The Residents
 

What is there really to say? These guys are the original avant-rock band... they've been around since the 60's and are still at it. They have recorded an incredible range of material, from skewed dada rock to weird experimental electronica. From albums like "The Commercial Album," where each song is about a minute long and is meant to be played three times to resemble a pop song to "The Third Reich N' Roll," which takes killing yr idols to a whole new level (deconstructing various garage rock songs in epic style), The Residents have been breaking down barriers of good taste for decades in classic absurdist style.

I can't agree more. For anyone looking to artists like Mike Patton or Captain Beefheart as the forerunners in avante-rock, The Residents have been doing it far longer and anonymously!

I really like the spoken word story on God in Three Persons as well as the albums listed above.

Oh, and Duck Stab

and wormwood

God in Three Persons is a masterpiece

I don't listen to them often, but they're cool.

Don't like everything they do but i'm glad they exist.

So are the aforementioned albums the ones to go for? Someone give me a list and I will get-a-hunting!

Every Resident's album I have heard have been totally different to the last one I heard.

I say just throw yourself in at the deep end & see what you get.
I think that's one of the things I like about them most.

I got hold of the Commercial Album and I will go from there.

I despise them;)

Haha, obviously. I can tell from your avatar.

Ok I listened to the Commercial Album. Did'nt like it. I will perservere and try another.

Check out their cover of the Rolling Stones Satisfaction.

That should give you a sort of reference point to start from.

Criminally, I'm only just experiencing the Residents, having just got 'Eskimo'. It's easy to hate on avant-garde soundscapes but I love this, and the myth that surrounds the collective just adds to it.

I should like to point out at this time that i've never actually been able to find a copy of Meet The Residents *coughcough*

I think this can be fixed. ;)

*coughs* not sure what i could do in return for a man with LTJ Bukem's Logical Progression in their collection mind...

Lol. Oh lawd

How does one go about describing the power of the Residents? They are great and original in a scary sortof way, it's class

I like how irrelevant the diversity of their music is to their excellence, but I personally prefer their concept albums. Eskimo is probably my favourite because, while it doesn't push the boundaries of musical conventions like GI3P does, it's near-perfect for what it is.

I'm probably not making much sense but whatevs.

I still need to hear Duck Stab EP, Mark of the Mole, the Tunes of Two Cities and the Voice of Midnight

where do you go with the Residents after the debut and 'Eskimo' (swiftly becoming one of my favourite records)?

I just don't know what to make of this band at all. I need to really sit down and session out on them to appreciate what they are about.

The Residents... a must
 

ok, just in case some of you don't know that band, they're the weirdest you'll EVER see, they've been around since the 60s and still make albums. No one ever saw their faces. Live, they play behind a curtain, they always wear eyeballs over their heads, and the music/video clips they make is pure genious... seriously look it up, there are some of their videos on youtube, but prepare to have nightmares

That show must be TERRIBLE. Not seeing the band play???

I can stare at a curtain with headphones on at home.

from what i understand their shows are audio-visual orgasms. i'm seeing them in a couple weeks so i'll get back to you.

I was at a local show awhile ago and there was this rapper in a Residents shirt who sounded exactly like a robot. I feel this story is worth sharing.

Apparantly I've heard rumors that the Residents recruit obscure musicians every time a member leaves or they wish to add to their number.

The really interesting thing is, that we don't know how obscure, or if their members are obscure at all. The members of the band could possibly be musicians we all know very well, but we just don't know they're residents.

I have Duck Stab/Buster&Glen, Commercial Album, Third Reich and Roll and a part of The Gingerbread Man. They're such a great band. I remember playing "Freak Show" as a child, I still wish I was able to play it.

the residents are not real. they are just some sort of cloud in each of our minds which were placed by aliens when we were asleep


mrow

I will have to reluctantly agree with you there.

start re-reading your sentences before you submit them or snakefingers will slit your throat while you are unconscious in your bed

Snakefinger is dead you jerk!

I'm looking to get into this band but I don't know where to start. Any helpers?

Meet The Residents is probably the best way. Definitely an acquired taste. The only others I have is Commercial Album and Tweedles. The latter is easier on the ear so maybe that one.

Check your PMs :)

I've got through Meet the Residents a few times today. Very bizarre stuff, but it's exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for for my iTunes library. Great band, I can see myself getting into these fellas

Demons Dance Alone from 2002 also has some good tracks on it.

From demons dance alone (possibly before?), they seem to have recruited a female person as well.

There are quite a few myths surrounding The Residents. One is that the manager who speaks to the media on their behalf (The Residents don't really say anything) is actually the lead singer in the band. Another interesting thing to think of is that we don't know how many lineup changes they've been through. Are the residents today the same who released Meet the Residents back then?

Most cryptic lyrics ever.

Bach is dead. Bach is dead.

Here I come Constantinople, I am coming Constantinople, here I come.

I always liked the song Lizard Lady.



What's a woman going to do
But throw away her bread;
Her feet are feeling funny
As she lies beneath the bed;
She reminisces of the pungent Adriatic Sea,
And then she crawls and counts her cans
And twitches like a flea.

What she really likes to do
Is sit upon a pew,
And make believe that time has stopped
And motionless is new;
Planes are stranded in the sky
And drains are stopping, too,
And she alone is laughing under
Eyelids full of flu.
She scurries hurries worries that
The wicked will receive
Their candy from a handsome man
And coffee from a thief;
She gazes at a hourglass and
Asks it if it cares,
And then she wonders if the lizard
Likes his lettuce rare:


"Lizard, yes a lizard, little lizard of the sea,
Conspicuously alcoholic, flicks his tongue at me!
Release me lizard! Licking lizard,
blizzard of the bea,
Mushed inside a sock you still
dare me --- to die
Dare me to die --- at home..."

"Coating all my lungs with honey,
Sticky coating running runny,
Feet of lizard fly!
And stop and fly and stop and fly
And flicker tongue is licking out
To find me --- feel me. Hide!
Hide from the tongue!
The tongue is coming! Cruising! Oozing!
Over land and under ashes,
In the sunlight, see -- it flashes,
Find a fly and eat his eye,
But don't believe in me.
Don't believe in me.
Don't believe in me."


.. Cryptic!

Re. the lineup, from what I understand, the original band was more a democratic organization, but then in the early 80s a couple of the guys quit, and it became more the band it's been since, which is basically one poet-dude writing songs and... well... I don't actually know, and I wouldn't be surprised if the lyricist was also the main guy arranging the music and programming everything, but it could equally well be a Depeche Mode kind of setup where there's one main music guy and one main lyrics guy.

In any case, I feel there's WAY too much unity in the musical style for it to be multiple main composers of the music. It feels very composed, even if the composition is by an ensemble (e.g. one long-time percussion dude doing kind of the same things against the keys).

I disagree that all Residents albums sound different from each other. In fact, they really fricking run together for me quite a lot, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Like a good author like Kurt Vonnegut, the lyrics and themes are a growing variation on a core sensibility that's repeated through a lot of things, and likewise the music, as I said, sounds to me like the work of more or less one dude, using guest musicians (guitars/horns/etc.) to a greater or lesser extent on different albums.

In keeping with my somewhat-speculated-upon lineup history above, I also draw a pretty sharp distinction between the old Residents of Commercial Album/Duck Stab/Meet the Residents/3rd Reich (and my FAVORITE, "Not Available," which to me sounds more free and crazy), and the later, more story-oriented stuff starting maybe with God in Three Persons.

I think my favorite may be Wormwood, where the narrative is really strong and interesting and the music is in a lot of places downright pleasant. I also really dug the River of Crime stuff on iTunes, which drops all pretensions of being songs and just has some cool stories read over some cool musical backdrop. It's musical theater a la Frank Zappa.

I'm loving this forum, so many new experimental bands that I've never heard of are being mentioned here.

Anybody have any album recommendations for these guys? I'm looking into buying one of their albums.

Jesus read the thread would you?

I want to listen to this band, they've always been hovering around my list but i've never got round to it. If anybody has any material they think would be a good starting point that would be amazing?