ewe2
15-02-2006, 10:02 PM
it's band vs. band in an action packed day of non stop play off
where's the fucking pay off?
-- Music Is Sport
If there's one regret as an ex-Brisbane band muso I have, it's that I left for Melbourne in 1987, when a few years later, I could have seen the genesis of the Gurge, as they are affectionately known. After a string of extremely quirky EPs they finally settled down and made an album in 1997, in Thailand no less and Tu Plang is the result. In the grand tradition of great Aussie live bands, the Gurge have always had an uneasy relationship with the recorded medium, and this album represents a transition between the production values of the EPs and Unit and its followers.
The cheery I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am belies an already worldly approach by Ely and Yeoman as they plunder American guitar rock with lyrics guaranteed to keep them out of the mainstream. You're almost shocked by Kong Foo Sing blazing on all cylinders, an ode to fortune cookies. But its with G7 Dick Electro Boogie that Regurgitator shake of any pretense that they're just a hard guitar band, with one of the bluntest assements of geopolitics you'll ever hear set to an intoxicating electronic rhythm:
thanks for the aid now i pay you back triple
business as usual gang rape a cripple
you got the Gatt in the small of my back
so you wanna tell me where your conscience is at?
But don't settle down just yet, they turn a previous hit, Couldn't Do It into retarded Muzak (sarcastically titled "happy shopper mix"), lurch into a wild love song, Miffy's Simplicity, and Yeoman speaks unapologetically to the listener in Social Disaster, a semi-rap about his distance from his own musical culture, an already familiar theme. Now we're into the brilliant rap metaphor of Music Is Sport, a vaguely Western instrumental (384 Hz), and the Mexican-flavoured Manana. F.S.O. once again rudely awakens us with a half-screaming domestic emergency, sharply contrasting with the rap put-down Pop Porn:
boo yah i think i just came
yeah was it good for you too?
you've got a hole where i blew
Another instrumental break Young Bodies Heal Quickly has one of the dirtiest guitar sounds its been my pleasure to hear, and we're again treated to a remix, this time of Blubber Boy. Dorsal Fin rounds out the album, following a pattern of odd final instrumentals.
The production is the greatest letdown of the album; one feels they were cheated of a much clearer mix; it is thick claustrophobic and at times just muddy. But for all that it is an important album, from its challenging Thai cover and tragically cramped lyric sheet, to the electic mix of styles, yet to formalize along the later lines of guitar rock vs electronic rap. It must be played loud (partly to overcome the mix), preferably at a noisy party for the best disorientating effect and so you can sing along to wonderful political incorrectness.
where's the fucking pay off?
-- Music Is Sport
If there's one regret as an ex-Brisbane band muso I have, it's that I left for Melbourne in 1987, when a few years later, I could have seen the genesis of the Gurge, as they are affectionately known. After a string of extremely quirky EPs they finally settled down and made an album in 1997, in Thailand no less and Tu Plang is the result. In the grand tradition of great Aussie live bands, the Gurge have always had an uneasy relationship with the recorded medium, and this album represents a transition between the production values of the EPs and Unit and its followers.
The cheery I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am belies an already worldly approach by Ely and Yeoman as they plunder American guitar rock with lyrics guaranteed to keep them out of the mainstream. You're almost shocked by Kong Foo Sing blazing on all cylinders, an ode to fortune cookies. But its with G7 Dick Electro Boogie that Regurgitator shake of any pretense that they're just a hard guitar band, with one of the bluntest assements of geopolitics you'll ever hear set to an intoxicating electronic rhythm:
thanks for the aid now i pay you back triple
business as usual gang rape a cripple
you got the Gatt in the small of my back
so you wanna tell me where your conscience is at?
But don't settle down just yet, they turn a previous hit, Couldn't Do It into retarded Muzak (sarcastically titled "happy shopper mix"), lurch into a wild love song, Miffy's Simplicity, and Yeoman speaks unapologetically to the listener in Social Disaster, a semi-rap about his distance from his own musical culture, an already familiar theme. Now we're into the brilliant rap metaphor of Music Is Sport, a vaguely Western instrumental (384 Hz), and the Mexican-flavoured Manana. F.S.O. once again rudely awakens us with a half-screaming domestic emergency, sharply contrasting with the rap put-down Pop Porn:
boo yah i think i just came
yeah was it good for you too?
you've got a hole where i blew
Another instrumental break Young Bodies Heal Quickly has one of the dirtiest guitar sounds its been my pleasure to hear, and we're again treated to a remix, this time of Blubber Boy. Dorsal Fin rounds out the album, following a pattern of odd final instrumentals.
The production is the greatest letdown of the album; one feels they were cheated of a much clearer mix; it is thick claustrophobic and at times just muddy. But for all that it is an important album, from its challenging Thai cover and tragically cramped lyric sheet, to the electic mix of styles, yet to formalize along the later lines of guitar rock vs electronic rap. It must be played loud (partly to overcome the mix), preferably at a noisy party for the best disorientating effect and so you can sing along to wonderful political incorrectness.