A bit of surreality, courtesy of Renaldo and the Loaf

I've been exploring music videos recently, including videos made for relatively obscure musical performers, like the Rubinoos, Josef K, the Residents, and one, in particular, that I found surreally beautiful. It's a video for the experimental British duo, Renaldo and the Loaf.

I'm so happy for the existence of websites that allow for such exploration.


Anyway, here's a music video by this group. It's truly bizarre, in a sort of David Lynchian/surrealistic sort of way. I really like it.

Why not a turn - perhaps even just a quick turn - to surrealism, and to its interest in all things absurd, and in the subconsiousness?

It was the goal of the surrealists (and their dadaist allies) in the 1920s and 1930s to challenge the very cognitive and ideological foundations of the modern, western world, and to truly free the imagination. In that sense, the surrealists were truly radical.

Such a radical and subversive spirit - which was reawakened during the counterculture - is probably needed in today's world.

And as an example, we have this one example, a video and a sample of music by a very odd pair of experimental musicians, about whom, the All Music Guide describes their music as something "guaranteed to rid your house of unwanted guests."

Here's Wikipedia's take on this inventive duo.

An English duo active in the late seventies and most of the eighties, Renaldo and the Loaf consisted of a pathologist (David Janssen or "Ted The Loaf") and an architect (Brian Poole or "Renaldo Malpractice") who made music often considered strange.

By their own assertion, they achieved their unique sound in part by striving to get unnatural synthesizer-like sounds using only what instruments they had available (acoustic ones.) To that end they routinely used muffled and de-tuned instruments, and often to striking effect, tape loops / manipulation. The two released four full length albums, one collection, various songs on compilation albums, and several self-produced demos. They were "discovered" by The Residents when Brian dropped off a tape at Ralph Records headquarters in San Francisco, during a visit to the US. After being signed to Ralph, they collaborated with The Residents on Title in Limbo.

By 1989, the collaboration had lost its steam, and the duo disbanded after recording a sea shanty, "Haul on the Bowline," which appeared only on a Ralph various artists release. Brian/Renaldo contributed to sporadic recordings in the 1990s. In 2006 upon the launch of the new Renaldo & the Loaf web site, the duo were reunited for the first time in the better part of 2 decades.

All blessings to the surrealists of all eras!