Renaldo & The Loaf

Renaldo & The Loaf are an English musical duo, consisting of a pathologist (David Janssen or "Ted the Loaf") and an architect (Brian Poole or "Renaldo Malpractice", most often simply "Renaldo M"). 
Officially active from 1979 until 1988, they were "discovered" by The Residents when Poole dropped off a tape at Ralph Records headquarters in San Francisco during a visit to America. After being signed to Ralph, they released Songs for Swinging Larvae in 1981 and collaborated with The Residents on the album Title In Limbo, recording it between two visits in 1981 and 1983. In their first period of activity, they recorded four studio albums as well as numerous demos.
Since reuniting in 2006, the duo have produced one new studio album, Gurdy Hurding, a number of singles and tracks for compilations, as well as issuing expanded two-disc editions of their back catalog on Klanggalerie, and recording their first live album at an appearance in Vienna in 2018. A documentary film on the duo, 23rd Century Giants, premiered in 2021.
== History ==
=== Origins and early recordings ===
Brian Poole and David Janssen were school friends from Portsmouth, England who bonded over their shared interest in the folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex. 
Around 1972 the pair formed their own folk duo, Galapas; the duo recorded songs with a cassette recorder and performed live at least three times at youth club nights in the area,Oliver Hall, "'23rd Century Giants,' the incredible true story of Renaldo & The Loaf!", Dangerous Minds, February 11th 2022 with each performance becoming more experimental than the last.23rd Century Giants, 2021 Galapas was short-lived, however Poole and Janssen continued to experiment, making a number of recordings and tape loops in the following years. 
In late 1977, the duo (now going by the name Plimsollline) found that one of their experiments had an almost traditional song structure; this led them to record further pieces in a similar vein. These recordings resulted in an album, Behind Closed Curtains, and an EP, Tap Dancing in Slush; both remained unreleased for more than thirty years. 
=== Self-produced cassettes ===
In 1979, the duo - now named Renaldo & The Loaf - recorded and released their first official album, Renaldo & The Loaf Play Struve and Sneff; the album was distributed on homemade cassette tapes, produced on demand by the duo. 
Renaldo & The Loaf achieved a unique sound at this time by striving to get unnatural synthesizer-like sounds from the acoustic instruments they had at hand. To that end, they routinely used muffled and de-tuned instruments, as well as tape loops and manipulation. 
On a visit to San Francisco in 1980, Poole stopped at the Grove Street headquarters of Ralph Records, which by this point had become known for its roster of unusual, esoteric musical acts, centered around the label's founding artists, The Residents. Poole (apparently due to his English accent) was allowed entry to the studio and handed a copy of the Struve and Sneff tape to the person he met with, who it turned out was the label's A&R representative Hardy Fox. 
Fox shared the tape with other members of the label's managing company The Cryptic Corporation, who agreed that the tape was highly original. After returning home, Poole received a letter from Fox requesting more music; the duo then recorded and submitted two demo tapes, Songs From The Surgery and Hats Off, Gentlemen!. Renaldo & The Loaf signed with Ralph on February 22nd 1981.
=== Ralph Records ===
The duo's second album (and first to be widely distributed), Songs for Swinging Larvae, was released on Ralph in 1981. Aside from its unusual instrumental arrangements, the album's lyrics were taken from disparate sources, such as Sherlock Holmes stories and Samuel Beckett's Endgame. Graeme Whifler directed a short promotional film accompanied by a medley of music from the album. This video was banned from television and film festivals due to its controversial nature. 
When visiting San Francisco in 1981, Renaldo & The Loaf were invited to dinner at the home of a member of The Residents. After dinner, the Resident invited the duo to check out his hot tub, whereupon they sat "stark naked" in the tub with The Residents. One Resident "very dryly" commented on the situation: "Now you'll be able to tell people that you can recognize The Residents by the shape of their penises." 
Renaldo & The Loaf spent two years recording their third album, Arabic Yodelling, which was released on Ralph in 1983. The first album the pair had recorded with the knowledge that it would be distributed to a (relatively) wide audience, Arabic Yodelling took longer to produce than their previous work. 
As the 1980s advanced, the duo found it increasingly difficult to complete projects, and they both had demanding day jobs and family lives. Some Bizarre Records' involvement injected enough motivation for the completion of The Elbow is Taboo in 1987, with a shift to a more refined electronic sound, but the process had been less than rewarding.
By 1988, the collaboration had lost its steam, and the duo disbanded.
=== Hiatus ===
Brian Poole contributed to sporadic recordings in the 1990s. 
David Janssen retired from music for many years, returning in 2006 as The Darkening Scale. His catalog also includes three full length albums with Sylvie Wilder under the name The Tapeworm Vessel, and ambient releases as Lightness Ascending. 
=== Reunion ===
Upon the launch of the new Renaldo & The Loaf website in 2006, the duo were reunited for the first time in the better part of two decades. In 2007, they supplied three new songs for the soundtrack to the film Kirk Mannican's Liberty Mix. 
Their first album in 29 years, entitled Gurdy Hurding, was released on Klanggalerie on October 25th 2016. Their back catalog was reissued on Klanggalerie shortly thereafter in an expansive campaign, with each album featuring a bonus disc full of (mostly previously unreleased) demos, experiments, interludes, and reworked versions. 
The duo performed live for the first time since the early 1980s in June 2018 at the Klanggalerie 25th Anniversary event in Vienna. This performance was recorded and released in November as Long Time Coming. 
They released two digital-only singles via Bandcamp in 2020, a reworked version of "Hambu Hodo" renamed "Hambu Lodo" and "Hair Apparent". In December the 1980 Brain Boosters Records compilation South Specific was reissued in a three disc edition featuring two new songs, "Blue Mountain Goat" and "Now Then", alongside "A Medical Man", "Bali Whine" and "Scottish Shuffle" which featured on the original release. This was followed by another digital-only release, Promos 1980, which includes the two demo tapes sent to Ralph Records prior to their signing. 
In May 2021 Klanggalerie released a compilation/remix album entitled Hardly Gurning While The World Is Turning, featuring the title track (previously released on the vinyl edition of Gurdy Hurding) and 12 remixes of Gurdy Hurding tracks by The Residents, Alex Wroten, Eric Drew Feldman, Nolan Cook, Section 25, Andrew Liles, TransGlobal Underground, Cult With No Name, Axon Welter, Eric Random and Pita. 
Later in the year, a documentary film, 23rd Century Giants, was released, which provides an overview of the duo's history and interviews with both Poole and Janssen as well as Homer Flynn and Jay Clem of The Cryptic Corporation, Ralph employees Tom Timony and Sheenah Spece, and artists Steven Cerio and Poxodd. 
== Discography ==
==== Demos ====
*Behind Closed Curtains (as Plimsollline) (1978, released 2014)
*Songs From The Surgery (1980)
*Hats Off, Gentlemen! (1980)
*The Serious Collection (1982)
==== Studio albums ====
*Play Struve and Sneff (1979)
*Songs for Swinging Larvae (1981)
*Arabic Yodelling (1983)
*Title in Limbo with The Residents (1983)
*The Elbow Is Taboo (1987)
*Gurdy Hurding (2016)
==== Singles and EPs ====
*Tap Dancing In Slush EP (as Plimsollline) (1978, released 2014)
*"Bimbo / Honest Joe's Indian" flexidisc (split with Yello) (1981)
*"Hambu Hodo" (1986)
*Hambu Ho Do Tak Awa EP (2001)
*Song Of The Lungfish EP (2019)
* "Hambu Lodo" {2020)
* "Hair Apparent" (2020)
* "A Medical Man" (2021)
==== Live albums ====
*Long Time Coming (Live In Vienna 2018) (2018)
==== Compilations ====
* Olleh Olleh Rotcod (1985)
*Behind Closed Curtains + Tap Dancing In Slush + Rotcodism (2014)
* Breadcrumbs (2016)
*Promos 1980 (2021)
==== Remix albums ====
*Hardly Gurning While The World Is Turning (2021)
== Tribute albums ==
* The Music Is Taboo Vol 1 (2007)
* The Music Is Taboo Vol 2 (2007)
== Videography ==
=== Music videos ===
* "Songs for Swinging Larvae" directed by Graeme Whifler (1981)
* "A Convivial Ode" directed by Jez Stevens (2016)
=== Documentaries ===
* 23rd Century Giants: The Story of Renaldo & The Loaf (2021)
== See also ==
* David Janssen
* The Darkening Scale
* The Tapeworm Vessel
* Brian Poole
== External links and references ==
* Official website
*Renaldo & The Loaf at Discogs
Category:Ralph stablemates
Category:Collaborators
Category:Renaldo & The Loaf