A review of They Might Be Giants' "Nanobots"

In recent years, I've had to face a couple of hard, awful truths.
Among them is the fact that The Simpsons will never be as funny as it used to be.
Why will The Simpsons never be as funny as it used to be?
For of a whole host of reasons: the show has different writers, they've been on the air for almost a quarter of a century and, the most hard and awful truth, I am no longer twelve years old.
Things will never be as good as they were.
Ever.
The sooner you stop hoping and expecting them to be, the sooner your life will improve.

So, when They Might Be Giants announced a new album, yeah, I was excited, I've been a fan of theirs for over twenty years, why wouldn't I be excited?
Was I hoping for/expecting another Lincoln or Apollo 18 or John Henry?
Of course not.
Things will never be as good as they were...remember?
But Nanobots is the closest They Might Be Giants has come in decades.

First things first, the whole album is great. So great, in fact, that, if I were you, I would order it first, and then read this review so as to hype yourself up for what you're about to hear.
But that's just me.

Okay, here goes; the really amazing songs are as follows: "Nanobots" (poppy and sunny and about how billions upon billions of self-replicating, microscopic robots are going to rise up and overtake the world), "Call You Mom" (too good to describe, just listen to it), "Stone Cold Coup D'Etat" (a song about role reversal, murder and revolution...sorry, a super-catchy, rock/pop song about role reversal, murder and revolution), "Sleep" (Linnell only needs forty-two seconds to get things done and done well), "Sometimes A Lonely Way" (a beautiful, heartwrenching Flans ballad that serves to remind folks that these guys aren't all "quirky" and "nerdy" and other adjectives they've come to loathe over the years), "Tick" (FLANSBURGH ONLY NEEDS ELEVEN SECONDS TO GET THINGS DONE AND DONE WELL), "Replicant" (a loungey, vibraphone-soaked swagger through a tale about, what else, a killer clone. One gets the unsettling feeling that Linnell is speaking from experience), "The Darlings of Lumberland" (not only is it a song about zombies, but I have never, EVER heard TMBG sound like this before. I'm assuming this has a lot to do with sonic collaborators, the Elegant Too. The whole thing...is robo-cyber horns...kind of?), "Stuff Is Way" (best way to describe this: it's like listening to an English professor's stroke), and "Icky" (a smarmy, surf-rock romp about that awful person we all know and detest...this might be a prequel to "When Will You Die?").

AND THERE ARE STILL TEN REALLY, REALLY GOOD SONGS ON THE ALBUM! Like a rampant footstomper about a guy whose head is on fire ("You're On Fire"), a kid's song that was too dark for TMBG's most recent Disney-funded kids' album, Here Comes Science ("Tesla"), a straight up Flans rocker reminiscent of "On The Drag" ("Circular Karate Chop") AND FREAKING SEVEN MORE SONGS!
Jesus, I feel like a hyperactive Time/Life salesman...

Every month, I write about my five favorite bands and what they are (or aren't) doing that month. At the end of 2012, I wrote what amounted to a musical wish list for the coming year. One of the things I wished for was that I would listen to a new album by one of those five favorite bands, and that I would love it the first time through; top to bottom, first to last, no "well, I kinda like this, but I think it needs time to grow on me", no "the first two thirds are awesome...but the rest...", love at first listen.
Nanobots did that for me.
Not even three months into the year, and that wish has been granted.
Are there songs that don't stand out as brightly and as proudly from the rest? Sure...but those songs are still good.
The only problem I see here...the only problem...is that I have no idea how They Might Be Giants are going to top themselves after this.

Go buy Nanobots.
And then go watch the eighth season of The Simpsons.
And remember that this is as good as it can possibly get.