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Messages - moleshow

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41
RZ General Board / in between dreams
« on: November 10, 2017, 09:34:56 am »
the pictures coming out from these shows are like... fantastic. what are y'all's thoughts on the show?

42
RZ Project Talk / Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (20th of October): TALKING LIGHT
« on: November 06, 2017, 11:12:28 am »
did i say 1st of novemeber? because i meant... whenever i feel so inclined to change it. anyways.

i think my top tracks for TL are He Also Serves, Lillie, The Sleepwalker and Demons Dance Alone. the fluidity of the setlist is... fun, i guess, but i wish some of those were on TL Bimbo's. ah well.

what really stands out to me about the start of the RCB Trilogy is the ghost stories. they are, without a doubt, my favorite part. they all radiate tension and hesitance. i think they're particularly visually compelling. the hazy, dreamlike visuals of The Unseen Sister stands out in particular. some of the effects used are distinctly a product of the technological capabilities of the time (thinking of the visual roughness of Milton), but it also can work to their benefit (i'm fond of how it works out in Perchance to Dream).

their drive to tell stories is clearly stronger than ever with this project, and it would seem to me that Bunny Boy played a large part in that. the idea of having a narrator connected to (but not necessarily easily viewed as) The Residents seems to have a heightened appeal. so that's something. it's an acknowledgement of how they are perceived and then subverting that perception by assuming identities. perhaps not identities of real people, but identities of a "Residents cover band"- that is still, apparently, The Residents. it's mental gymnastics, and it can make a lot of people frustrated or even angry. somehow, that feels intentional. clutching to ideas of who and what they are serves no purpose. though they may assume the shape of a container they construct, they are not the container. they are the amorphous liquid that slips in and out of it with ease.

i like the stage setup and the costuming a lot. it's both familiar and foreign. sure, it's a living room, but it's a Residents living room. the way they interact with the space is fun too. the handheld projector is so neato, and i love how they display funny lights on the circular disks in the back during songs. really wild stuff. the idea feels both well developed and full of potential- potential that allowed for everything that was to come (and is still coming!) i like that Randy's mask changed a few times before we got our current look. because, like, Yeesh. that face at the start of the tour was sort of... jaundiced and not great. but now he looks fantastic, with his liver spots and all.

i could go on about the stories, and i will.

Night Train to Nowhere has always fascinated me. something about Singing Rz reading all of the stories is compelling to me. Florence and Milton are, quite honestly, better on it than on Randy's Ghost Stories. this is not to say that the latter is bad, no. but i prefer the former. Ghost Snake's visuals on the DVD are so fun, and the hot dog mask.

the hot dog mask.

i sort of wish there was the video for Phantom Fingers on there, because i think that one is special. as he describes his unique ability, the clapping in the background is both ironic and delightful. you can hear the satisfied, knowing smirk in his voice. i also like the way he says "stomach".

Perchance to Dream is interesting to me, since it's an evolution of the Howard story from the Adobe show. sort of a deep cut, that one. but that one feels like it's Molly's by default. i don't think it would be the same if anyone else were to tell it, because it would be different. because it wouldn't be the same. ahem. it has this sweet undertone of understandable delusion to it. so sweet, and coming from a place of such hurt, that it feels cruel to think "well, no, you can't sleep 24 hours a day because that's a coma." logic takes a back seat to emotion there, and it would be cruel to point it out.

Milton is, like, Actually Creepy. hearing the descriptions of it Milton burning alive in the garage spoken with a tone that implies the presence of a lie is unsettling. the details of his singing, the hints of something much larger going on behind his death... whough. it's a lot. and the ending of "I can't kill him again! He's- he's already dead." yee-goddamn-haw.

the truly spooky one is The Talking Light, obviously. there is a deep tragedy to the ring having been in the baby's hand's the whole time. the desperation and exhaustion of the child's mother almost sends chills down my spine. the whole thing is wild and a lot of fun. and super duper creepy-spooky-scary. perhaps Spooktacular.

ok, i think that's it.

43
Fan Words / Re: A Thread For Introductions
« on: November 06, 2017, 08:32:45 am »
for a forum in 2017, it is. right now folks are busy. ive been procrastinating on some stuff and that laziness is contagious.

44
RZ General Board / Re: Actual Bunny Boy conversations
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:58:08 am »
oh man, that room! i was always wondering what that was and lo and behold: a room that seems to be Just That! absolutely fascinating. it seems like over time his replies got shorter.

45
Fan Words / Re: A Thread For Introductions
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:56:27 am »
glad to have ya here!

46
RZ General Board / Re: I'm a Resident
« on: October 27, 2017, 09:45:54 am »
the videos coming out of it are... curious.

47
RZ Project Talk / PROJECT OF THE WEEK (20th of October): TALKING LIGHT
« on: October 20, 2017, 03:17:31 pm »
THE MIRROR PEOPLE!

yes, that's right, the time has come! Talking Light is here. DISCUSS AMONGST YOURSELVES. this one goes until the 1st of November, at which point another thing will be the PoTW.

i'm quite excited about this one!

48
RZ Project Talk / Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
« on: October 20, 2017, 03:16:06 pm »
instead of going about this in the manner that i usually would, with deep, serious analysis of the show’s role in the Residential world, what it means, what its presence indicates in conjunction with the rest of their works, all that sort of stuff, it feels more fitting to do something a little more personal here.

see, in 2015 (while the south american run of Shadowland was going on), i discovered The Residents. needless to say, nothing was ever quite the same after. after i became acquainted with the vague shape of their concept, i dared to delve into what they were up to in the present. it was a strange time. conveniently, the US tour had yet to rear its head, so over the next few months, i swam around in the deep end for a while… then, april arose and it was TIME FOR MOLESHOW TO SEE SHADOWLAND.

and that i did! sitting outside of the 9:30 Club at 1 in the afternoon, i sat there with my buddy. waiting. making awkward, apologetic eye contact with Miles and Hein. making slightly less awkward eye contact with employees.

when the time came, hoo boy. i had a dumb, smiling look on my face the whole time. there is something so particularly magical about the sounds of Shadowland. the guitar sighs, sparkles, jumps, sometimes screeches… the keyboard creates a physical space that surrounds you in a fluttering, floating world of checker-print beauty. the vocals give texture and meaning to that space. that’s a stupid, fancy way of saying that the music is good.

making frequent eye-contact with Randy was accentuated by the fact that he was, yknow, sort of putting his crotch in my face. it seemed as if he came over to the side i was on more often than the other one, but maybe i’m only imagining things. ANYWAYS.

what i really love about the show besides all that (even the Nike Clown Shoes- like, hey? what?) are the Shadow Stories. there is something so particularly beautiful, short and sweet, about them. they all seem to hold a mournful aggression, or an aggressive sense of mourning. (also, that version of Mourning Glories makes me weep- that guitar just sings.) they’re sort of ethereal and beautiful. super cool stuff.

i would go into detail about making terrified eye contact with Nolan and EDF after the show, or witnessing Homer, Jana and Francis all walk past me, or even meeting Homer… but that’s, perhaps, for another time.

SHADOWLAND GOOD SHOW. INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO ME.

49
Idea Words / Re: IDEA: Non-Rz Album Discussion
« on: October 17, 2017, 10:34:26 pm »
that sounds like an interesting idea indeed! i think it would be fun to pursue that. i'll look into it in the coming weeks.

50
RZ Project Talk / Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
« on: October 17, 2017, 08:14:54 pm »
aw, mewee. that's super sweet. your time will come. i can feel it- the struggle of being JUST A LITTLE BABY and having that sort of ruin everything all the time.

i'm a LAZY ADMIN and so i've decided to leave this one up until.... ehh... friday of this week, then i'll let the final one kick in for this month, which will last until halloween.

51
RZ Project Talk / SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
« on: October 09, 2017, 10:17:06 pm »
i think it's a bit spooky, with all the rebirth, birth, NDEs and reincarnation. you know.

52
it's divisive. it's spooky. it's got the Sandman. it's The Voice of Midnight.

53
RZ News and Non-News / Re: RIP Charles " Chuck" Bobuck (2009-2017)
« on: October 01, 2017, 12:37:51 pm »
...hardy... why would he even like... why would he even do this? i mean i get it in relation to The Stone. but... ugh! dude! are you serious? lame! sorta lame!

54
i lent the album to someone and she made some really interesting points about it. she said that she interpreted Make Me Moo as being spoken by the Elemental Cow, and that to have a child singing for that role made an interesting statement in terms of how we tend to view creators or powerful beings. we tend to see them as wise, old men. she noted that this is visible, for example, in Renaissance paintings of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. they gave the child an adult's face. this was to communicate his knowledge, his holiness- even as a baby, he is wise. but to have the Elemental Cow be a child makes the creation of the world and the happenings within it inherently innocent. characterizing ultimate creation, the all-powerful as innocent also makes a statement about art. children create art removed from expectation, ideas of what makes art good or bad- those sorts of things. they make art wholly true to themselves.

so i thought that was cool.

55
this show is such an absolute mystery to me. i don't have a solid sense of what the setlist was at any of the shows- i think that it's cut down for some releases or reorganized for others. i don't know what costumes were used for what tracks. i don't know much of anything for sure about it, but i do know that i really like it!

it's an eerie, minimalist affair. the way the shows seemed to allow the Rz to appear as if they were ghostly apparitions in the darkness, haunting a space, coming forth out of a stagnant darkness with life and energy! they assume costumes and identities for sections of tracks that do not necessarily have characters with distinct appearances. they use the people onstage as their decorations which allows the show to feel exceptionally alive compared to any of their other shows. (they would soon use both living and static decorations in Cube-E to make for something REALLY fascinating.)

it sets a precedent for shows like Way We Were, Shadowland, Talking Light, Fillmore '98, and Wonder of Weird (and seemingly the upcoming In Between Dreams)- setlists not based off of singular albums to visualize them, but assorted tracks organized by eras, ideas, themes. this makes one thing i've seen pretty funny: this tendency for Cliffords to trash the RCB trilogy while praising the 13th Anniversary shows. like- hey, dude! those shows are, structurally, similar. while the RCB shows have narration, characters, those sorts of things- they don't take up much of the show. but i am not of that mindset, and am almost definitely missing the point. anyways, 13th Anniversary show very good, perhaps a little spooky.

i may have more to say at a later date.

56
this one slides us further into the realm of all that is spooky and strange in the world of Rz, without explicitly plopping us down in, like... ghost and death and murder and Voice of Midnight-y kinds of things.

go forth! if you feel so inclined.

57
i dont have anything super wise or thoughtful to say about Duck Stab. since the more story-based stuff is what i'm into, i'm not sure what i even would have to say about it. it's good music! it's fun, it's atonal goodness. but i don't find it super interesting.

58
i think it sounds like it's not a Rz song because the vocalists are all seemingly unique to that song. the first portion sounds a bit like their cover of Satisfaction, but there isn't much else. the second section sounds like it could fit into the more recent Rz stuff if it were a bit more MIDI and a little clearer-sounding. but it's a weird one!

59
i thought that, since we might as well head down a road of creepier and creepier albums/projects in the coming weeks, that it would be wise to go for this one. a Fan Favorite. so, voila! DUCK STAB! BUSTER AND GLEN!

60
since DDA was my entry point into the RZ (around this time of year, 2 years ago), it is really, really special to me. it does this cool thing where it just makes me cry like a baby. the track that made it all start to click into place was The Car Thief. it was the live version- the slow sadness in Molly's movements with that mask grabbed me by the heart and threw me face first into the pavement. my entry track, though, was Baja. that one took 2 tries over 2 years and man... it weirded me out. red demon man (why is he red? and naked?), holding an eyeball with a top hat (why an eyeball? why the hat? why is it bleeding?), on a background of fists (???). but that confusion drew me right on in.

while i am not fully capable of understanding a pre-9/11 world (since i was mostly preoccupied with eating and sleeping at that time), the album still manages to strike a chord with me. the feeling of disconnected sorrow runs through every track, manifesting in a different form for Loss, Denial and The Three Metaphors.

Loss

all the tracks on this section are marked with a dreamy pessimism, a hazy sense of futility. which is fitting for loss as a concept.

Mr. Wonderful is all about "if"s. he does not actually think that there is any hope for his life to get any better, despite how little he expects. his life is at a dead end, but his disappointment is curbed by the fantasy of a life that would be, in his eyes, wonderful.

The Weatherman is more directly pessimistic, with a slow-ish beat, strange guitar, and violin that sounds almost as if it is crying. it sticks out to me as a sign to the listener that, no, none of the album will be directly about 9/11 itself, but about the feelings that came from it.  this track calls to mind Inner Space from Animal Lover which, considering the circumstances under which these albums were made, sort of makes sense. the lyrics here seem more helplessly tragic, though. the two share the common point of referencing specific imagery.

Quote
You're always calling me, but I'm never needed. I'm needy, I'm needy, I'm needing a new home.

Ghost Child strikes me as being a part of a 3-part story, told in reverse. it is the end of the tale told with it, Mickey Macaroni and Make Me Moo. the interpretation feels grim, but fitting, to see this track as being told by a child trying to navigate the afterlife, unable to move on. there is something that has happened to her that she cannot move on from. (the fact that the child is referred to as 'she' seems irrelevant to the 3-part story, since i am more focused on the position taken up, and that position is simply 'child'.) the child is in a purgatory of sorts, and since no harm can be done in it, no healing can occur either. it is purgatory, it is nothingness and the lived experience of it and its inescapable nature. it made me very sad when i realized that when the Singing RZ's voice is saying "She'd hold her breath for ever and ever", the child is saying "I'd hold my breath for ever and ever". that disconnection and helplessness is simply tragic. the observer and the victim are incapable of interacting- though i wonder who is who.

Caring is moody, but OH SO CATCHY. it, like The Weatherman, calls to mind a track from AL, Mother No More. the story in this one is really... i dunno, weird. this shows up in other tracks on the album, where the story is sort of unclear but the feeling is definitely there. this is a song about betrayal and preoccupation. the narrator tells that story, and tells us that those two aspects lead to an inevitable withdrawal into nothing. things became "too much", maybe.

Honey Bear, in all its forms (specifically the WoW version), is heartwrenching. right from the start.

Quote
Tell... me... why... I... am... so... scared?

AAAAAUGH. that one just stings. it's like they cranked up the dismal outlook of Mr. Wonderful to 11. the need to be loved, to be worth something again is powerful on this track. the narrator- he was someone, and he has experienced Loss with such clarity that it seems to have wrecked him. everything around him needs to be fixed or rebuilt in some way, but his fear of staying where he is and never being someone who is loved withholds him from moving on. he will take anything he can get.

Quote
Now I wait for you to gag and grease me. Now I hope you'll hold me by the hair.

The Car Thief. where do i even begin on this one. the narrator (who, at this point, i will just call Ms. Wonderful), has experienced Loss in her own way. it seems that she has escaped a physically abusive relationship and experienced the loss of that individual who had hoped to render her passive and weak, but through her anger seems to have found relief from this in destruction. the burning car being compared to a shooting star is a particularly interesting image. setting it aflame contained her wish. she is refusing to carry the burden of her pain any longer. she may be bitter, but she knows she is not in the wrong.

Neediness brings us the first mention of the Demon, though it is present throughout the whole album. Mr. Wonderful, here, had made the strange choice to attempt to embrace and befriend the complicated being that is the Demon. staying in the cycle of grief and all it entails is not a good thing, but he believes that the Demon can be brought to the light and change, while never having to leave! for its own good, at that. in reality, he is begging the issue that got him in his current position to help him to not have to leave it. the cycle has become so familiar that he cannot imagine leaving it. he triggers his own Loss- by convincing himself that the Demon (which he believes can be known and can feel, act, and think as a person would) is leaving him.

i hear the singing at the end in two ways- "We need someone who needs someone," and "It's all gone wrong and it's all gone". the latter is probably correct, but it makes for interesting interpretations.

Quote
We all need someone who needs us.

that phrase, after the pained yelling of Mr. Wonderful sums up the issues in Loss pretty nicely. for some, that someone is a specific person. for others, it's anyone. or, it could be the world as a whole.

Denial

the track that opens this section, Thundering Skies captures the idea of this section really nicely: let's ignore the fact that we have crossed the rubicon- the present and past are a confusing mess of events that we cannot help but look away from! nothing could possibly get worse, no.

Mickey Macaroni is the 2nd part of the story of the Child. at this point, the Child is clearly unaware of the severity of their situation. soon, the Child will go home and learn all that was unknown before. the Child expresses an angry innocence- Denial- about anything going on around them. they want whatever will call to mind a sense of familiarity and safety before they have to go "home".

Betty's Body is weirdly voyeuristic. Mr. Wonderful clearly longs for Betty, but Loss haunts him. he longs more deeply for Mother. his experience of Denial is that he does not face the fact that he misses her deeply, and he denies himself the possibility of Betty reciprocating his feelings- he cannot even imagine such a thing. he is more than shy, he's lonely. Betty reminds him of these feelings. so, he could never be her lover, or so he thinks.

My Brother Paul is, in my eyes, one of the most mainstream-sounding RZ tracks. ever. it has that vague storyline aspect that Caring has. they both seem to detail an experience of betrayal, but through different lenses. in this case, Mr. Wonderful experiences Denial by refusing to acknowledge the fact that, as far as i can tell, his brother was killed by someone he trusted, for that person's (possibly financial) gain. and he is being forced to accept that he has been betrayed.

Baja is silly skeleton island music and it threw me for a loop when i first heard it because i couldn't tap my foot to it. 10/10


The Three Metaphors

one would logically wonder where Anger, Bargaining and Depression lie in this album? well, here, i assume. they're all out of order and they all contain traces of each other.

The Beekeeper's Daughter would appear to have the withdrawn appearance of Depression. Ms. Wonderful focuses on the event that has made her so, so upset- a situation that she seemed to have been powerless in. the background has a chorus singing "Run, Daddy, run"- this sounds to me like her internal monologue as she reflects on it and possibly even relives it to no end. she experiences Anger here by trying to shut out others and bargaining by telling of how her father escaped his situation with a song- not something that seems realistic.

Quote
Leave me alone, I'm on the phone. I wish you'd only leave me alone.

she is not looking to work through what has happened. she wants only to be left alone to experience it in her mind in the hopes that she would be able to relieve herself of her sorrow.

Wolverines is a little bit more vague in nature, but still seems like it could be Anger. the description of children having their fingers bitten by seemingly harmless wolverine puppies evokes images of Anger, for sure. the adult animals trying to protect their young and failing due to those vulnerable members crying out invokes psychological imagery of attempts to protect the wounded self. but the wounded self, too, is not powerless or harmless. But to cause harm to either of those is not justified. through Anger, it may seem so. thus, Mr. Wonderful begs for forgiveness- placing the blame on something or someone else- the feeling, and by association- the Demon. and he experiences Bargaining through this. the experience of Depression is sung by the chorus:

Quote
No one succeeds if they scatter their seeds where the wind and the weeds are pleased.

there is no hope, apparently, for the wolverines. they have done just that- but so have the out of towners with their children.

Make Me Moo- here lies the beginning of the story of the Child, for us. something has occurred and the Child is now trying to find a way out of the hurt. that attempt, through wanting to be a cow, is the Child's experience of Bargaining.  the Anger and Depression are harder to trace on this track- though the former could hypothetically be found in the demanding tone of the chorus of the track and the latter can be found here:

Quote
My heart was broken, broken. Cows are so open, open.

it seems as if things only get worse from here on out for the Child.

Tongue

of course i would not neglect to mention Tongue. the story has a cyclical nature- similar to the cycle of grief. the same wound continues to be opened, allowed to heal, and reopened again. Tongue attracts people that, in the end, seem to be destroyed by his presence. despite this, he falls in love over and over, to the point where he does not know what to do. he is powerless in the face of the Demon- both his ability to attract and the inevitable death of those who he draws in.


Demons Dance Alone

this final track fits comfortably as an end to Neediness- the perception of the Demon as harmless, kind, almost sweet causing a painful, humiliating downfall. grief does not just leave if you play nice and treat it as a momentary experience- it seeps into every nook and cranny. and through isolation and confusion, it overstays its welcome. Mr. Wonderful tells of the hopelessness of his situation. in ignoring the truth of who and what the Demon is, it laid claim to his life. and so he dances alone.


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