.

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