The Residents: C/D;S&D

which album would you recommend to someone interested in them because of the Tuxedomoon connection?

Can't help you, never heard Tuxedomoon

A friend mentioned Residents to me recently and it occurred to me I've never actually tried to listen to their stuff before, which struck me as a bit odd. I just know them from bits I heard on college radio.

you pretty much can't go wrong with any Residents album 1972-1980. for tunes try either Duck Stab or Commercial Album. for concept albums try Fingerprince or Third Reich and Roll. Not Available is the emotional one.

you know what's good out of the recent stuff? Tweedles pulls off the whole literally stated narrative project they've been trying since God In 3 Persons -- but the music is better and the narrative's honed down to the ugliest essentials, I think it's the best thing they've done in 15-20 years.

Anyone know where I can hear The Bunny Boy? Prindle reviewed it today but I can't find a single place to download/stream it. Strongly debating whether catching them on the upcoming tour is worth the money.

for archeologist fans of 'Santa Dog' curious about sample sources: http://closetcurios2.blogspot.com/2008/11/concert-percussion-for-orchestra.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeo_Roldán

The fifth and sixth of his Rítmicas (1930) appear to be the first works in the Western classical music tradition scored for percussion alone. -- take that, Varèse

which album would you recommend to someone interested in them because of the Tuxedomoon connection?

just picked this one up used at amoeba... http://www.discogs.com/release/339929

it's a good starting point for that sound, and obviously hearing tuxedomoon alongside some residents and snakefinger tracks will help cement that connection. as a whole it's a great listen with quite a lot of variety; one record is selected by ralph records mail-order subscribers and the other by the label/artists themselves.

also, i'm surprised that snakefinger's solo output hasn't been mentioned more on this thread. i'm quite a fan of 'manual of errors'

How is "Not Available"?

LOL @ polite OLD ILM "I have disagree with you there"

New fucking rude and snarky answers please

Don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere in ILM but the Ralph Records webstore is closing down : http://www.ralphamerica.com/

As of August 15, Ralph America will be closing due to the general state of the music business and the expanding cost of creating physical products. It's been a great ride. Thanks for all your support over the past 11 years.

started a POX thread to commemorate: POX Ralph Records

one of the earliest, weirdest, most important independent record labels in the history of the country and I felt like giving up on this place when only one other person contributed a list, but at least sleeve gave a pretty great list

Not Available is fantastic, everything from 1971-1980 is five stars

All I have is Icky Flix. All I need is Icky Flix.

milton totally OTM, but kids are too hip to be weird these days so whatevs.

'Not Available' is one of the best early 'difficult' records and a big gnarly concept album like Residents doing Tarkus.

N.A. has a lovely gauzy sound, possibly due to a primitive recording setup, it sounds kinda plaintive and wistful in places, which I would say is unusual for the Rez.

aw Milton I am glad my Chasms Accord fandom kept you from losing faith completely.

will rep for this song all day everyday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDDVXlEG-_I

my god, this is so cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p3hdT4vmBg

does anyone know is this is on any of their studio albums? i've been on Residents burnout for a while now but this is like the coolest thing I've ever seen

i guess "cool" aint the right word but it's the right balance of awesome and freaky and catchy, something the Residents don't achieve much

It's on The King and I. From the late 80s, I think.

it's the right balance of awesome and freaky and catchy, something the Residents don't achieve much

well, they certainly haven't often achieved it this side of the 70s.

"burning love" originally appears on the king and eye (1989).

[wot EZ said]

hmm, i'm not digging that version at all; the one I posted is so much more upbeat, this one is just a painful drawl like 80% of their other material

all I wanted is for them to make a few more records like Duck Stab

you and me both

the cover of their latest album is total O.o

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/bc176122c13f9d1266b6ffb81746582c/3673501.jpg

they certainly seems to have sped up their release schedule in the last 5 or so years. is any of it good?

i have friends who are serious fans, but haven't followed them myself, so i'm not really the best person to ask. i will say that they've expanded their musical palette considerably in the last half decade, at least trying to expand beyond the the clonking rhythms, painful drawling and atonal synths. you get some tuneful female vocals and genuinely moving moments on demons dance alone and animal lover. not really my thing, but much more intriguing than the bulk of their 80s/90s work.

I loved the concept behind "The Commercial Album" so much but it was sort of the point where I realized that they have like 60 albums out and only really do one thing, so if they change up things AT ALL that's a good sign. I mean an actual album of 40 fake commercial jingles would be awesome

that version of 'Burning Love' is closer to the live version documented on 'Cube E', one of their stronger 80's/90's projects. part 1 = cowboy music, part 2 = african american gospel / work songs, part 3 = Elvis

never really documented in full except on this live album that came out in 1994 which is worth tracking down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_E:_Live_in_Holland

now that I'm looking on discogs, looks like they released a DVD of it in 2006 as well as an online only 'full' edition last year.

as well as something like 12 full length albums in the last three years! good grief. they're just going for it. a lot of this seems like compilations of between-project overflow, which is fine, except that it does make it impossible to keep track of which ones are the real 'albums'. and I'm going to have to hunt down that 'Cube E' DVD -- I was there for the 1989 SF show and I loved it

yeah RYM's residents page has become unreadable since they documented all the Talking Light albums, now the 2006-2011 portion of the discography is longer than everything else combined

a similar thing is happening with Tangerine Dream, the last 5 years have been a flurry of odd releases, between remixes of old stuff, bootlegs, special projects, albums full of spillover, then like genuinely new stuff, but nobody really seems to be paying attention anymore

from what i can tell, these are their "proper albums" post Y2K:

demons dance alone (2002)
animal lover (2005*)
tweedles! (2006*)
the river of crime (2006 - "radio show" style storytelling)
the voice of midnight (2007*)
the bunny boy (2008)
the ughs! (2009 - debatable, as it seems to consist of repurposed demos)
coochie brake (2011)

looking at the package design for these albums, along with the non-performative visual component of their work over the past 25 years or so (packaging, videos, etc.), it's hard not to see the residents as a band done in by consistently hideous design as much as by the grating sounds and jokes that haters usually single out. for artists whose rep is so heavily dependent on the eye candy appeal of their theatrical live shows, their overall design aesthetic is fucking horrible. if the shit looked better, i bet they'd get a bit more respect.

* on mute, which i find surprising for some reason

like frogs, i'd appreciate a knowledgeable but critically-distanced rundown of the recent stuff

Didn't keep up with the recent stuff either.

FYI: they've just released ERA B4-74 by the way (as a download), which contains original (= non-remixed) songs from the Warner Bros Album and even material from Ballad of the Stuffed Trigger. Stuff the band claimed would never officially be released. Would their financial situation be that dire nowadays?

The Bunny Boy album is supposed to be in the vain of Duck Stab by the way, in that it contains 'poppy' songs. It is indeed very upbeat and to-the-point; compared to all those storytellers albums that came before it (Tweedles/River/Voice).

>ERA B4-74

thank you for letting me know about this. looks like it has bits from Baby Sex as well as the long '69 Jamboree session (which perhaps is also known as Stuffed Trigger, dunno as I've never heard that or Rusty Coathangers).

Baby Sex really is good enough to be released intact -- I actually think it's stronger / weirder than Meet The Residents. Warner Brothers Album is interesting but I haven't spent as much time with it.

Yeah, ERA b4-74 contains the Hallowed by thy Ween section from Baby Sex.

Are you familiar with the Oh Mummy Oh Daddy Can't You See? show? They've released that as a download too, last year. Snakefinger is on fire on that take-no-prisoners early recording.

see, why they gotta put out these things download-only when they're pressing copies of five to ten new albums every year

thank you for sounding the alarm, that sounds great

I believe that the band is seriously dying. They've been touring like crazy over the last years and release, like, at least one new download release every month. They don't sell enough hard copy anymore to release everything on CD. I personally would love to see a CD-box that contains all the pre-1974 material; but that moment seemed to have passed.

I also sense a certain disappointment in their work. They had this Bunny Boy Internet series, that slowly bled to death visitors-wise. Mute Records put a halt to their deluxe treatment of the classic Residents material. And their new music doesn't sell well enough anymore to put on actual CD. Point is: in the old days the band would use this to their advantage, would create a story around it, giving the idea that it was intended to be like this, because they are avantgarde and always go against the grain. But now it just feels like defeat and giving in.

That being said, I personally adore all their pre-1982 stuff (and there are some gems after that too) and will always be interested in anything that resurfaces from that period.

This is what I know about the recent output:

demons dance alone (2002)

The bands' response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. Dark electronic music with some pop sensibility and surprisingly personal and emotional lyrics.

animal lover (2005*)

Another 'pop' album and a return to form regarding to many fans and critics. People that were into the band in the past and want to see if they can re-enter start here.

tweedles! (2006*)
the river of crime (2006 - "radio show" style storytelling)
the voice of midnight (2007*)

Storyteller albums in the vain of God in 3 Persons, except that the music doesn't contain hooks or songs, it just sets the mood for the dark themed stories (that contain many characters).

the bunny boy (2008)

Upbeat 'pop' album with many short songs that could appeal to lovers of Duck Stab and Commercial Album, though it isn't just a carbon copy of that.

In addition to this the band released on CD and or download an abundance of left-over tracks, instrumental mixes and live recordings, including the ughs! (2009) - which is ugly and weird like The Big Bubble.

My personal problem with post-1982 Residents is that the music is not really band material anymore but mainly keyboard based; which not only dates quickly but also sounds very ugly. The Residents like a particular harsh electronic sound which I personally can't take, no matter how good the performed music may be.

this thread just reminded me that i found the diskomo 12" in one of the 20 boxes in my closet!

i've have these on CD already for some time -

Meet the Residents
Not Available
The Third Reich 'n' Roll
Eskimo
Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses [1997 double disc comp.]

just picked up these -

The Commercial Album
The Tunes of Two Cities
Mark of the Mole

(1) are the ones i just bought any good?? tried to stick to early '80s stuff, based on what i've heard about post-82/83

(2) what else is worth getting & essential that i'm missing?

Duck Stab/Buster & Glenn is a must!

Intermission is really good in my opinion. It's mostly instrumental which makes it easier to take for non-devotees

Snakefinger - Greener Postures

it's the best residents album imo

"James Brown stole the eyeball!"

yeah, Duck Stab/Buster & Glen is a must have, also the Satisfaction and Beatles singles.

commercial album is great though

Everything they did up till the start of the Mole Trilogy is worth having imo, they really were amazingly consistent

"Commercial Album" is very "how to make a really personal album while dressed up as nutters so no-one notices"