Box Elders

Nebraska trio Box Elders’ sound is all muddy ’60s melodies and proto-punk shamble. In that sense, it’s little surprise to find a Red Kross cover on the Omaha band’s debut self-titled 7-inch, but the scrubbed-in-the-wash sonics of its spiky pop have more in common with New Zealand aborigines like The Clean. The group’s debut for Goner, Alice And Friends (named for the band’s favorite vegan Korean barbecue haunt), is full of the same go-for-broke brio, mashing bittersweet harmonies about breaking up with just-playing bubblegum goofs on stuff like necrophilia and the coming apocalypse. 

Updated 02/19/2010