How to Meet The Residents

An opinionated pathway into the wonder of weird

Here's one question people ask me very often: "Eleanor," they say, "I hear that The Residents are one of the most interesting and exciting art groups of the last half century, and I'd like to get to know their music and art better, but with dozens of albums, live shows, and multimedia projects, I just don't know where to get started. Can you recommend anything?"

OK, let's be honest here - no one ever asks me that. God knows why. But if anyone ever does, I can now point them to this page.

What follows is an opinionated pathway into the world of The Residents. It consists mostly of my own favourites, along with pieces I think any new listener should experience, rather than necessarily the works best known by the public at large.

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We'll start by skipping the entire early period of the early to mid-70s. While albums like "Meet the Residents" and "The Third Reich'n'Roll" are the ones most commonly mentioned, I consider them more of an important historical record rather than anything you'd want to listen to for appreciation.

The Commercial Album

For an easy intro, we'll start with the Commercial Album. The album comprises 40 songs, each exactly one minute long. This started as one of the Residents' publicity stunts. Frustrated by the lack of attention they were getting from broadcast radio, the Residents bought ad slots to force their way onto the airwaves. These pieces demonstrate the Residents' rich palette, featuring collaborations with frequent contributors like Snakefinger. If a song doesn't appeal to you, another one starts in less than a minute.

Eskimo

Eskimo is one of The Residents' best known records, and presents 'new-music' aspirations that wouldn't be out of place in Boulez's IRCAM. At the same time, it is ridiculous in a very recognizably Residents fashion. The cover artwork features, for the first time, the iconic besuited eyeballs costumes.

Title in Limbo (with Renaldo and the Loaf)

For a period, the Residents tried to expand their empire by releasing albums by other artists on their Ralph Records label. That turned out to be a commercial flop. However, it did result in some memorable collaborations. Title in Limbo was recorded during sessions with British weirdos Renaldo and the Loaf at the Residents' San Francisco studios. It was released during a dry spell while the Residents worked on more ambitious compositions, primarily to generate cashflow. The album is one of my favourites—it is very recognisably the Residents, but through a different prism.

The Big Bubble

This release is quintessentially Residents. Before completing the third part of their Mole Trilogy, they released a fourth installment - an appendix. The Big Bubble features a fictional band of the same name, presenting the popular music of the mole world. It's fucking weird. The Residents have a unique ability to distil popular music to its essence.

God in Three Persons

A Residents classic, "God in Three Persons" is an American opera (fans of Robert Ashley, like myself, might find a familiar approach here, albeit with a Residential twist). It is one of the Residents' best records of the late '80s, with great sound and conceptual integrity. As the Residents struggled with the practicalities of live performance production, the show wouldn't find its way to the stage until many years later, when it was commissioned for live performance by the New York Museum of Modern Art. The original record is better than the videos I managed to catch a glimpse of, though.

Cube-E (The History Of American Music)

A significant part of the Residents' late-80s work focused on interpreting the American musical canon through Hank Williams and Elvis records, along with related shows and projects. This period also landed them their first radio and TV hits: "Kaw-Liga" (set to a loop sampled from Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean") and "This Is a Man's World" (featuring a wonderfully weird CGI video that received disproportionate airtime on MTV when innovative music videos were still rare). Cube-E is a collection of live recordings summarizing this period. The Dynasonic remastered version sounds significantly better than the studio recordings, and the documentation of the show is delightful.

The Freak Show

"Everyone comes to the freak show, but nobody laughs when they leave." Always eager to exploit new media and technology, The Residents embraced CD-ROMs in the 90s to produce some of the first (and last) popular multimedia works before the internet era. The Freak Show invites the listener/player into a multimedia computer game to visit a classic freak show, featuring characters like Harry the Head, Wanda the Worm Woman, and Jellow Jack. This album represents The Residents' peak MIDI period - while the sound is flatter and less dynamic as they were still figuring out digital music, it remains worth a listen.

Wormwood

Just as it was becoming clear that the multimedia thing is short lived, a miracle happened and the residents finally nailed the live touring band thing, and together with a cast of co-residents like guitarist Nolan Cook and singer Molly Harvey, they put together some of their best live band records and tours. Wormwood is based on the bible’s most grewsome and awful stories. As with many projects from this period, the live recordings are much better than the original studio versions.

Demons Dance Alone

Following Wormwood the residents toured with Icky Flix, a show celebrating their extensive video output (and an excuse for parading “best hits” to their fans). But just when it seemed like they are getting ready to go all nostalgic, 2002 found the residents at their best (and worst) with the beautiful, sad, and dyphoric Demons Dance Alone. Once again, the live show was much better than the studio album.

Animal Lover

Released in 2005, Animal Lover marks a new period in The Residents' long career. The live touring era fades and transforms into a less focused pop-combo format as the extended band reconfigures itself. However, this is also when The Residents finally master digital music and studio recording, enabling them to produce their most beautiful and sophisticated music to date. Animal Lover is rich and complex, dark in tone, and while ostensibly about animals, it reveals profound truths about human vulnerability. It is one of my favourite Residents albums.

Coochie Brake (by Sonidos de la Noche)

Recorded and released by 3/4 of The Residents, without their regular singing resident, this beautiful record is one of the last ones featuring the group's main composer and musical director over the decades. Previously known as Charles or Chuck Bobuck, he was later revealed to be Hardy Fox, president of The Residents' management company, Cryptic Corporation. Fox reached a creative peak during this period, when leaving The Residents to focus on his own music and health. In the following years, he would release some of his best work under various names and his own. Hardy Fox died tragically, way too early, in 2018, leaving behind an astonishing legacy of decades-long musical wonders. The Residents continue to record and tour, though not at the same pace as in previous years.