Pixies release surprise album, 'EP 2'

Mark my words, 2014 will be the year of the surprise album. Last year, saw a bit of a death rattle for overly promoted pop albums with the run-up to dissapointments like Prism and ARTPOP taking months. Then, Beyonce blew the whole game up with her surprise album release at the tail-end of last year (2014 by awards' standards). Now, we've already seen two high-profile surprise albums in the first 72 hours of the new year: Del The Funky Homosapien's Iller Than Most and the Pixies' just-released EP 2.

Much like their 2013 release EP 1 (the first multi-song release from the band since the early '90s), EP 2 is available as a limited edition vinyl release that comes bundled with other Pixies swag. For fans who don't want to shell out for the whole package, there is an option to pay for a digital download of the album. Check out EP-2's first single "Blue Eyed Hexe" below:

The full tracklist of EP 2 is as follows:

1. Blue Eyed Hexe

2. Magdalena

3. Greens and Blues

4. Snakes 

The whole package will run fans about $60 bucks but there are several mix 'n' match options if that's a bit too steep.

Pixies recently took a bit of heat for firing the band's second bassist named Kim, Kim Shattuck. The Muffs bassist revealed that the band were a bunch of downers in post-axing interviews, implying heavily that she was booted for being too enthusiastic.

When asked about the decision, Black Francis was more than a little bit condescending.

I'm not the mayor, this isn't the bus service for a town. This is a rock band. There's been a shift in the lineup, big woop-dee-doo . . . as far as we're concerned it ain't that big of a deal," he said.