You don't know their names. You've never even seen their faces, as they're usually hidden behind the giant, red-veined eyeball heads they wear as masks. They are the Residents, and there has never been a band as determinedly warped as this Bay Area quartet, now well into its third decade as enigmatic purveyors of music with titles like “Duck Stab” and “Santa Dog.” But while the Residents' music is hardly what you'd call “accessible,” the band has always had a compelling musical and especially visual sensibility, and you can find it right here in Icky Flix, a comprehensive overview that brings together some 17 pieces spanning their career, from 1976's “The Third Reich ‘n' Roll” to recent items such as “Burn Baby Burn” and “Bad Day on the Midway.” And aside from visual content galore, there's new music as well; for reasons best known to them, in 2000 the Residents re-recorded the music for almost every piece, with users given the choice of listening to either the original or the new track. (The new ones--presented in Dolby Digital 5.1--are a little smoother, but the weirdness remains; these are dissonant, jarring, strange sounds, a bit like Captain Beefheart without the Delta blues flavor, referencing everything from “We Are the World,” “Holy Holy Holy,” and “Wipe Out” to James Brown and John Philip Sousa.) The visuals are, well, indescribable, combining film, video, still photography, computer animation, and more to create images that range from dark, surreal, and grotesque to funny, endearingly wacky, and even quite beautiful. It's not for everyone, but like the musicians who spawned it, Icky Flix genuinely deserves to be called “unique.” Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)
Icky Flix: The Residents
(2001) 100 min. DVD: $19.95. Music Video Distributors (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. Volume 20, Issue 3
Icky Flix: The Residents
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