(Etcetc / EMI)

Yet another reissue of this inveterate album, with extra goodies!

Datarock’s début album, the self-reflexively-titled Datarock Datarock, was first released in 2005 – yes, that long ago! – but seems to have an extended afterlife as Fredrik Saroea and Ket-Ill’s brand of humorous Norwegian weirdness slowly catches on with the rest of the world. Fortunately, we Aussies have been onto Datarock since their first tour here, and they’re rewarding us with both a tour and a deluxe tour edition of Datarock Datarock. This new version, based on the American edition, has new cover art, four new tracks, and includes a bonus EP of five tracks and four remixes. The new tracks include Ganguro Girl, a sweet pop song about, well, Japanese girls; Triple J fave See What I Care, which infuses their trademark pop sound with a Boys Don’t Cry-esque melancholy; The New Song, a piece of tongue-in-cheek thrash-rock that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of Regurgitator’s better albums; and I Will Always Remember You, a silly boy-girl duet that, presumably, EMI found more tasteful than Nightflight To Uranus (sadly missing from this release). The bonus EP, titled See What I Care, includes more good material: Not Me, a guitar-heavy tubthumper; the Cure-esque Do It Your Way; Stay, a neo-Madchester anthem if ever there was one; and bizarre coda New Rave Anthem, which seems to exist only to pave over the gap between their signature warm disco sound and the coldness of the rather formulaic remixes included here. While those who already own one of this album’s previous incarnations may not feel the need to buy this version, those who aren’t on Datarock’s mad train should get aboard – there’s never been a better time.

****

CHAD PARKHILL

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