Residents
(Mute)
It’s not uncommon for music to connect with people by making listeners imagine themselves involved in its presentation. They may not necessarily become the lead singer, but, caught up in the excitement, they see themselves flailing away on guitar, thwacking a drum, or unobtrusively Wyman-ing the bass. It’s the lure of rock ‘n’ roll and it is what spawned tens of thousands of bands, most destined to only please themselves. The Residents took that aspect and smashed it to bits. It would be the rare individual who, listening to this faceless band, would be so swept into the proceedings that they’d be playing one of the variously adapted instruments. Resolutely cerebral, whatever emotions that do come forth cannot be pinned on any particular member and are instead the cumulative effect of the music in its seamless entirety.
The label Mute is continuing its deluxe reissue series for The Residents’ back catalog. Duck Stab, originally a 7” EP thirty years ago, was long ago expanded with the inclusion of the similarly brief Buster & Glen. It is song based and full of chant-like choruses, altered voices, and the nervous guitar tones of Snakefinger. Alternately cheesy, macabre, and downright funny, there a references aplenty to their musical forebears (such as with the instrumental “The Booker Tease”).
Eskimo appeared a couple years later and tossed Western Civilization’s cherished rock ‘n’ roll out the window in favor of invented world music built around fictitious Eskimo legends and sonic impressions of the Great Frozen North. Unlike anything at the time, and still the case today.
Standout Tracks: “Blue Rosebuds,” “Weight Lifting Lulu” (Duck Stab); “The Angry Angakok” (Eskimo) DAVID GREENBERGER
