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#Post#: 563--------------------------------------------------
I AM A RESIDENT (Project of the Week for.. awhile)
By: moleshow Date: June 4, 2018, 9:31 pm
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this thread is all about IAAR.
what are your thoughts on the concept? the music? are you
yourself a Resident? do you think it's ridiculous to even
consider that notion that anyone is a Resident?
discuss!
#Post#: 564--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: ADeadlyFriend Date: June 6, 2018, 1:11 pm
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Why shouldn't anyone be a Resident? Don't we all get their mail?
Jokes aside I haven't had a chance to listen to the album but
I'm very intrigued by the concept. I was considering submitting
a cover of Betty's Body but it never materialized as music isn't
really my forte, so I shall be a Resident in my own way.
#Post#: 565--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: goatie Date: June 9, 2018, 8:34 am
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As an album, I AM A RESIDENT! ended up being much better than I
had expected. Here's the thing about tribute albums: they're
usually pretty boring. It seems to me that only one band knows
how to cover The Residents well, and that band is, well, The
Residents. Residents covers generally follow one of three
patterns: 1) make it heavier/edgier (boring), make it weirder
(you're trying too hard and it shows), make it sound like the
original (what's the point?).
So I was delighted with the submissions that did something very
different with the songs. I've already publicly expressed my
love for the OK Glass version of "Moisture," but there were
several submissions that seemed to break down the song into
basic pieces and then rebuild from there. They didn't sound
like covers, but originals.
But even so, a collection of cover songs isn't really exciting.
As originally conceived, I expected that I'd listen to it a
couple of times then put it away for a few years before
listening again to see if I happened to like it. But the
collaborative aspect really changed things. This is really a
new Residents album with a bunch of new Residents
participating... or I guess I could just shorten that to "this
is a new Residents album" because who knows and/or cares how
many times there's been a change to the roster? It ceases to
sound like a collection of songs and begins to sound like a
piece that was always conceived to be this way. If you told
someone the original idea behind this album was to gather a
bunch of musicians and have them record parts to be mixed into
the suite, they'd probably believe you.
And for any contributor whose track was augmented with actual
Residents, that's got to be the thrill of a lifetime. I can't
imagine the pants-wetting joy that comes from the double whammy
of "hey, that's me!" quickly followed by "holy amazeballs,
that's The Residents PLAYING ALONG WITH ME!"
We also got to see a little bit into how The Residents functions
as an idea factory. The original plan was just to collect about
a dozen songs, slap them on a disc, and call it a day. And
after submissions started coming in, everything changed. We
normally only see the finished project, but in this case we got
to see it evolving, which is perhaps the closest we'll get to a
kind of in the studio documentary.
As for my part... since I was managing the submissions side of
things, I got to see a lot more of how ideas spring up and
course corrections are made in order to reach the final
destination (or, in this case, to discover what the final
destination is). I'll be honest: it was frustrating at times
when something new came up and I had to scramble to figure out
how to implement my part of it. The Residents are very willing
to shift to a new idea, and from a distance that can look
unfocused or scatterbrained, but it's actually a very determined
drive to produce the best end product. Given what I now know, I
definitely would change some of how it all got handled, but I
wouldn't step away from the opportunity to be a part of
something so ultimately satisfying.
#Post#: 568--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: Meisekimiu Date: August 24, 2018, 11:34 pm
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I just listened to I Am A Resident for the first time. HOLY
EYEBALLS IT'S AMAZING!
I mean, I was expecting to like it since most of the songs
covered in this album I like, but WOW. The remix concept is
really what pushes this album from "cool fan compilation,
Eyesore 2.0" to the advertised "NEW CONCEPT FROM THE RESIDENTS".
It is fantastic. It really is a new Residents album, and it's
pretty sweet.
I like the little radio framing device they use to open and
close the album. It's cute and makes the album feel like this
big event... I'm not sure properly how to explain it. Somehow it
makes it feel more like "oh yeah, these people ARE Residents!"
Honestly it reminds me of those 1 hour megamixes pop radio
stations play on the weekends (... not that I listen to pop
music radio...). It's a pretty genius way to frame this album
because well... the remix concept really does make this a
megamix in a way. I mean it's just one hour of straight
Residential chaos and it's awesome.
The whole remix thing adds another layer to the thing as well.
Because all the covers blend together and "The Real Residents?"
add new textures (AND LYRICS!) on top of them, this really feels
like "Our Finest Flowers 2". Which is pretty sweet! Honestly? I
kind of like this more as a "Residents play The Residents" album
compared to Our Finest Flowers. Maybe because we live in the
future where computer synthesized music sounds better and we
have even more Rz material to choose from. Maybe it's because
the songs are longer and mixed together so they have time to
flow between vastly more songs AND the songs get to live on
their own for a bit instead of just being squashed together into
one single song. Maybe because that cute radio thing and the "I
Am A Resident theme" at the end made it more special. I don't
know but I love it.
I'm honestly surprised that they thought of this project back in
2013. I mean, at this point I'm used to knowing that Residents
albums take years to develop from just the basic idea, but
wow... unlike whatever the "Blues Album" is going to be called,
this one kind of just laid hidden for quite a while until they
actually unveiled the pledgemusic campaign. It's weird that this
Residents album was originally imagined up right when I became a
"proper" Residents fan... and it just came out and I'm just now
listening to it. Crazy!
I lack the musical talent to have properly contributed to the
project... and even if I did, I had no money while the
pledgemusic campaign was running. So do I consider myself to be
a Resident? Maybe. Just maybe.
#Post#: 569--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: moleshow Date: August 27, 2018, 10:14 am
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wooo!! interesting comparisons. i should probably listen to it,
i guess. whered you hear that they've had the idea since 2013?
thats absolutely NUTS and id totally believe it!
#Post#: 570--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: goatie Date: August 27, 2018, 2:05 pm
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2013 is from the liner notes, excerpted here:
[quote]The year was 2013. The Residents were sitting in a bar
... when somebody said, ... "we need to do something
different... completely different." ... the original idea ...
was opening up the concept of The Residents to their fans,
inviting them to submit their own versions of the group's
original songs. The best of these fan interpretations would then
become an album called I AM A RESIDENT! And that was okay -
simple and straightforward.[/quote]
So to be completely clear, it was just the idea of doing a
straight compilation that's from 2013. The remix thing came in
during the PledgeMusic campaign, so it's crazy super impressive
that they changed gears so quickly. I first heard about this
project in mid-2016, when we were working on the website
redesign (trivia: that's why the "? ? ? ? ?" button on the front
page brought up song lyrics having to do with identity and being
a part of something - it was always intended to become I AM A
RESIDENT). But there was no hint of remix back then. If that
had been the plan all along, they also kept it from me, which is
awesome and a testament to how far they'll go to keep a secret.
But I'm more impressed with the quick pivot, so I'll believe the
story as presented. Also, believing the story as presented is
just better overall, because the purpose of a constructed
narrative is to bring excitement and interest to something that
is otherwise boring.
#Post#: 571--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: Meisekimiu Date: August 28, 2018, 11:20 am
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[quote author=moleshow link=topic=136.msg569#msg569
date=1535382867]i should probably listen to it, i guess.[/quote]
You are actually required by law to listen to this album if you
are a Rz fan.
I should mention a few more things I forgot to write in my post.
I was really surprised that this was a new Residents album. I
was kind of just glossing this one over, partly because the fan
concept meant this wasn't the "Real Residents?", and partly
because Intruders the "next studio album" was coming out pretty
soon. I mean, I preordered Intruders a couple of days before I
Am A Resident came out, and this time I decided to buy the CD
and the vinyl because it's a "real album". The day I Am A
Resident arrived I didn't even really think to myself, "I'm
going to listen to a new Residents album today", because deep
down I didn't consider it a new album at the time.
After I listened to it I realized how special this album really
was. It really hit me with these complicated emotions I've felt
in Residents projects before, but never mixed together like
this. I've listened to Eyesore a few times, and overall I like a
lot of the covers in that compilation. But for every cover there
is a bit of respect I feel for what they do with it. I think
every song in Eyesore is different enough from the source to
come with a "huh... so that's how The Residents have impacted
you?" kind of appreciation.
Our Finest Flowers mixes concepts in an interesting way.
Connections between Residents works that didn't exist before are
explored in a way that's like crossing your senses together.
Hearing familiar melodies and lyrics flow into other familiar
melodies and lyrics was a true joy... and shock as well. (Note:
I should mention that when I first listened to [i]Our Finest
Flowers I was probably only familiar with about 20% of the
source material)[/i]
The latest Residents live shows have radically transformed the
existing sounds of The Residents' previous (and in some cases,
present and future as well) works. I mean, I guess the old
Residents live shows have too, but these more modern shows
transform the source material much more than just adapting the
song to what a live band can practically produce. The exciting
thing about hearing one of these new performances for the first
time is that at the start of every song it can be difficult to
pinpoint exactly what song they're playing. The melody seems so
familiar... and when you finally realize what song they're
playing it's so exciting. OMG! They're playing this song, I've
only listened to it hundreds of times, and it only took me a
minute to figure it out!
So, all of those emotions are combined in this album. Every new
cover introduced tends to confuse me for a few seconds while I
figure out what they're actually playing, then I feel joy and
excitement when I realize what it is. Then I think "wow, this is
an interesting interpretation of the original song. GOOD
COVER!". Then it flows into another song and I think "WOW this
is a connection I've never made before!". And it keeps on going
until the end.
Of course, there are some special moments in this album that fit
outside of this emotional loop. The endings of most of the
tracks of the album are quite special, the ending of the
"Lingering Illusions" in particular messed me up a great deal.
Also the ending to the album as a whole is just... silly,
beautiful, triumphant, and... well... special! The last bit of
the actual "megamix" as I described it earlier is also just...
wow. As I was hearing the final moments of all these weird
covers it blended into one last cover. It sounded familiar to
me... what was this a cover of? And where had I heard this cover
before? Then it hit me and I suddenly was overwhelmed by
memories. Once that final song bit fades out, all that's left is
something else and there is no more to say.
#Post#: 572--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: goatie Date: August 28, 2018, 1:36 pm
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The album also plays really well in a large space. I had only
heard it in headphones, but last night they played it in Rough
Trade Records during Homer's signing, and it took on new levels.
#Post#: 578--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: JoshBrown Date: August 29, 2018, 11:58 pm
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I felt the album was too midi-heavy and similar to the most
current Residents' projects. I listened to many of the songs on
the site and my favorite one didn't make it. :-(
#Post#: 593--------------------------------------------------
Re: I AM A RESIDENT
By: zebehnn Date: August 30, 2018, 11:53 am
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there werent too much midi involved here ??
maybe one or two artists
i love it all
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