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Alieno de Bootes — Unconventional Residents IV
(Klanggalerie gg509, 2025, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-11-04

Unconventional Residents IV Cover art

They say that sequels are never as good as the original. Well, here we are at the fourth installment of the Unconventional Residents series, which has proved that old saying wrong; this series of reimagined cuts by what is undisputably one of the weirdest bands of all time certainly proves the worthiness of their material, especially when in the hands of the right arranger. Unconventional Residents IV covers fifteen cuts written by the Residents, more than around half of which this writer was previously familiar with (I have to confess I got a little tired of their shtick after Mark of the Mole, and have only dropped in on their work intermittently since that time, but their output remains interesting). Any band that can last that many years and 300-plus releases has to be commended, and it does provide Mr. de Bootes with a lot of material that should keep this series going long into the future. In addition to de Bootes’ arrangements, keyboards, electronics, guitar, and backing vocals, he is joined by dozens of guests on these cuts, including Brian “Renaldo” Poole from Renaldo and the Loaf (vocals), drummers Spike Delgado and Franco Moruzzi, bassists Massimo Bertatto, Masha Galvan and Luis Gonzalez, Ken Field on flute and alto sax (from Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic), Amy Denio (sax and vocals), guitarists Claudio “Taylor” Bon, Thomas Emmerich and Christoph Godin, percussionist Moreno Barbazza and numerous others on a variety of instruments and vocals. Not exactly sure what de Bootes’ process was for getting the job done, but just managing all of these musicians must have been a massive undertaking. Of the first six tracks, five of them are from The Commercial Album (well… I think that “Diskomo” might have been a bonus track), which is certainly one of my favorites, and these are fully fleshed out, nothing like the sixty second original versions. You’ll also get arrangements of “Infant Tango” and “Seasoned Greetings” from Meet the Residents, “Shorty’s Lament” from Intermission, “Godsong” from Fingerprince, “Is He Really Bringing Roses” and “Boy in Love” from Residue Deux, and a lot more, all arranged in such a way that respect the originals and at the same time bring fresh ideas into their arrangements, like merging “Act of Being Polite” with the Beatles “Within You Without You,” “Infant Tango” and a bit of “Purple Haze,” or the intro to “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” in the middle of “Diskomo.” Yeah, the vocals are still kind of on the strange side, but all taken Unconventional Residents IV is a lot of fun and should even appeal to listeners who don’t particularly care for The Residents.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Ken Field, The Residents, Amy Denio, Alessandro Pizzin (Alieno de Bootes)

More info
http://youtu.be/dDfKyroGm00
http://klanggalerie.bandcamp.com/album/unconventional-residents-iv

 

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