| Lately, Meet the Residents and Duck Stab (both by the Residents) have been my go-to albums for when I want to listen to music, but am completely bored and tired of it. You might say that I should just stop listening to music at that point, but the thing is, it doesn't take a lot to bore me. I'll listen to maybe 3 or so albums and I'm done, I can't stand listening to anything anymore, even though there's nothing else to do and I want to listen to music. This is when I boot up the Residents (this is a semi-clever joke because the first track in Meet the Residents is called "Boots," and like... I "boot" it up and Boots is the first track and... yeah). Deconstruction, deconstruction, deconstruction. They take everything that music does, disassemble it, then smash the pieces into the ground until they're all dead. Oh, you like staying in time? TOO BAD! "Breath and Length" (yeah, that's how you spell it) seems to start with a specific pattern in proper time until it slowly falls apart! That's so awesome! The aforementioned track, "Boots," almost feels ominous... and you can't help but sing along, "walk all over you, walk all over you, walk all over you." A lot of these tracks also sound connected (especially the first half of the album), like one whole song that just takes all the rules of music - particularly rhythm - and tears it apart. which isn't necessary but it's good. Good transitions are good. Something that one of the members (or one of the people who worked with them, I think one of the producers) said is that music should be constructed from sound first. Or maybe not "should," but like... he likes doing that. The album definitely shows what he meant by this - unique sounds that you are unfamiliar with and have no idea where they came from, all meshing together into this strange but addicting amalgamation of noises. Out of tune? That's on purpose! You can't even tell because everything sounds "wrong" anyway! The lyrics are also very surreal and fitting, like you're not supposed to get it. It's really good. It's almost scary. That's what I want to talk about next. The album, as well as a lot of other tracks and albums by the Residents, will often tend to unsettle you, sometimes with this creeping trepidation, as if the sounds are suddenly going to explode on you at any moment. Or like they're going to come out of the speakers and stab you with a knife (get it? Like Duck Stab). It's scary because it's unfamiliar. People are afraid of the unknown, of not knowing what will happen next. It's not "safely" unpredictable like a lot of other music. A lot of experimental music can often be like a new theme park ride, where you are excited to see what's coming up next and you enjoy the ride. The Residents is more like a haunted house with real monsters in it. Or not. You don't really know. There's nothing to hold onto, because there's nothing familiar about it. Or like a rollercoaster, except it's not a rollercoaster, and it's in the highway and there are no safety bars or seatbelts. Nothing familiar to hold onto. You might die. Imagine that, that would be awesome. I think that's how they managed to stay and hold up for so long. And this was in the 80s. |
 |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Genuine Thoughts on AOT?bigeop - Aug 25, 2020 |
3 |
by lock_in_ki
»»
May 24, 2022 1:58 AM |
|
» Candle recommendationnulusna - Aug 27, 2020 |
4 |
by SCMagai
»»
Feb 21, 2022 2:41 AM |
|
» get a load of my sweet 3x3nagiso - Aug 27, 2020 |
6 |
by nagiso
»»
Sep 23, 2021 11:11 PM |
|
» Tigermilk Album Reviewnagiso - Dec 4, 2020 |
0 |
by nagiso
»»
Dec 4, 2020 7:57 PM |
|
» welcome new membersbigeop - Sep 17, 2020 |
3 |
by smlnr
»»
Nov 30, 2020 5:46 AM |