Friday, January 15, 2010

Regurgitator - Mish Mash


YOURZ

This isn't the best Regurgitator album. But for the barest millimetres, the pointy stick could have landed on a number of better ones, like their debut Tu Plang or their poppy follow-up, Unit.  But it didn't.

It's not a bad album, as 'Gurge albums go. It could've been covers of Oasis songs or Dan Brown put to music but thankfully, it's not. The big(ish) claim to fame regarding this album is it was recorded during their 'Band In A Bubble' show of a few years ago, where the band and a few extras locked themselves in a glass house for three weeks in the middle of Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

They were filmed from every angle as they struggled to write and record songs and also cope with the fact they were being watched 24/7.  There were inspirational moments, arguments, fights, silliness and lots of malarkey.  The tracks written and recorded in the Bubble were then polished and released as Mish Mash.  At the end of the three weeks, the band came out of the Bubble to perform to a huge live crowd.  Quan Yeomans, guitarist and vocalist for the band, soon moved to Hong Kong, where he currently resides.  Make what you will of this.

Mish Mash is an appropriate title for the album as is does seem to be bits and pieces of everything lumped together.  This isn't a particularly bad thing as throughout their career, Regurgitator have made a habit of reinventing themselves, sometimes numerous times within a single disc.  Previously, this added to their overall charm and kept the listener on their toes.  With this album, though, I think there's a bit more mish than mash.  But the energy of their tracks is undeniable.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (at least for the first half of the album, anyway)


MINE

When I think of Regurgitator, one emotion always flows to the top of my consciousness - regret. You see, I had the chance to see them play for free in '96, when I left accounting to study broadcasting, but because I hadn't heard any of their music I opted out of following my fellow students to the concert. I was a bit older than them, and frankly the name of the band just put me off. They came back raving about how good it had been.

And then I heard Tu-Plang. And I realised this was exactly the sort of live act I love - mixing genres, providing a good hard dance beat with some rockin' guitars and unafraid of electronica. The sort of sound that prompted me to be up front for Primal Scream and later got me to fall in love with Apollo 440.

However, I'm not that keen on Mish Mash. The first song's really good, the sort that reminds me why I like them so much, some are so-so and some are a little patchy. But it's reminded me that I need to establish exactly which songs from all the albums in our collection are the booty-shakin' variety, and put them on my Shuffle for pumping at the gym.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (skip the boring ones)


For more information: http://www.regurgitator.net/

In our collection we also have Tu Plang, Unit, Eduardo And Rodriguez Wage War On T-Wrecks and Love and Paranoia

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