Holy Smokes

A slight stopgap release between Thrumdone and Vas Llegas, Holy Smokes is a mix of the inspired and not-so-much. The band's sense of humor crops up more than once, at times brilliantly. "Ray's Jesus" may be nothing but a bad pun when it comes to a title, but Tak's nutty recounting of a modern family with suspiciously biblical names and antecedents is a scream. The upbeat crunch of the music itself fits the tone perfectly, a quick, fun blast. "Warhead," in contrast, is one of the more labored sex jokes out there — "She gives good warhead" — with okay but not as strong music. "She Describes Infinity" is a better and wittier effort all around, with a sweetly zoned and stoned vibe at the end, with a final joker in the pack being a version of Bad Company's classic rock piece of machismo, "Feel Like Makin' Love." A nice instrumental, "Sore Finger," rounds out the effort.