DUCK STAB / BUSTER & GLEN

The Residents... If you were ever weird, well then you weren't. That simple. The Residents are at least 500 times weirder than you. Their music is such a distorted nightmare... but strangely it's a nightmare you'll enjoy very much if you have a stomach for it. The Residents are one of the toughest bands to get into, it took months over months for me to finally understand what they were trying to do, a listen here a listen there and then it just all slammed into place. Therefore my first review of one of my truly favourite bands of all time will be a review of their most accessible and fun albums: The two combined EPs which are Duck Stab and Buster and Glen.

Who are the Residents? How the hell should I know? They are your weirdest acid trip more or less. They sound like they've been listening to R&B records through a record player which had heroin injected to it. Add a bunch of synths and electronic experimentations, creepy Louisiana accents (the band's home state), and you're a step closer to understand who the Residents are: a bunch of boys who were probably rather socially awkward and had rather creative and manic minds. No bands ever truly managed to do what the Residents did, but the number of artists influenced by the Residents is countless. Their advancements in electronic music, their strange vocal delivery, their oddball image, showed people what weirdness truly is.

On this record you have some of the more fun and accessible material as I said. The songs are around 2-3/3:30 minutes, and all have something similar to a melody to enjoy. They're all at least great, some better than others. Some definite highlights are: The forever addictive "Constantinople", the eerie and frightening "Blue Rosebuds", the violin filled "Laughing Song", the short and sweet "Bach Is Dead", The bluesy "Sinister Exaggerator", The hilarious "Birthday Boy", the strangely beautiful "The Electrocutioner". But honestly there's nothing really bad in this album at all and almost everything is quite the masterpiece, except for a few songs which are great and still very enjoyable ("Semolina" for example). It's all to be listened to.

The Residents are master producers and composers. The production isn't out of this world, but it really only adds to the Residents fun. The lo-fi is adds a special sort of intimate feature to the Residents, most of the times at least (the Residents discography is big and there aren't missing any less than spectacular releases, but the amount of great albums is staggering). Also the late great Snakefinger does some very cool guitar parts. Strange and creepy bluesy riffs sometimes pop up and add to the party. The songs aren't technically complex, but the use of synths and guitars and percussion are so enjoyable and intricate that it's always a joy to listen to their stuff again and again, and such is the case with this album.

Anyone wanting to start with the Residents should start here, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise!