At the end of April, Milwaukee’s premier party-pop project, Rio Turbo, embarked on a two-week tour of Japan with Detenzione. By all accounts, it was a really fun and meaningful trip for both bands, and almost everyone in the Asian nation seemed to love Rio Turbo. Unbeknownst to those of us in Milwaukee, Rio Turbo recorded a new EP to bring on tour with them.
Now that they’re back in town, Joey Turbo and company are finally ready to let Milwaukee hear what they missed. The group’s Tour Japan EP was originally released as part of a split cassette with Detenzione on a Japanese label called Snuffy Smiles, but Rio Turbo made its half of the split public on Bandcamp this week. The three-song and sub-five-minute EP—written and self-recorded by Joey Turbo in back February—pairs well with Rio Turbo’s previous works.
Each brief song (none of them surpassing two minutes) features Rio Turbo’s patented lo-fi and reverb-drenched production, along with the familiar spirit of celebration and an aura of positivity that seems to permeate much of the project’s catalog. There’s even a cover worked into the mix. Tour Japan concludes with Turbo’s take on The Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts,” which sounds more like something you’d hear on a Sega Genesis game’s title screen than a sad country from 60 years ago. We’re not sure why Joey Turbo picked that song to cover, but like the rest of Rio Turbo’s music, you don’t need to understand it to love it.
Listen to Rio Turbo’s Tour Japan EP below.