DUCK STAB / BUSTER & GLEN

Holy Mother of God. Now that's bizarre, atonal and ominous music. Initially, THE RESIDENTS' compositions sociopathic coldness and detachment from "what humans commonly perceive as pleasant music" is quite a brutal shock, but after that initial blast and some acclimatization, its eerie atmosphere is captivating, poppy, and uncannily familiar.

Poppy? Familiar? How so?

Well, pay attention, see. THE RESIDENTS' first cover was of jocular but feral superimposed faces over each of the Beatles, which, as far as their music suggest on DUCK STAB, indicates the band as one likes to deconstruct popular music with a nice, bizarre subversive touch to it. And "popular music" is the common ground between us humans and the creation of these eyeball-headed deities: DUCK STAB sounds like a Lovecraftian corruption of garage rock, surf rock, psychedelic pop and other genres, but it still resembles garage rock, surf rock, psychedelic music and other genres. A slight detail that prevents alienation.

So, familiar.

Verdict: you probably wouldn't ever expect pop to sound like this. I know, me neither. But DUCK STAB is that much of an epiphanic record.

Here is my brainstorm for each track:

Constantinople resembles The Four Lads' Instabul not Constantinople (the rhythm of the vocals for the verses is practically identical).

The Booker Tease is essentially dissonant jazz noir, or free jazz I think.

Blue Rosebuds' palm muted backing guitars (pay attention to it on the falsetto midsection) reminds me of surf rock, and the overall atmosphere makes me think of the sea (honestly, that weird-sounding thing in the background feels like iron drums, which is the instrument commonly associated to sea due to its Caribbean nature).

Laughing Song is like an evil new wave.

Elvis and his Boss is, in my opinion, a clear take on rockabilly. The vocals' rhythm is pretty much identical to the stereotypical rockabilly music. And.... Saxophone solos.

Semolina is probably a Cthulhuan cover of Jump. The bombastic keyboards make me think of it as stadium rock (or AOR).

Weight Lifting Lulu begins as psychedelic pop/rock, in my opinion. Listen to that guitar.

The Electrocutioner feels like a dissonant 80s synthpop mixed with No Wave-ish guitar solos. The outro is classic Vaudevillian vocals.

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