The Post-Punk & New Wave Desk:

Aftermath of punk: ethereal youth

(one of the best lists ever!)

Pylon - Gyrate (1980)



Chosen by wrdlbrmpf.

Place albums.

The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro (1980)



Chosen by Cylob.

Place albums.

Today's Hero: Feb 13th

Julian Cope



(click image)

Chosen by wrdlbrmpf

Place Heroes

The The - This Is The Day

Well, you didn't wake up this morning because you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall is ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world couldn't buy back those days

You pull back your curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place

You could've done anything If you'd wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with the memories
That hold your life together ... like glue

You pull back your curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place

This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change

Chosen by jenevive.

Place lyrics.

A YouTube Favourite complete with British spelling:

XTC - Making Plans for Nigel (1979)

Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand (1986)

By schizodanny.

Thanks go to dim_the_droog for creating the template of this tutorial along with his amazing tutorial to Nick Cave. Also big thanks to JohanHill for his real-time help and support while I was writing this. :)

Contents
* Background
* The 70s (includes their essential albums)
* Details on the "performance era"
* Details on the "multimedia era"
* Currently
* Videos and visual art
* Conclusion

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BACKGROUND

When trying to get into The Residents, one must understand that part of their history is pure fiction. Who are The Residents? Basically no one knows, but it seems they're 3 persons with eyeball heads and another one called Mr. Skull (who was, at first, also an eyeball head). Sounds funny? Well, it is and it ain't.

Quick obligatory facts: avant-garde band; they work under N. Senada's (who is, apparently, another creation of The Residents' lore) Theory Of Obscurity; they are credited with the creation of the first music video (note that, when MTV began, The Residents' videos were in heavy rotation since they were among the few available); some people think they're The Beatles.

One of the most (in)famous legend surrounding them is that, in 1970 they first submitted tapes to Warner Brothers; the studio wasn't impressed, and as the group hadn't included a name with the cassette, it was simply returned to "The Residents", and thus they found themselves an identity.

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THE 70s
also called their "album era", includes their essential albums.


Meet The Residents (1974)
The first full-length release, a very playful album despite a certain bleak atmosphere. Quirky, so to speak. The first few songs revolve around Nancy Sinatra's "There Boots Are Made For Walking". Not bad at all. Notice the cover mocking The Beatles.


Third Reich 'n' Roll (1976)
ESSENTIAL! Their second (officially) released album, it is a parody of pop music and commercials from the 1960s. The work consists of two side-long pastiches of various songs from the period. The liner notes state that approximately 30 songs have been utilized. Some are obvious, while others are almost unrecognizable. I think it's absolutely fascinating!! A "covers" album in the most unusual way.


Fingerprince (1976)
Considered the most "easy-listenable" release of their early days, Fingerprince is, if anything, an underrated record of "pop" songs in the ways of The Residents. "You Yesyesyes" is absolutely brilliant. And then comes the second side, a twenty minute symphony covering the evolution of humankind, and it's clearly not a favorable history! The music is random and features a recurring rhythmic theme and manages to convey the idea that even though man has progressed technologically, the underlying sense of chaos and self-destructive tendencies still remain (quite cliche, is it not?)


Duck Stab/Buster and Glen (1978)
ESSENTIAL! A disturbing release of madness (and medication)! Nasal vocals, off key guitars, dissonant electronic toys, and surreal yet disturbing lyrics. Like drugs, scary and addictive. Insanity. Madness. Yet accessible. Well, it's accessible because it's quite melodic (with a twist). Amazing tracks: Constantinople, Hello Skinny. This is the record to start out with!


Not Available (1978)
ESSENTIAL! If Duck Stab was a release of madness, this is a release of genius. Not Available was originally recorded as a follow-up to 1974's Meet the Residents. However, following the Theory of Obscurity, it was immediately locked away in a bank vault with no plans to issue it until the members of the band had completely forgotten about its existence. It did surface in 1978 due to continued delays on the Eskimo album and the Cryptic Corporation's desire to have some sort of Residents release, as the re-release of the single "Satisfaction" the same year had garnered some attention in Europe. The "official" word was that The Residents had stated Not Available could never be released. The group claimed that they had recorded their musical film noir masterpiece in secrecy as a way of exercising their "theory of obscurity" to its fullest. A concept album with a full-fledged story. It's surreal, yet sincere and sublime. Truth be told, this sounds like NOTHING else and there never will be an album that will sound even remotely similar to Not Available. This is the third record you should be looking into.


Eskimo (1979)
ESSENTIAL! Rather than actual songs, the pieces are generally made up of sound effects, occasional playing on home-made instruments and gibberish standing in for actual Inuit. The stories were all created by the group and, despite their claims otherwise, is not meant to be a true historical document of life in the Arctic. Some call this the best Residents album but I disagree. However, it's a classic.


The Commercial Album (1980)
ESSENTIAL! The Commercial Album has a simple concept that works very, very well. It pares down the concept and structure of the average commercial pop song and reduces it to a one-minute redux (why? Well, they thought there's no need to repeat the verse/chorus structure). It's trippy, it's fun, go for it! This is the second record you should be looking into.

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THE 80s
also known as the "performance era".

After The Commercial Album, The Residents changed for the worse. To me, they became just an eclectic project that still puts out interesting stuff from time to time but it isn't stuff you'd kill for.

The Mole Trilogy
consisting of:
Part I - Mark Of The Mole (1981)
Part II - The Tunes Of Two Cities (1982)
Part IV - The Big Bubble (1985)

This "trilogy" is detailing the conflicts between the Moles (a subterranean society whose gods offer salvation through hard labor) and the Chubs (a vapid, hedonistic culture).

After the Moles are forced to abandon their tunnels due to flooding, they enter the land of the Chubs seeking work. At first they are welcomed with open arms because the Chubs despise hard labor. Conflict arises when a Chub scientist invents a machine that can do the work instead, making the Moles obsolete and a drag on Chub society. What follows is a brief war. The short instrumental track "Resolution?" ends the album without giving a clear conclusion to the narrative; the liner notes to the album Big Bubble (billed as "Part four of the mole trilogy") states that the war ended with no clear winner, and the two ethnic groups live together in uneasy peace.

As some guy on rateyourmusic said, "it really sounds like some kind of a steampunk underground metropolis vision in an indie cartoon movie". If that's your things and if you like concepts and trilogies, you should really check this out, it's not bad by a long shot.

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Weird as it is, this marked the first Residents official tour.

Backstage at the Hollywood Palace show in December 26, 1985 one member's eyeball mask (Mr. RedEye) was stolen, so it was replaced with a giant skull mask. The eye was returned by a devoted fan who discovered where the thief lived and stole it back (although Homer Flynn has stated that the person who returned the mask was most probably the thief himself). It was put into retirement because it was now "unclean" (and in a bad condition) and had become a superfluous shell.

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The Residents started doing another interesting thing back in the 80s. You'll see what I mean.

The American Composers Series:
George & James (1984)
Stars & Hank Forever (1985)

The American Composer Series was originally supposed to be an ongoing project lasting from 1984 until 2000 that profiled a number of different artists. The idea was to "make music about music." Ultimately only two full albums surfaced although a few tracks from the planned album profiling Sun Ra have surfaced.

We have some reworked George Gershwin songs, James Brown's classic Live At The Apollo, Hank Williams. If you're a fan of either you should check them out.

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1988 brought us God in Three Persons, another great concept album. A rock opera of sorts about a man called 'Mr. X' and two Conjoined twins, one male and one female; the songs are all sung in a rhythmic spoken word fashion, similar to talking blues. A companion soundtrack album, featuring most of the instrumental backing tracks, was also released.

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Lastly, we have The King And Eye, released in 1989, which consists of a series of Elvis Presley songs strung together with a narration exploring what motivated him throughout his career. Through the perspective of a father telling his children fables about a long dead king and his songs, and a poignant string of narrative interludes - "The Baby King" - (which are hilarious) the work hints at a darker side of the Elvis mystique and questions the spiritual nature of his reign.

And between all these, they continued to tour.

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THE 90s
also known as the "multimedia era".

Now, The Residents start experimenting with even newer techniques of the technology age. This kindly gave us Freak Show in 1990.

Much of the music was made with various MIDI devices. "Freak Show" also served as the name for a CD-ROM that was released in 1994. Several of the songs were also performed live during the 1997 25th anniversary concerts at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

The whole thing is the depiction of the fact that freaks are still being ostracized by society and laughed at - they just don't get paid to do it any more.

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Gingerbread Man from 1994 is another staple release from this period, as it was their first venture into computer graphics. Original versions of the CD were "enhanced" with animations that followed the music when played on a computer. The animations served as a basis for the costumes of the characters when a number of the songs were performed in the 25th anniversary shows in 1997.

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Do you like video games? Then Bad Day On the Midway (1995) is for you, being a game designed and scored by The Residents and a number of other graphic artists. The game allowed the player to switch from character to character in order to solve a number of puzzles: what put the park's owner in a coma? Who is killing off the carnies? Is it possible to keep the I.R.S. from closing everything down?

The graphics appear dated now, but in its time the game's level of play was quite innovative for a point-and-click adventure game.

The game was optioned by Ron Howard at Imagine Television for a proposed series to be directed by David Lynch. After two years of meetings with Lynch, the project was dropped because a script was never agreed upon. Of note is that, if the project had happened, The Residents would have not been creatively involved as their contract only gave them consulting roles in the pilot (the first show.)

The character Timmy was later brought back in a series of short videos by the Residents (but we'll get back to that later).

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Have a view on religion? The Residents have just the right thing for you, Wormwood (1998). The album's purpose is to state some of the more negative stories in the Bible, not to condemn or condone, but to give people a greater understanding, although the liner notes do sometimes give a sarcastic and almost mocking sense.

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A rather obvious question that will arise at this point is "how do the Residents sound at this time?". Well, vocal work is scarce, electronics are in full bloom, there's a general commodity with their releases, meaning that they're not "avant-garde" anymore, just "experimental". Some release even border on ambient.

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RECENT AND CURRENT

In recent years, The Residents have released three full-fledged LPs. Let's take a look at them.

Demons Dance Alone (2002) is their take on the emotional effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

A very different release than most of their stuff, this heavily features Molly Harvey, a Ralph employee that started contributing to virtually all their projects recently. She has a very good voice which makes this record very mellow and touching. It's nice to know The Residents are still anchored in reality.

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Animal Lover (2005) brings them back to their dark side and it portrays life through the eyes of different animals. Musically, they've added some very organic sounds to the already famous creepy synth, adding lots of acoustic bass, harmonica and violin to the processed sounds of electric guitar and keyboards. There's also a fairly extensive use of chimes, gongs, and "gamelan".

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Tweedles (2006) has a special place in my heart as it was recorded in my country of birth and living, Romania. And it even has a PARENTAL ADVISORY sticker. But first, I will add that the Film Orchestra of Bucharest contributed to it. Yes, an orchestra. But now, some info

"A young gentleman in Romania had built himself a state of the art recording studio and had the wild dream of asking his favorite band, The Residents to try it out. As it happened, The Residents' own studio was undergoing a process known as seismic upgrade. In other words, strengthening the building to withstand a major earthquake. The group could not use the facility for a year. Fate had again stepped in and The Residents saw no reason not to have a look at the studio. The group boarded a jet for Bucharest in early 2006 with the idea of recording a couple of tracks while taking a nice vacation in a country they had never visited. Since no ideas had been formed in advance as to what would be recorded, they felt it was appropriate to record everything during the trip, including the jet's take off.

The group understood that their ultimate destination was not Bucharest, but a town 400 kilometers away, Hunedoara. Hunedoara was in the area of Romania known as Transylvania, historically the home of Count Vlad III, fictionalized by Bram Stoker as the vampire Dracula. By the time they landed in Bucharest, they had outlined an album about a "vampire" of sorts. Not a Bela Lugosi vampire, but one that feasted on broken hearts; a man who devoured the romantic emotions of others as a source of power. A man who took the stance that anyone who would stoop so low as to love him was not worth loving in return.

As it turned out, the group fell in love with Hunedoara and as they produced their story of sexual compulsion, their impromptu recordings of street musicians, church bells and a small traveling circus soon made it into their electronic pieces. The circus had especially captured their attention with its strong Felliniesque presence. Additionally, The Residents product manager at Mute happened to be Romanian and he had connections with classical musicians in Bucharest. As a result, The Film Orchestra of Bucharest interpreted some of the group's electronic compositions and these recordings were also integrated into the new work.

These compositions tended to focus less on harmonics and melody than their previous effort, Animal Lover, and could only be described as a patchwork of new and often exotic textures. For the group, this patchwork was the reflection of an often chaotic, but uniquely immersive experience."

(Quite interesting, I might add)

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2006 has been, just as always, a busy year when it comes to side projects. The River Of Crime Instrumental Soundtrack is available fully streamable on last.fm right here. Enjoy.

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VIDEOS AND VISUAL ART

The Residents have always had a deep appreciation for the visual side of their music, so here are some of the staples:

Here is the video for Third Reich 'N' Roll...



And here are four videos that have been put out for The Commercial Album...



And now, you are going to experience another amazing side of The Residents, their Timmy shorts that have been posted weekly on youtube for the last 6 months. Soundtracks obviously also composed by The Residents.

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CONCLUSION

The Residents have put out an amazing body of work in the last 33 years, it's incomprehensible and, just as well, can't be wholly covered in this tutorial. I think an encyclopedia would maybe do the trick. The amount of albums, cds, projects, videos, collaborations they have is scary.

Once again, my suggestion is to start with the essential albums, preferably Duck Stab, then The Commercial album, then Not Available, then Third Reich 'N' Roll, then Eskimo, then Meet The Residents, then Fingerprince. Then it's mostly up to you. I'd suggest continuing with Mark Of The Mole and God In 3 Persons and stuff like that from the 80s, but if you want to sample the recent stuff, Demons Dance Alone or Tweedles are (almost) just as good.

LINKS

Official Site
Historical Site
MySpace
Snakefinger (collaborator)
Ralph Records

(I'm sure there are errors in whatever - tagging, years - feel free to point them out to me so I can edit)

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I'm also considering a future update. Things to include:
* more about Snakefinger
* The Residents Radio Special
* Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?
* Santa Dog, Satisfaction
* Kaw-Liga (Billy Jean beat)

YouTube Favorite...

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax (1983)

Mark Stewart & The Mafia - Resistance of the Cell

It's time for...

"100 Post-Punk Anthems"

The Chameleons - Second Skin
Lords of the New Church - Open Your Eyes
New Model Army - Brave New World

List: 100 Post-Punk Anthems, Count: 3

It's time for...

"100 Post-Punk Anthems"

The Chameleons - Second Skin
Cocteau Twins - Blind Dumb Deaf
Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty
Grauzone - Eisbär
Lords of the New Church - Open Your Eyes
New Model Army - Brave New World
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling

List: 100 Post-Punk Anthems, Count: 7