Duck Stab / Buster & Glen

Musikalsk gir det meg ingenting. Hva er prosjektet deres? Er det å lage skummel Looney Tunes-musikk? bip bop

There was a time when The Residents were my favorite thing in all the world. I've seen both them and Snakefinger live multiple times, was in the Residents Usenet group, used to tell my kid that his Christmas presents were from Santa Dog... I'm sure I could think of more examples of my complete Residents-induced derangement at the time.

So I was wondering why I had to dig this record up on YouTube; I know I had a copy of it at some point. Then I listened to it, and realized that other than "Constantinople," the vocals are rather consistently irritating, aren't they. I don't know why the 1001 guy chose this particular record for the book, since there are better ones from that period like Meet the Residents, Fingerprince, and Intermission from the Mole Trilogy; any of those would have gotten 5 stars from me.

Based on that I originally gave Duck Stab a 3, but on listening to it again today, I was overwhelmed with Residents nostalgia, and enjoyed it much more. I also compared it in my head with other records I've since given a 3 to, and realized that surely this is more enjoyable than Depeche Mode or The Who!! It's just a slightly less enjoyable fabulous mess than the rest of the Residents' albums that I have, which probably would get 7 stars. So I regret the error of my ways and have upgraded this album to a 5.

Tavallaan kiinnostavaa kokeilua ja jotain, mikä pitäis olla listalla! Tämä kai se helpoin Residents-platta vielä, ja olihan noissa biiseissä perinteinen rakenne (ainakin osassa). Ehkä livenä hienompaa, mutta nyt jää vähän ohueksi kuitenkin tämä. 3/5

I dunno man, sure.

Assaulting. Unique. Early Primus but not as refined.

Very weird, and very bad.

Natuurlijk is dit nauwelijks muziek, maar vooral een verzameling van geluid. Maar toch...het zet iets van een sfeer. En het heeft al wat elementen van latere digitale muziek. Het is allemaal geen reden om dit te luisteren; houd dit soort experimenten maar buiten het boek. Maar het is wel voldoende voor een extra sterretje.

Went to see how many tracks were left and was devastated to see I was only half way through. This is the first album I’ve been generated… Liked the last track though

At least it was strange and interesting.

Absolute garbage. I feel bad for anyone who paid for this album

⭐

I was intrigued after the first couple of tracks… but by the end I was over it.

wtf

У 2015му році я був на концерті резідентс і мені НАСТІЛЬКИ було некомфортно і навіть кріпово, що в мене тепер травма пов'язана з цим гуртом.

Ну і власне цей альбом це жесть. В якомусь сенсі його звісно забавно слухати, бо резідентс мають свій дуже впізнаваний єбанутий вайб і я поважаю їх як акт провокативного мистецтва, але чисто на рівні гармоній і атмосфера для мене ця музика є некомфортною.

I will not be including the bonus tracks of disc one and the entirety of disc two of the 2018 pREServed edition of the album in this review.

Normally, for an artist I hadn't heard of or was not familiar with, I usually like to research and give a brief background of who they are, how they started their music career, and what their situation was like when making the record presented here. Today, however, I'll have to largely forego that, as the Residents are a largely anonymous music collective that thrives in obscurity. Any information related to the band's history or potential members should be taken with a grain of salt. If anything, I could only reliably go off of their musical output, which can be described as deconstructions of Western popular music, complete with stream-of-consciousness lyrics, tonal dissonance, and the use of sound collages.

That sort of description befits this record, Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen, which combines two of their EPs, applying a more guitar-driven sound to shorter songs. This album is often considered their most "accessible" record, for what it's worth. I'll admit, I laughed at the highly modulated vocals for tracks like the opening "Constantinople" and "Laughing Song" alongside the jarring dissonance and surrealist lyrics. But once the initial shock and laughter wore off for me, I began to realize how muted the production sounded, and how reliant the Residents were on subverting these conventional song structures without much in the way of gripping satire or a greater purpose outside of being weird. Even for weirdness' sake, there's a part of me that feels they could have gone even more outlandish or bizarre in the execution. I would say I'm more into the experimental rock acts that have emerged since, except I've gotten more out of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart with their respective deconstructions of blues rock and psychedelia. Then again, it could be argued that the Residents set a precedent for even weirder bands to come, and probably value being more odd than even Zappa and Beefheart. Who's to say which is intrinsically better?

I can at least say that the Residents' Duck Stab/Buster & Glen made for an intriguing footnote, one that I can certainly respect. Perhaps in the eyes of the Residents, simply respecting their pursuit of art is satisfying enough.

Distressing and dadaist, ridiculous and rudimentary, Duck Stab is authentic art rock, in the tradition of literary and cultural modernism. Absurder than Trout Mask Replica, it's yet catchier and more coherent, something like the neat and thought-out strangeness of De La Soul. The lyrics are grotesque but have me laughing in a real way: 'Your heart is like a silken sponge / That calls saliva love'; 'But he soon found out / That she had the gout / And often would wink underwater'; 'Conspicuously alcoholic, flicks his tongue at me!' It's by no means a perfect record - it's ultimately too annoying and too cockamamy for me to have a deep regard for it - but it is original, and I can appreciate it for what it is: a curt dosage of telepathic eccentricity.

what if The Band were a collection of Beefheart-loving mental patients?

chaotic good. good weird. weird i can believe in.

This is just incredibly weird music. Difficult to listen to, but points for creativity.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

another album where i dont fault people for the low rating but think there is a lot of exaggeration around how bad it is. that goes double for the people that couldnt even be bothered to listen to the entire thing.

Absolutely loved this weirdness. 10x avant garde anti-establishment psychotic nonsense peering over the fence at you. I crave more of this.

I like off the wall, weird music. This sucks ass though.