Album Notes

If you haven't heard of Alex and the Anders yet, you must not be the partying type, for the gist of this group's show is the party. Describing the band is hard. On one hand, the group shares an irreverent and off-the-cuff attitude with duos like Tenacious D or Flight of the Conchords, but without the bitingly dry wit or psychedelic whimsy. On the other hand, A&A could be the folked up, alcoholic, white trash cousin of Tulsa psych-pop indie darlings, GHOSTS. Classification isn't really important, however. The essential ingredient in Alex and the Anders is fun. Formed roughly two years ago, the group admittedly rarely rehearses, in part because that would take the fun out of the proceedings. The current lineup finally came together in November of 2008 as drummer Blake Jarman and bassist Tucker Carter locked in to complement harmonica/washboardist Tomas Burkhart and guitarist/leader Alex Munson, and that's when the band really hit its stride. According to Jarman, the group does its best to draw the audience from the beginning. By the end of the night, if you've participated in the show at all, you'll likely be a part of the collective buzz. Nevertheless, the band needs an introductory point and it's new EP, LIVE (and under the influence), is a near perfect jumping off point. In all honesty, most of the tunes are novelty and drinking tunes--song titles like "Drunk and Attainable" and "It's Cool to Be F***ed Up" pretty much say it all. Nevertheless, sometimes it's good to not take things so damn seriously, and Alex and the Anders will remind you of just that.

-G.K. Hizer (Urban Tulsa Weekly)