Reggie and the Full Effect
Under the Tray
Vagrant
Reggie has completely outdone himself this time. Ex-Coalesce drummer and Get Up Kids keyboardist James Dewees has released another amazing album of mixed-up mayhem under his alter ego Reggie, a taco-loving ex-con with a gambling problem, and his band, The Full Effect. The album has special guest appearances by other entirely fictional bands like Common Denominator (death metal from Finland) and Fluxuation (some type of wack new wave). Every track is a surprise, from synth-pop happy vocals over grinding hardcore guitars to cheesy Euro-trash techno to piano driven ballads. Reggie is way ahead of his time as he tells genre classifications exactly where they can shove it. Hip-hop booty shaking beats, turntable scratching, future pop bloops and bleeps, death metal drumming, beatnik poetry – nothing is sacred. Random sound clips from shows are interspersed throughout the album, like a drunk girl talking about Guess jeans and her baby daddy. I loved the first Reggie album, then declared the second, Promotional Copy, my favorite when I heard it and now I have a new favorite. It’s definitely won the song title award: “Image is nothing, lobsters are everything” and “Apocalypse WOW!” … “Linkin Verbs,” the Common Denominator song, is close to my heart as Schoolhouse Rock gets the death metal spoof Reggie treatment. Besides the goofiness, the “serious” songs are great too – they express all the angst an emo-pop song should but without the irritating whining. This album is more deliciously complex than a sonic seven-layer burrito and Reggie will soon take over the world. Mark my words. Reggie lives.
Vagrant Records: http://www.vagrant.com
