The Residents - Animal Lover (2005)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
The Residents - Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composter Series, Vol. II (1986)
The Residents - 1997: The Missing Year - Adobe Disfigured Night (2009)
The Residents - Hades (2009)
Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2011)

The definitive 'modern' Residents record IMO. Superficially, it's about as close to conventionally-structured songwriting as The Residents are interested in getting, but the songs are as dark, strange, and emotionally compelling as anything they've written. "Elmer's Song" in particular is a real marvel of warped, miserably beautiful songwriting. Honestly, probably my most listened-to Residents record.

Track listing:
1. On the Way (To Oklahoma)
2. Olive and Gray
3. What Have My Chickens Done Now?
4. Two Lips
5. Mr. Bee's Bumble
6. Inner Space
7. Dead Men
8. My Window
9. Ingrid's Oily Tongue
10. Mother No More
11. Dreaming of an Anthill (Teeming)
12. Elmer's Song
13. The Monkey Man
14. The Whispering Boys
15. Burn My Bones

But soon a voice inside of a dream
Said "Son you can become My Cream"

You might also like:

The Legendary Pink Dots -
The Maria Dimension (1991)

Human Host -
The Halloween Tree (2007)

The Residents ‎– 1997: The Missing Year - Adobe Disfigured Night (2009)

Cheap-sounding synths, pounding rhythms, and disturbing, unhinged vocals, in service of unsettling, darkly satirical compositions. In other words, it's everything you should expect from a Residents record.

A ghost story of sorts, "Disfigured Night" is a multi-movement piece that has been released in at least six different incarnations, all of which, I believe, are live recordings. It contains, among many other things, lyrics taken from "We're an American Band", musical elements of "Another One Bites the Dust" and Metallica's "Creeping Death", and an extremely dark, warped cover of "We Are the World".



Track listing:
1. Adobe 1 (2.0)
2. Adobe 2
3. Adobe 3
4. Adobe 4
5. We Are the World

There's a choice we're making

You might also wanna hear:

Sand -
Golem (1974)

Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry By for
the Golden Age of Nothing (2004)

The Residents - Hades (2009)

Related:
The Residents - Stars and Hank Forever - The American Composers Series, Vol. II (1986)
Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2010)

Hades (released as a download, then re-released in CDr form as The Rivers of Hades) consists of one long, atmospheric instrumental suite divided into five tracks, and might be considered among the band's less acutely disturbing records.

Of course, given that they're responsible for some of the most disturbing music in existence, there's still plenty of room for scary-ass shit -- stuttering percussion, sickly washes of synth, high-frequency drones, trembling feedback, ominous pianos, horror-movie cellos, and dissonant, shrieking melodies.

But starting with the latter half of "Cocytus River", they seem to settle into a darkly zen-like, quasi-tribal state that wouldn't sound THAT out of place next to something like Six Organs of Admittance, Ben Reynolds, or even some of Robert Rich's more unsettling recordings.

Track listing:
1. Acheron River
2. Cocytus River
3. Lethe River
4. Styx River
5. Phlegethon River

Gaping mouths of Cerberus

You like this shit? Try these shits:

Bill Horist - Soylent Radio (1997)

CoH - Mask of Birth (2002)

Charles Bobuck - Chuck's Ghost Music (2011)

Related:
The Residents - Stars and Hank Forever: The American Composers Series, Vol. 2 (1986)

A deeply disturbing, highly abstract solo effort from Charles Bobuck of The Residents. Pitch-black synthesizers, clattering percussion, samples from commercials, tape loops, ghoulish vocals. The kind of stuff that can really get in your head if you let it.

Track listing:
1. Florence
2. Ghost Snake
3. Perchance to Dream
4. Milton
5. Pudding in Disguise
6. Sleepwalker
7. Unseen Sister
8. Talking Light

Trident

More music to make your skin crawl:

Diamanda Galas -
The Litanies of Satan (1982)

The Legendary Pink Dots -
Plutonium Blonde (2008)

The Residents - Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composers Series, Vol. II (1986)

The Residents turn songs by country music legend Hank Williams and The March King John Philip Sousa into Residents songs, meaning that they're played mainly on synthesizers and sung by someone who sounds like he's probably committed a murder or two. Just as disturbing and excellent as it sounds. Their churning, elusive, ghostly take on Williams' "Jambalaya" is particularly mesmerizing.

Track listing:
1. Hey Good Lookin'
2. Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)
3. Kawa-Liga
4. Ramblin' Man
5. Jambalaya
6. Sousapart
7. Kawa-Liga (Praire Mix) (bonus)

Son of a gun, we'll have big fun
On the bayou