Huevos II – III EP (Sophomore Lounge)
I love when a band wears its influences on its sleeve, so we can all acknowledge them and move onto the songs themselves. Huevos was the name of a Meat Puppets LP, and this does bring some of that melted country punk vibe, but Huevos II is more ANGST than Kirkwoods. These are tight but not too tight folky pop songs with bits of mid-80s college rock, SST’s pop side and Mitch Easter-related bands. The chiming riffs move in familiar and unfamiliar ways, but it’s all very natural, like a band in a living room working it out and enjoying the process. Frontman Ma Turner apparently has a long career making all manner of avant sounds. There are wonderfully earnest vocals and poetic words throughout, which has me wondering why Turner hasn’t tackled pop before. I hope he has more pop songs in the works, because he is better at it than almost anyone who is actually known for it. The 12” EP is a dinosaur format and too short for a band this great, but it’s probably the first one I latched onto with the Three O’ Clock’s Baroque Hoedown and Husker Du’s Metal Circus still being a couple all-time blazing masterpieces of brevity. This no-filler concept works great for Huevos II, and I keep flipping it over n over.
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