RALPH

Rip It Up, Issue 50, 1 September 1981, Page 12

RALPH

San Francisco's Ralph Records has had a firm cult following in this country for a couple of years since people started to drop the name of the Residents, the world's most faceless band. Nobody knows who they are, and they continue to keep us guessing, never sounding quite the same. They're a prolific band with a string of albums to their name, any one of which is as good an introduction as another. An acquired taste, certainly, but rather savoury all the same. Impossible to describe adequately in words, and just as impossible to classify, but . if you take early Frank Zappa as a starting point and work your way through the obscure pyschedelic bands of the Nuggets' era, you might get the drift. Philip Lithman, aka Snakefinger,, was born in London in 1949, and was formerly, best known for his role in the veryinfluential Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers. He got his name while sitting in on violin at one of the rare Residents' gigs in San Francisco, in 1971. He's played numerous times on Residents' albums, and has now lifted off on his own, gaining substantial attention with his Greener Postures LP. Sadly, a planned New Zealand tour earlier this year was cancelled after Snakefinger suffered a' heart attack in Australia. He did survive, however, and more is expected from someone who is certainly not yer average electric guitarist. Tuxedomoon are Peter. Principle, ' Steve Brown- and Blaine Reininger, making ; up the hard core on reeds, keyboards, violin, bass and guitar at various stages. They're augmented by singer-composer

Winston Tong, film and light man Bruce Gedulgig, graphic designer Patrick Roques, sound mixer Gerry Hesse, and anyone else who happens to be around at the time. They've been going since 1977, with their aim being "to synthesise a new art form from the seemingly disparate disciplines in the human quest to know." Can't add much to that. The curious could investigate their second LP, Desire.