06 Mar 2026
Norcos Y Horchata drop an old one, a new one, and a cover on this benefit EP.
Coming out on Mar 2026’s Bandcamp Friday, Lake Ave Traffic serves to tickle your Norcos Y Horchata itch (I bet you didn’t know you had one), while also benefiting NE Neighbors Mutual Aid Fund, who are doing the proverbial lord’s work up in Minnesota supporting the community during the ongoing (if slightly less publicized) ICE action in the Twin Cities and surrounding area.
But what does $4 (or more, if your wallet is generous) get you?
Lead and title track “Lake Ave Traffic” is actually of off the band’s Sep 2025 LP Precious Little Album (see our review of that here), so you’re probably familiar with it already. If not, it starts with a bit of misdirection: a poppy techno beat that sounds like the dance song that would play on a pre-teen geared Disney sitcom from the 00s. Thankfully it evolves (devolves) into a catchy number singing the praises of Minneapolis. It’s interesting to hear it as the lead track, where it needs to grab your ear right away, as opposed to being nestled behind others on the LP.
I could be mistaken, but I believe that “Boone’s Farm Amongst Möet” is the only “new” number amongst the three. It’s a funny title, for sure. The song itself is less punk and bit more rock, with a swinging rhythm and feels a bit more free form and jazzy. It gets a bit fast at the end, which lends a nice upper to finish it off.
Final track is a, frankly, stellar cover of the overlooked Naked Raygun classic “Walk In Cold.” Keeping just about the same tempo, the band mixes it up a tad in ways that make the cover worthwhile: some guitar work seems a bit more intricate, but the fun part is a section of lyrics suddenly switched into Spanish, and replaces the original saxophone with an accordion. So much fun!
So the big question lands on whether or not you want to pay $4 for a new song and cover? I guess it really comes down to the organization it is designed to benefit? Being Bandcamp Friday, Norcos Y Horchata are definitely leveraging this to maximize the payout that they can then forward on to NENMAF. While *I* personally found the EP enjoyable (and “Walk In Cold” truly is one of my favorite NR songs ever), I can also see how even $4 may be a hard sell in this economy which, despite the Dow hitting over 50k at one point, still feels like a drag for most working people. Despite NYH’s musical efforts here, I suspect that a majority of purchases will be from people who are more keen to help their “neighbors,” and that they’ll just get some fun music in the trade off. Not a bad thing, really. Maybe we’ll even get some new Norcos Y Horchata fans out of it? Win/win!
As of this review, the EP only appears on Bandcamp.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.