The Residents

Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone." Ralph was founded in 1972, shortly after the group had moved to San Francisco, when the band realized that they were the only people who would be... willing to publish their work. They "unincorporated" themselves as The Residents Uninc. and managed the new company under that name. One of the group's members could draw, so they gave the company a graphic design wing called Porno Graphics, aka Pore-Know Graphics, aka Poor No Graphics, aka Porneaugraphics, etc., and the whole operation was run out of their new two-story building at 18 Sycamore St. in the Mission District. They named their studio El Ralpho, spoofing Sun Ra who had named his El Saturn. Ralph's first release was December 1972's Santa Dog , a two-disk single which was mailed out for free to about three hundred people — friends, radio stations, even Richard Nixon and Frank Zappa were sent copies . This was followed by the band's first album, Meet the Residents , recorded in 1973 and released in 1974.
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Cordless Recordings is a netlabel owned by Warner Music Group. The label was founded in 2005 by Jac Holzman, who also founded Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. In 2007, Warner Music Group's Rykodisc label formed a strategic alliance with Cordless Recordings. This alliance was meant to give... Rykodisc a greater presence in the digital media space and the flexibility to explore new means of artist development and distribution strategies. As of 2009, current Cordless/Rykodisc artists include Gliss, The Notorious MSG, Throw the Fight and Kennedy.
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Charisma was a record label founded by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith in 1969. Manager for The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator at the time, Stratton-Smith was unable to find a record company willing to release an album by one of his favourite groups so he founded his own... company and released the Van der Graaf Generator album The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other himself. Charisma's first record label was a distinctive "pink scroll" design. The company proudly proclaimed itself "The Famous Charisma Label". Its second logo of Sir John Tenniel's drawing of the Mad Hatter made the label instantly recognisable. Its most successful acts were Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Julian Lennon and the Monty Python comedy team. It also released material by Van der Graaf Generator, The Nice, Lindisfarne and Alan Hull, Hawkwind, The Alan Parsons Project, Clifford T. Ward, String Driven Thing, Jack The Lad, Audience, Vivian Stanshall, Brand X, Sir John Betjeman and Malcolm McLaren.
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