The Talk of Creatures

Hi folks. After Hardy Fox's website updated last month with the "1945-2018" dates on it, I highly considered starting this project but ultimately decided to hold back. I'm like that... I get intimidated by my own project ideas and then never do them. My regret now is that I didn't start this project back then and unfortunately now Hardy Fox will never be able to see or hear it. I guess the best time to have started this project was back then, but the next best time to start it is now.

What is the project?

I wish to construct a tribute album dedicated to the late Hardy Fox. Essentially, it'll work similarly to the "I Am A Resident!" thing. You just submit your song and it goes on the album! That's it! We'll then compile the album together and you'll be able to stream or download it for free on the internet.

Well, it'll be a bit more complicated than that

My vision for this project includes the way the streaming content is presented. You see, this project is a way to celebrate Hardy Fox and express our gratitude for him and his art. The way I initially conceived this project (and how I still want the final product to be like) is that the entire album is a "web experience". When you stream it online on the site I'll be hosting it on, each track will be paired with text and/or visual art by the original track artist with their thank yous to the late Hardy Fox. In a way the album itself will be a big thank you card to Hardy Fox, but each track will come with what is more literally a thank you card. Of course, Hardy is not with us anymore so he cannot personally read them without spiritual intervention, but I still believe that there's something a bit romantic about creating a tribute like this, regardless if he can see it from the afterlife or we're making our expressions of gratitude into the void.

Think of it this way: the website will basically be like liner notes that load up with each song, where the liner notes are your messages and optional art.


How do I contribute?

Check out the submission form to submit a song, visual art, or a thank you note.
This project isn't just limited to the forum! Please share the URL: https://meiseki.mew151.net/hardyfox/

Guidelines:

• The song must be related to Hardy Fox in some way (duh!). You can cover his own songs, cover his work with The Residents, or even write your own song that is about him in some way. Try to stay away from just generic Residents covers, although I'm not going to not accept your submission. Basically I just want you to not reupload your IAAR submission since I want this to be its own distinct thing.
• You have to agree to let me distribute your song for free. It will be up for free download and streaming. Also that means that it has to be possible to legally distribute your song for free.
• You have to include all required fields (track title, artist name, thank you message) with your song or it will not be accepted

Also as a note if we somehow get a ridiculous number of contributions, I will probably pick a good number tracks to be part of a "main" album and include the rest of the tracks to listen to elsewhere.

I'm not a musician! Can I contribute in some way?

YES please! I'd like this album to be visual so if you can provide any visual art I'd be happy to try to include it somewhere in the presentation of it! Also we need album art!

BUT what if you aren't talented at the arts at all??? I still want you to contribute! I want to collect Thank You notes from EVERYONE and find some way to compile them on the front page of the album. Or somewhere else. I don't really know yet, I feel like this project will evolve depending on how active it is. Stay tuned for a general thank you note contribution form.

Alright but what will YOU be doing?

In a way I'm afraid of making art and in a way I subscribe heavily to the theory of obscurity; when I do make art I do not announce it and just put it somewhere quietly to maybe be discovered one day. But for this project I will try to record a track and put it out! I mean, it'd be kind of weird for the person running this whole thing not to do that, right? Even The Residents snuck "Doors" into "I Am A Resident!", right? I've asked myself a never known question and in this case I'm dedicated to SHOWING my art instead of just being shown for once.

I'll also be "producing" this project in general. I'll probably compile the final album and I'll also be developing the website that presents this album with all the art and thank you notes. I will also be working with some friends  who aren't on this forum but are a bit more musically passionate than me in trying to create an intro and outro to the album as a whole. I'll ask for additional help if we need it though!

 

---

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Thank you for reading this giant post and I hope that you'll find the inspiration to contribute in some way! I'm asking everyone to contribute in some way, even if you just contribute words of gratitude! Please ask any questions here! If this thing actually gets some steam, I'll also post updates and ask questions so we can guide this idea to its final destination together!

Behold! The album that (apparently) made Penn Jillette snap and finally become a fan of Ralph Records! This is the first official album put out by Renaldo and the Loaf and it's definitely a wacky and surreal one to start off with! Let's question the donut-like qualities of guavas and more in this installment of Finest Flowers Album Club!

---

Hello! Welcome to the first Finest Flowers Album Club post! These topics will be like Project of the Week, but will focus on albums not by The Residents. "Flowers" will run for about 2 weeks each, with one being posted on the first and one being posted on the fifteenth of each month. Please submit ideas for future albums to discuss as well, whether it be an album by a Ralph artist, an artist who's been known to be a big influence to The Residents, or just a random cool album you think people should check out!

---

How could we not start with Snakefinger?! When I think "Ralph Artists who aren't The Residents", there are quite a few artists who pop into my head, but there are only a couple who really stand out to me in particular. One of those artists is Snakefinger, although honestly it's a bit inaccurate... to some degree he really was one of The Residents (By the way, we'll be getting to the duo who also stands out to me in particular eventually as well!). Songs on this album were written with The Residents, so really this could almost fit into standard Project of the Week territory!

Anyway, Chewing Hides the Sound is Snakefinger's debut album. It contains songs which pretty much any diehard Rz fan should recognize. What are your thoughts on it?

---

It seems like Nazis are popping up more and more in the news lately, so it seems like the perfect time to listen to some 60's music! Or something.

_{Hang on, I'm not moleshow, what is going on?!}

"The Residents are practically Japanese, but no one knows"

I see plenty of information out there about various aspects of Residents history, but one thing that I see almost nothing about at all is The Residents' brief period of popularity in Japan. It is kind of understandable, seeing how The Residents have never been defined by their popularity overseas... or their popularity at all. They are and really should only be defined by their actual art. That being said, a bit of history about the group can't hurt, especially since their success in Japan was the whole reason behind them doing the 13th Anniversary Tour after previously swearing never to tour again! Looking at this stuff can teach us about both The Residents, Japanese culture, and ourselves! Or something, I don't know.

Anyway, I'll be dumping random information I can find in this thread. I'm not fluent in Japanese but I am currently studying it.

~~~~
Random Context and History

The Residents are really only "popular" among the English speaking world. Although not all albums require knowing English to enjoy them, a lot of the "smarter" stuff they do is in English and typically some sort of commentary on Western and American culture. But somehow The Residents managed to find a following in Japan. Wave Records initially handled the Japanese releases of Residents albums, although I'm not entirely sure how that relationship started. The Residents' popularity in Japan spiked after the release of The Big Bubble, which was hugely successful in Japan, to the point that Wave Records actually got The Residents to perform live in Japan, kicking off their 13th Anniversary Tour. After this, The Residents' popularity definitely fell in Japan, whether it was because the Mole Trilogy was never developed further, interest in "New Wave" music started to fall by then, or of financial problems with Wave Records.

This basically means that most albums prior to the 13th Anniversary Tour were officially released in Japan. Afterwards, The Residents relevance in Japan faded, although with the internet it is much easier to import or digitally buy the music so a Japanese record label taking care of things seems redundant. I have found a Japanese label now printing Residents CDs called "Bomba (ボンバ) Records", though. And another one called "Bird Song". It's pretty hard to keep track of who is releasing what these days. It's also difficult to find which albums were originally released in Japan by Wave, mainly because Wave does not seem to exist any more. And the information that's around doesn't really mention The Residents at all, although the official Rz website confirms that Wave released The Big Bubble in Japan (with a lyrics sheet! If anyone has this Japanese version of The Big Bubble, please share a scan of this supposed sheet!). Another interesting thing the Rz website mentions about Wave is that they "even had a Residents sculpture installed in the lobby of their Tokyo record store." I have found no other information on this sculpture at all on the internet, but it's probably the thing about Wave that intrigues me the most. Does this sculpture still exist somewhere? Where is it? Are there any photographs of it at all?

The 13th Anniversary Shows were mainly played in the now closed PARCO Theater (formerly known as Seibu Theater) in Shibuya, although the Rz website mentions one show in Kyoto with no information on where this show was played. Shibuya's PARCO Theater hosted other interesting acts, such as The Ramones and apparently even a performance of The Rocky Horror Show, among more traditional Japanese music acts and plays.

Anyway, despite being world-famous rock stars, The Residents don't have that strong of a following in Japan anymore. Sure, they definitely have fans all across the world and Japan is no exception, but most likely there is no J. Edgar Sakimoto in Tokyo about to spend one hundred thousand quankeroonies trying to get a Ultimate Box Set.