VIA PRESS RELEASE | Book includes vinyl 7” of previously unreleased American Composer Series-era track “That’ll Be the Day (Baby Baby).”
Graphic designer, musician, and underground music archivist Aaron Tanner has once again ransacked the legendary experimental art collective known as The Residents’ The Cryptic Corporation’s archives to create a new limited edition coffee table book covering everything from Title in Limbo through Disfigured Night. The result, The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2, is a fully authorized visual history of that era, with rare and unseen photos, artwork, and other ephemera. The book is set for release via Melodic Virtue on August 11.
The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2 will also feature a black vinyl 7″ record of the unreleased American Composer Series-era track, “That’ll Be the Day (Baby Baby).” The book marks the follow up to last year’s The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 1 which sold-out shortly after release. Pre-order The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2 here.
With an unparalleled career spanning decades, The Residents consistently redefine artistic expression, challenge conventions and continue to inspire generations of artists across all genres.
Featuring an introduction by famed musician Penn Jillette, The Residents: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2 will also include exclusive quotes from Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Henry Selick, Moby, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale (Devo), Alex Winter, David J (Bauhaus), Dave McKean, Zach Hill (Death Grips), Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta), Alex Paterson (The Orb), Roy Mayorga (Ministry), Stuart Shapiro (Night Flight), Rob Crow (Pinback), Stan Ridgway, Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think), Mouse on Mars, Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto), Ego Plum, Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt), Gary Wilson, Diamanda Galás, Moritz R® (Der Plan), Thor Harris (Swans), JG Thirlwell, and many more. The book was put together by graphic designer, musician, and underground music archivist Aaron Tanner for his publishing house Melodic Virtue. He has also released books on The Butthole Surfers and Ministry, among others.
About The Residents | Constantly defying classification while remaining completely anonymous, The Residents have been regarded as icons in the world of experimental music for 50 years. In addition to their groundbreaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial, and lounge music, the group has also been credited with being among the originators of performance art and the music video, with their videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About Aaron Tanner | Aaron Tanner is a graphic designer, musician, and underground music archivist. Growing up in the Midwest, he drew inspiration from logos on railroad cars, advertisements on matchbooks, and other imagery from his surroundings in Middle America. Tanner’s mastery of design earned him recognition within the underground music community and ultimately led him to become Ween’s resident designer, a position he has held for over 20 years.
He founded Melodic Virtue in 2004, a design firm catering to bands and regional businesses. While maintaining a diverse client roster that included Explosions in the Sky, Pinback, Mono, Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, Epitaph Records, Secretly Group, Temporary Residence Ltd., Joyful Noise Recordings, and pet celebs Lil BUB and Doug the Pug, Tanner created Pixies: A Visual History, Volume 1 with co-author Sean Rayburn. The acclaimed publication received multiple national awards and propelled Tanner’s career in publishing.
Tanner delved into creating coffee table books that seamlessly combined his two passions: visual art and underground music. His unconventional design work with The Residents, Butthole Surfers, and Ministry has received critical acclaim, and each publication has earned a place in the permanent collections of esteemed institutions such as the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Archive of Contemporary Music. With each project, Tanner provides a deep and genuinely authentic glimpse behind the curtain, leaving an indelible mark on the world of design at the intersection of art and music.
About Melodic Virtue | Melodic Virtue is a small, artist-friendly independent publisher dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacies of underground bands through limited-run coffee table books. Originally founded in 2004 as a graphic design studio by Aaron Tanner, Melodic Virtue produces fully authorized books that offer an immersive, and definitive, visual history of bands outside of mainstream music culture. Each authentic and unusual story is told through compelling design, rare photographs and artwork, and gripping first-hand anecdotes from their fans and contemporaries.
