Orcutt Shelley Miller Yow – “Hot Head”

Still trying to weave in a few of the essentials that hit last week while I was gone and this one’s at the top of the list. Following the savage burn of their debut LP, pedigreed power trio Orcutt Shelley Miller add one more legendary name to the fold, paring up with The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow for a cover of the Beefheart classic “Hot Head.” The A-side here is as broiled and barbed as one might expect, a fastball of hot wax and thumbtacks that comes at the listener from all directions. It’s as definitive a cover as you’re ever likely to hear. The band subverts expectations on the flip, sanding down their thorns for a tender cover of Neil Young’s haunted Harvest cut “A Man Needs A Maid.” The trio gives it a few more ghosts on it’s way through their amps. The band’s eponymous debut was a hard act to follow, but if there was a way to do it, I’d say this is as close as your gonna get to a perfect coda on that record. The new single is out now digitally with physicals set to ship around the end of May.

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