Box Elders

Like a Brillo pad stuffed with a gooey cream filling, Nebraska's Box Elders smuggle sweet and luscious pop songs inside a raw, scratchy-as-hell shell. It's not a new recipe, but Box Elders know how to make it their own; brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre, along with drummer/organist Dave Goldberg, ooze messy glee and crackly noise while piledriving their way through pop gems as gleaming and pure as those of Half Japanese or the Jesus and Mary Chain. The young group's garage ethos, though, come off as more than an attitude; with Jay Reatard on one side and Vivian Girls on the other, Box Elders (and their gut-punching debut full-length, Alice and Friends) are reinventing indie rock at a time when the genre needs more sloppiness, more joy and a hell of a lot less ego.