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The River of Crime was a bi-weekly fiction podcast written by and starring The Residents, released between June 13 and August 8, 2006 through Cordless Recordings.
History[]
Since the turn of the century, many individuals had experimented with the format of connecting RSS feeds with audio files. By February of 2004 these were officially dubbed Podcasts and were beginning to rise in popularity. The Residents, not being ones to miss out on new technology, began developing their own podcast titled The BOGcast wherein Residential intern Sparky would be tasked with interviewing many figures involved in The Residents' career. The BOGcast lasted from August 2005 to April 2006.
At that same time, fiction podcasts were growing in popularity too, and The Residents saw an opportunity to experiment in that area. Concurrently with their Tweedles! album, the group began to craft a five episode series based around a narrator retelling his obsession with, and various encounters with crime. After the group wrote the episode scripts, they, along with Nolan Cook and Carla Fabrizio, began working on the soundtrack for the project.[1]
The project was inspired by, and somewhat based on, a demo album they had constructed before production of Tweedles began, titled Music To Eat Bricks By.
In typical Residents fashion, the cast and musicians on the release remained anonymous, until five years later when their names were revealed on The Residents' website, making this Gerri Lawlor's first appearance on a Residents release.[2]
Episodes[]
- The Kid Who Collected Crimes! (16:23) [June 13, 2006]
- Gator Hater! (14:55) [June 27, 2006]
- Misdelivered Mummy! (15:14) [July 11, 2006]
- The Beards! (17:07) [July 27, 2006]
- Termites From Formosa! (16:13) [August 8, 2006]
Release[]
Starting June 13, 2006, episodes of The River Of Crime were released every two weeks online through Apple's iTunes, with the finale episode being released on August 8, 2006.
On the same date as the first episode's release, limited edition CD-Rs were made available from select locations including Virgin Megastore's, the MoMA, and Cordless.Com. The CD-Rs were completely blank but came in packaging instructing owners of the CDs to login to riverofcrime.com using a unique code printed on the packing and download the episodes for free from there. The packaging also instructed owners to only burn the files to the discs after The Residents had released all five, as material could be burnt to the discs more than once.
The downloads also included unique bonus material, including a 15-minute concentrate of the podcast's soundtrack, scripts, and promotional images and unrelated songs not intended to be burnt.
By the time of River of Crime's release, Cordless Recordings was less than a year old. Still, it had already signed acts like noted Residents fans Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers, as well as Dangerous Muse, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. & H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E.
Three months after the conclusion of the series, on November 7, 2006, Cordless Recordings issued a standard version of the CD containing all episodes as well as an abridged instrumental version of the series. On December 31st, The Residents removed the original files from their websites and iTunes.
The instrumental version of the project was released through The Residents' RSD website sometime later and was made available through their Bandcamp page in 2015. The full series remains available through various streaming services, although as an album, not a podcast.
More episodes were planned, but none were created.
Promotional Version[]
Some time before the official debut of the series, Cordless Recordings distrusted an abridged album version of the podcast, containing the first two episodes and lasting 32:04.
Reception[]
Contemporary[]
Freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle described The River of Crime! as "something clever", recognizing that "although ostensibly about criminal acts, each episode ultimately focuses on the torturous human emotions caused by the loss of a loved one -- a father, a daughter, a lover, a friend, a niece. [...] While the narrator (as a child) is absolutely obsessed with all the awesome serial killers and child murderers he reads about, each episode demonstrates that an act of human evil is a hell of a lot less cool (and more painful) when it actually happens to you."[3]
Track Listing[]
2xCD-R Version[]
Disc One (46:38)
- Episode One: The Kid Who Collected Crimes! (16:25)
- Episode Two: Gator Hater! (14:57)
- Episode Three: Misdelivered Mummy! (15:16)
Disc Two (48:26)
- Episode Four: The Beards! (17:07)
- Episode Five: Termites From Formosa! (16:15)
- River Of Crime! Instrumental (15:04)
2xCD Version[]
Disc One: Episodes 1-5 (1:19:52)
- Episode 1: The Kid Who Collected Crimes! (16:23)
- Episode 2: Gator Hater! (14:55)
- Episode 3: Misdelivered Mummy! (15:14)
- Episode 4: The Beards! (17:07)
- Episode 5: Termites From Formosa! (16:13)
Disc Two: Instrumental Soundtrack (Limited Edition) (49:24)
- Episode 1: The Kid Who Collected Crimes! (Instrumental) (9:58)
- Episode 2: Gator Hater! (Instrumental) (9:13)
- Episode 3: Misdelivered Mummy! (Instrumental) (8:29)
- Episode 4: The Beards! (Instrumental) (9:52)
- Episode 5: Termites From Formosa! (Instrumental) (11:52)
Community art project[]
In a collaboration between The Residents and New York's Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA), an Internet video competition based on River of Crime was held between August 15 and September 15 of 2006. During that period of time, a 90-seconds excerpt of the first episode of the podcast, "The Kid Who Collected Crimes!", was available for download on Residents.com. The contestants had to make a video using said audio clip, and submit it online. The jury, composed by The Residents and MoMA's curator Barbara London, picked a shortlist of 30 videos, which were posted online on October 1.
The definitive selections where made on October 19, taking into consideration the popularity on YouTube of each video, as well as the jury's opinion. The winners were posted on MoMA's webpage, and screened during The Residents: Re-Viewed, an exhibition based on the band held in the museum between October 19 and 22 of 2006.
As of this writing, the selected videos are still available on YouTube, in a channel made specifically for the project.
Credits[]
Not printed on any version of the album
- The Residents
- C. Rosen
- G. Lawlor
- P. Killam
- E. Schniewind
- B. Sullivan
- C. Fabrizio
- N. Cook
Soundtrack
See also[]
- ↑ The River of Crime Instrumental OST | Residents
- ↑ The River of Crime
- ↑ Mark Prindle, "River of Crime! Episodes 1-5", Mark's Record Reviews, May 6th 2006 - June 4th 2007