Since the 1990’s, I have been a fan of The Residents, a group whose best-known characteristic is their anonymity. The group had their own record label, Ralph (as in the slang for vomiting), on which they had off-beat artists who likely would have been unable to find a home elsewhere.
The best known of these acts that weren’t The Residents were Renaldo and The Loaf, a British duo who initially specialized in music that challenged even most Residents fans. And The Residents have made some…challenging music, to put it diplomatically.
Prior to watching this documentary about Renaldo and The Loaf, my only knowledge of them was through their early music, particularly debut album Songs for Swinging Larvae. I didn’t take to it, but I liked this film so much that I am seriously considering revisiting it.
As for my initial exposure to their music, that was courtesy of a video made for a medley of tracks (I’m not ready to use the word “songs”) from that album. That short film is greatly unnerving, even today. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see it unexpectedly on a late night program like Night Flight. Without any conventionally objectionable content, the Songs clip leaves one feeling you have seen something that shouldn’t have been broadcast.
That clip was directed by Graeme Whifler, who had also created the legendary early music videos for The Residents, which shows how much the group and their label loved these like-minded iconoclasts from across the pond. And let’s just take a quick look at what else Whifler has done and…WTF, he wrote Dr. Giggles?!?
Anywho, Renaldo is Brian Poole and David Janssen is The Loaf, and this documentary details their working relationship through five decades. For the first couple of decades, they didn’t hang out together except to make music. After three formal albums were released (in addition to a great number of self-released cassettes), life got in the way and they followed their separate pursuits following a loss of interest in recording. It doesn’t appear to be an acrimonious split–they just didn’t have much in common except for the music.
These two are far different from what I suspect most people would imagine from their oeuvre. I know I wouldn’t have expected them to be soft-spoken, thoughtful and conservatively-dressed. They even held down prestigious jobs for a long time. Poole was an architect and Janssen was a pathologist.
One of my favorite aspects of this documentary is seeing how, after a couple of decades pass without keeping in touch, Poole and Janssen reconnect. They not only perform live for the second time ever and record a new album, but they discover a friendship that exists beyond their creative output. Or, as Janssen puts it (if I remember correctly), “The music used to fuel the friendship, but now the friendship fuels the music”.
I watched this on blu-ray, and I highly recommend those who are curious take the leap and watch it in that format, as there is a wealth of bonus material. I wish some of the extended interviews had been included in the movie proper; however, these being relegated to the bonus content results in a very lean feature.
I don’t know if a reappraisal of their music will make me a fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this time spent with Poole, Janssen and their fans. I feel 23rd Century Giants is one of those rare music documentaries that isn’t simply fan service. Instead, it shines a light on an obscure niche of music which only a handful have experienced, and introduces us to the fascinating people who made it.
Dir: Alex Wroten
Documentary
Watched on blu-ray