Alice and Friends

There’s a line from the title track of Alice and Friends that goes “you knew they wouldn’t ask a second time, so you joined the band, banging pots and pans.” It neatly sums up their creative aesthetic. The Box Elders sound like they created the band for no better reason than to have a good time, which may be the best reason of all of course. This is not to say the playing is overly sloppy — these guys can play well enough to pull this off by a mile — it’s that these melodic, hook-filled, three-chord ditties truly sound as if they were recorded in a cinderblock basement just for a lark. The sound is tinny and distorted with delightfully dated Farfisa organ trills rising from above the furious rumble of the drums, warbly guitars, hollered harmonies, and lyrics that range from odd to amusing to just plain goofy. “Cougars” even includes a “rowwrr” after each chorus. Featuring 14 songs in precisely 30 minutes Alice and Friends is an infectious lo-fi creation of stripped-down and economical beauty. Inspired by the Nuggets box set and mid-‘60s garage pop, the Box Elders sound like they’re having a ball on this debut release.