Ween: The Friends EP

Ween has a long reputation for stylistic tomfoolery—like devoting an entire album to slick Nashville country and the next to spacey prog-rock—but the perpetually wacky duo settled into a comfortable classic-rock groove on 2000's White Pepper and 2003's Quebec. With The Friends EP—an appetizer for the upcoming full-length La Cucaracha—Ween makes a welcome return to fucking with people's heads, setting aside its well-worn Pink Floyd fixation in favor of Pet Shop Boys and other far less reputable techno-pop practitioners. Ever the brilliant craftsmen, Gene and Dean display a sharp eye for genre-specific details, offering just the right amounts of cheese and hooks (not to mention their trademark vulgarity) on splendidly stupid songs like "I Got To Put The Hammer Down" and "Slow Down Boy." The Friends EP will undoubtedly confuse or even disappoint some fans, but curveballs like this make Ween worthy of its cult.