Box Elders played at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago yesterday, putting on a mostly-good show. I'd never seen them before, and was surprised to see bassist Clayton McIntyre's flowing blond hair (this less than a week after seeing the similarly long-haired men of Girls). Are we seeing the first blossoms of a grunge hair revival??
Sorry, I've distracted myself. More importantly - the music. Live, these guys are frenetic; their drummer plays standing up and makes all sorts of crazy faces and motions while the guitarist and bassist hop around and what not. They also have a sweet holographic drum kit, and Clayton makes funny scratching motions like a giant cat while singing on "Cougars." On record--their debut full-length was released earlier this week on Goner--the Box Elders sound a bit like Thomas Function: slightly-southern-fried garage rock with a keyboard (or in this case, an organ). On 3/4 of the album, this works rather well. On songs like "Stay," it does not. They also lose their pitch occasionally while singing (both brothers Clayton and Jeremiah take vocal duties), which can lead to batches of unpleasant tunelessness. Sadly, these are things that probably could have been fixed with another take or two, but...such is life. All in all, it's a solid record (and, while initially shocked, the new version of "Hole In My Head" is much appreciated).
I will include that song, for anyone who has yet to hear it, as well as another song, "Dave," which is also very rockin'. Enjoy!
Box Elders - Hole In My Head
Box Elders - Dave
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