Regurgitator - Tu-Plang

MINE

Sometimes frenzied and always entertaining, Regurgitator are one of those bands who hovered just outside my orbit.  Oh sure, I'd turn them up when they came on the radio, but they didn't quite make it into my hot little hand when I ventured into a music shop.

And that doesn't really surprise me when I listen to this album.  For me, it has its moments... but that's where I stop.  The change of pace and style throughout the album feels to me like a lack of cohesiveness.  And I don't really know enough about the band to comment about why  that might be.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

Coming out in 1996, Tu Plang was a breath of fresh air to an industry overwhelmed by post-grunge bands, wanna be indie popsters and *shudder* Savage Garden.  Their magpie-like eclecticism was brave, daring and a little bit naughty too.

Opening with a sharp, self-deprecating dig at the music industry in the form of I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am (and the laugh but gag but laugh line of I keep on rinsing again and again), the 'Gurge swing between indie-pop gems, frenetic electronica, savvy hip hop and even a stab at surf music instrumentals with 348 Hz, all with equal aplomb.  Fittingly, it won both Alternative Album of the Year and Best Debut at the Australian Recording Industry Awards (ARIA) that year.

Importantly, it showed a fickle industry that there was plenty of room for bands to explore the boundaries of contemporary music and gain a strong fan base at the same time.  And while record companies struggled then (even as they do now) to try and pigeon-hole music for the sake of demographics, bands like this consistently prove them wrong by saying fuck categorisation and fuck demographics.

For all the years Regurgitator has been around, all the hits they've had and all the albums they've released, this remains my favourite by far.  In my mind, not only was it one of the best releases of the 90s but one of the best Australian releases ever.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

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

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