THE RESIDENTS' "CONSTANTINOPLE"

From Wikipedia:

The Residents are an avant garde music and visual arts group. They formed in 1972 and released their first record that year, a double-disc 45 RPM recording entitled Santa Dog. They have released nearly sixty albums, created numerous musical films, designed three CD-ROM projects, and undertaken six major world tours. They are still active and released a new CD-Internet project on June 13, 2006 entitled "The River Of Crime" which is said to be modeled after the radio dramas of the 1940s. A new full length CD ("Tweedles") was released on October 31, 2006 on Mute Records.

They are known for their secrecy, singular art, and embrace of new technology.

And

Due to the obscuranist nature of the band, it is difficult to get an accurate history of The Residents. What follows is information from unauthorized accounts which may or may not be entirely reliable.

The Residents supposedly hail from Shreveport, Louisiana, where they met in high school in the 1960s. In 1966, members headed west to San Francisco, California. After their truck broke down in San Mateo, they decided to remain there. Like all information, this is provided by The Cryptic Corporation and is likely false. Newer information indicates they are probably from Slidell, Louisiana, and picked Shreveport as the "place to be from" since it is the city in Louisiana that was furthest from Slidell.

Whilst attempting to eke out a living they experimented with tape machines, photography, and anything remotely to do with "art" that they could get their hands on.

More here.

Wow, I had no idea they're from Louisiana, but this is a pretty weird state so I guess that's not so surprising--California's just too mainstream to produce a group a group as bizarre the Residents; you gotta have swamp muck in your veins to be so out there. Anyway, what I've always liked about them is their ability to create realities so utterly strange that they literally challenge the senses. I mean, there's Pink Floyd weird, and then there's Residents weird. With Pink Floyd it's like, "Oh yeah, pretty weird, all those good drugs, yadda, yadda." With the Residents it's like "What the fuck? What the hell is going on here? No drug known to man could inspire this. Oh my god."

So, with that in mind, I recently found a Youtube clip, courtesy of VideoSift, for their song "Constantinople," originally released on their 1978 album Duck Stab/Buster & Glen. I've never heard it until now, but believe me, it's true to form. I have no idea what it's about or what any of the images mean. Just another one of those jaw-droppers.

Here check it out (CAUTION: it shows a cartoon pee-pee, so it's probably not safe for work, if you work at, say, a church):



Pretty weird, huh?



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