The Residents

This avant-garde music group is recognized by their eyeball-tuxedo-top hat costumes that conceal their true indentity...I consider their music to be a bit abstract but a great example of combining visuals and music to create art nonetheless. Dmitry Mozheitov who writes for The Russia Journal says that The Residents claim that their concealed identity makes them a "virtual band," which they say is their invention. Mozheitov talks of the origins of The Residents, in 1970 a group of four musicians formed a group in Louisiana, shortly after moving to San Francisco to record a demo. Apparently, the demo was returned addressed "for the attention of the residents,"and this is how the band got its name, I thought that was cool! The Residents went on to create their own record label, Ralph Records.

The Russia Journal

For The Residents, it was not as simple as writing lyrics and composing music to match, they were quite interested in the visual art aspect of their music. A cool website I found titled WeirdoMusic, had a review of The Residents. According to this website, The Residents dabbled in photography, tape machines, and "anything remotely to do with art that they could get their hands on." I like this aspect of the group, I appreciate the fact that they really wanted to express themselves through as many forms of art as they could, they tested the boundaries of the music industry as well as fusing the worlds of art and music. I'm happy that I was introduced to this different musical expression.