REVIEW: Regurgitator, Tu-Plang (Reprise)
- Sean Eric McGill
When you listen to the amount of music that your average music critic listens to in this day and age, the little things are no longer shocking - take song titles, for instance. After two years of being exposed to grindcore and seeing song titles from bands like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass, not much surprised me - seeing song titles that read like answers to a anatomy mid-term have that effect.
But, I must admit, I did a double take when I saw the first track from Tu-Plang by Regurgitator, "I Sucked A Lot of Cock To Get Where I Am". And you can only imagine my surprise to hear the first lyric from the album, which is exactly the same as the title. I was intrigued, to say the least.
Unfortunately, this sense of intrigue was replaced by something akin to dismay as I realized that musically and lyrically this song is little more than a retread through the Weezer school of rock and roll songwriting: simple chords, persuasive lyrics, and a catchy hook. I was about to dismiss Regurgitator as being another band that sounded good the first couple of times out of the gate, but then lost their appeal.
I'm glad I didn't. The remainder of Regurgitator, while drawing from a variety of sources in terms of styles and other bands, covers such a broad spectrum of musical styles that it left me incredibly impressed.
Where songs like "Kong Foo Sing" and "Social Disaster" both have the same sort of rock/rap hybrid sound that bands like 311 have made us familiar with (just without the reggae influence), a song like "Music Is Sport" takes the rock pretty much out of the equation - this song is rap, plain and simple, and sounds like the best song Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy never wrote. One of the best two tracks on the album, "Music Is Sport" is exactly what the title suggests, making an analogy that hasnt crossed my own mind ever - and I wrote sports for years.
The second best track on the album, "Pop Porn" also features the same type of lyrical delivery, and doesnt as much attack the music industry as it does the attitudes of some individuals in the industry. The first line, dripping with sarcasm, sums it up: "I'm a sexist mutherfucker on the microphone/with my yo ho, suck my dick, ho" drone". It's no secret that in many areas of popular music, the attitude towards women is disrespectful at best, and outright disgusting in many instances, and "Pop Porn" is a direct attack on that. The chorus puts it perfectly: "No matter what your colour/no matter what your sex/respect".
With a musical sound that mixes samples, simple instrumentals, punk rock, and basically anything else you can think of, there's something here for pretty much everyone. Of course, there's little question that if Regurgitator go anywhere with Tu-Plang, then songs like "Pop Porn" will be mistakenly interpreted as being sexist - I'm of the opinion that it is not of course, but God only knows what people will read into the first track.
