For those not in the know, The Residents are an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works.

Since their first official release, Meet the Residents (1974), the group has released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and ten DVDs.

They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, the Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects.

Indeed, Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by the band.

Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to operate under anonymity, preferring instead to have attention focused on their art output.

Much outside speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a long-lasting costume now recognized as its signature iconography.

Its albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, and complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory, or plot.

The group is noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, disregard for conventional music composition, and the over-the-top theatrical spectacle of their live performances.

And so on August 24th, 2018, The Residents will bring forth a wondrous new chapter in their lengthy and legendary career. Entitled I Am A Resident!, it is not just a new album, but a completely new concept spread over 2 CDs and housed in a gatefold sleeve.

CD 1:
1. 'Intro'
2. 'Lingering Illusions'
3. 'Hanging By His Habit'
4. 'Freaky Wake'
5. 'Hello Duck Stab'
6. 'Commercial Bells Toll'
7. 'Outro'

CD 2:
1. 'Kick A Picnic' (The Meet Cafe)
2. 'Smelly Tongues' (The Zverstvo)
3. 'Moisture' (Ok Glass)
4. 'Picnic Boy' (Dr. Fritz Rotwang)
5. 'Boo Who?' (Cult With No Name)
6. 'Hanging By His Hair' (Wizards of Boat)
7. 'Loss: The Weatherman' (Danny Spiter)
8. 'Death In Barstow' (Cake Boy And The Caker Street Boys)
10. 'Six Things To A Red Bicycle' (Skull In the Crow's Eye)
11. 'Hard And Tenderly' (Utrom)
12. 'Forty Four' (Point A Pistol At The Sun)
13. 'Rest Aria' (Couvercle)
14. 'Constantinople' (Philip Stranger)
15. 'Picnic Boy' (The Beaches)
16. 'Boo Who?' (@FiveThingsPerCycle) (UNI)
17. 'Would We Be Alive' (Gretnoid)
18. 'Margaret Freeman' (The 180 CS)
19. 'Floyd' (Ark)
20. 'Tribal Teddy' (Philip Stranger)
21. 'Burn My Bones' (TheBizzareOne)
22. 'Hello Skinny' (HalfCutLemon)
23. 'Smelly Tongues' (Tom-Erik Loe)
24. 'Hanging By His Hair' (Chesty Vulva)
25. 'The Aging Musician' (Jeremy Maloney)

Having invited fans to record cover versions of their songs via PledgeMusic, The Residents were blown away by the submission of 197 amazing pieces of music!

Stimulated by this outpouring of creativity, the group molded this material into the ultimate mashup: editing, looping, over dubbing and regurgitating, The Residents reinterpreted their fans' interpretations, resulting in layer on top of layer on top of layer.

In truth, I've never really connected with The Residents, but that doesn't mean that listening to it today I cannot both understand and moreover appreciate their deep devotion to their musical cause.

On I Am A Resident!, the first CD is a collection of seven new tracks (inclusive of an 'Intro' and an 'Outro') and as much as it's always refreshing to her The Residents "perform" their music, it's the second CD, the one everyone is talking about, and that truly grabs your attention.

The band asked their fans to cross the line between passive consumption and active participation by choosing any song from their oh-so vast catalog, record it (in their own way) and submit it to them thereafter.

The Residents, and their fans, then voted on their favorites via their website (where all entries were listed with listening capabilities installed), and once the 24 had been chosen, they all soon became a part of this inventive, and rather wondrous new concept album.

Hauntingly familiar and achingly wrong at the same time, I Am A Resident! is, and without a shadow of a doubt, original, unexpected, shockingly raw, and obviously, from start to finish, a Residents album of the highest musical art.

I Am A Resident! album, the group is also in the studio recording their next album, Intruders.

Inspired by the persistence of obsession, Intruders are seen as alternate beings stalking the corners of our consciousness. The album's 11 original songs all pivot around the unseen and the uncontrollable spirits stuck in the seams of our minds.

Official 2CD Gatefold Purchase Link

The Residents @ Facebook!

www.Residents.com

www.cherryred.co.uk