A review of They Might Be Giants' "My Murdered Remains"

Much like 2016’s Phone Power, My Murdered Remains collects the remainder of 2018’s Dial-A-Song offerings, and, also like Phone Power, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. While it’s mostly lacking in flow or cohesion, and comes nowhere near the explosive triumph that was 2018's I Like Fun, there’s still a lot of really excellent tracks on MMR. If you view this as more of a mixtape rather than a plotted out, thoughtfully arranged album, it feels better. Among the sixteen album tracks and sixteen bonus tracks (more detritus from both this year and 2015’s Dial-A-Song) you’ve got a small collection of rock solid tracks not only worth checking out, but worth repeat listens.

Standouts include the high-energy, paranoid anthem “I’ve Been Seeing Things”, “Applause Applause Applause” which reveals the secret mantra at the heart of every single performer throughout history, whether they admit it or not, the frantic, tail-chasing “The Neck Rolls Aren’t Working”, “I Haven’t Been Right Yet”, the synthy, uneasy “The Bullies”, “Tractor”, “Tick Tick Tick”, “Last Wave (alt version)”* , and finally, the perfect exemplar of a clever, dynamic, fun song that is pure They Might Be Giants in the album’s opener, “The Communists Have The Music”.

After yet another year of new, original tracks every week from the Johns, Dan, Danny, and Marty, there is nothing to complain about here, and while it may be a bit of a musical jumble, you can’t argue with how apt that title is. My Murdered Remains and its bonus disc (entitled More Murdered Remains) is only available on the band’s official website in digital, CD, and vinyl formats.

* Although this one really only works with a bit of background…which I will not offer here. Enjoy the weirdness, squares.

Twenty Years of TMBG

Rather than bore you with a detailed account of my time as a They Might Be Giants fan, I choose to bore you with a slightly more concise, bulleted list of the highlights from my time as a They Might Be Giants fan.

• TMBG on Tiny Toons - Why Is Hampton Wearing Glasses? 

What the hell is going on?

It all started, as I imagine it did for most 30-something TMBG fans, in the mid-90s with a little show called Tiny Toons. I recall seeing the music video episode, watching the videos for "Istanbul" and "Particle Man", hearing the name They Might Be Giants and then Buster Bunny asking "who are these guys?", but not truly understanding what I had just experienced. Why was Hampton wearing glasses? What was up with Plucky’s turtleneck and mop of hair? This remained a mystery for, literally, years until one of my best friends solved this enigma and, at the same time, changed my life for the better.

• Will Pomerantz Introduces Me To They Might Be Giants (Intentionally) - Something To Distract Me From Nine Inch Nails

I officially got into They Might Be Giants in early 1998. I misunderstood their initial description and thought that they were a band whose goal it was to make music with all the instruments that have ever existed. I got this idea from one of my best friends, Will, who asked if I wanted to see them in concert in March of 1998. He told me they had a guy who played the accordion and that they had a song with a "singing saw" and that led to me thinking they were kind of a novelty band. He corrected my thinking, but in the back of my mind I think that idea has always lingered.  Anyway, he gave me all the albums they'd put out at that point, six of them, and told me I had a week to familiarize myself with the music before he needed them back in order to brush up himself. I crammed and a lot of stuff blurred together. Some instant favorites were "Don't Let's Start", "Sleeping In The Flowers", and most of Factory Showroom.

We attended our first They Might Be Giants concert on March 26th, 1998, at Embassy. The show, which featured the oversexed beatboxing trio Double Dong as the opener, was fantastic. After the show had ended, a lot of people were still lingering, apparently in order to obtain a copy of the setlist. At the time, I had never heard of this practice and therefore was a bit shocked when Will shoved me as hard as he could in order to snatch the setlist from the hands of the girl in front of us who was just about to get it.

Setlist from my very first TMBG show signed by the band. Deepest apologies to that girl that got crushed.

Outside the club, Flansburgh just hung out, totally at ease, signing autographs and chatting with fans, while Linnell literally sprinted from the club's other entrance to the tour bus which was a few yards from the building. That dynamic has shaped the way I see the Johns and I feel it still kind of stands.

After that evening, once I had decided to sink my teeth in, Will was my guide; when I asked him which album I should purchase first, he warned "anything but Flood, that's their most popular". That was solid advice from a true friend. It would have been easy to pick up their most popular album and, perhaps, eschew their earlier, weirder, less popular stuff, but he steered me right. I believe my first purchase was their latest, Factory Showroom.

Between March and August of that year, I immersed myself utterly in They Might Be Giants*. By the release of their first live album five months later, I knew them well enough to be bummed out they didn't put the version of "Particle Man" on the record which featured Linnell singing "The Sign" before the third verse. Thanks again Will, this is all your fault.

• My Return To New York City and Subsequent Deluge of They Might Be Giants Shows

Since that show, I have seen They Might Be Giants perform over 70 times.
I had a lot of free time in college. Like...a lot. I arranged my schedule so that I’d have classes Monday through Wednesday, but then a four day weekend...every week for entire semesters at a time. I also never really went to bars, so all my disposable income went to music; albums, merch, and seeing TMBG at they seemingly endless parade of shows at the Bowery Ballroom/Irving Plaza in the late 90’s and early 00's. Not only me though; I’d bring friends, potential significant others, passing acquaintances...there was the time my friend was an RA and I convinced her to arrange a free outing to a TMBG concert. I brought upwards of 20 total strangers to a concert of a band I liked simply because I thought they were amazing**. I met my friend Jade at a TMBG show...on the Bowery...in the spring time... After college, I stayed in New York and saw them any chance I could. In case you're wondering, my favorite show was the one they did for their 2003 documentary, which lasted over 4 fucking hours. Sadly, it is the closest thing to a Prince concert I will ever experience.

• Becoming Tall - Oh Man I Hope This Isn't All In My Head...

During my deluge of TMBG concerts...something happened. I sort of became a Person. Specifically, The Tall Guy. At one show, Flans pointed to me and said "we’d like to thank the tall guy standing in front of the very short girl". While I was thrilled to be singled out (actor, hello?), I didn’t think too much of it; these guys had been touring for 15 years, they’ve got their raps and banter down to a science...but then, at a completely different show, while Linnell needed a moment on stage to confer with the horn section, Flansburgh asked the crowd “Don’t you hate when you call someone and their phone rings and rings because they don’t have an answering machine?” I nodded and Flansburgh said, “The tall guy knows what I’m talking about. The tall guy has a lot of friends without answering machines.” At the Mink Car in-store at Tower Records, Flansburgh asked if the audience could hear them. I gave him a thumbs up from the back of the room and he said “the tall guy can hear us, we’re okay.” Then, at their show at the Palace in Gainsburg, Florida, where I happened to be for spring break in 2002, during “Guitar”, Flans knelt down on the lip of the stage and handed me his pick, holding down the opening chords while I strummed the notes on his guitar. I felt...important. This kept me going for a while and some TMBG show regulars began to refer to me as “the tall guy”, for better or worse. It was weird, but gratifying and hopefully not all in my tiny, little actory head.

• Meeting Bill, the Alternate Timeline Me 

The next big thing happened all because of my friend, Megan Boggia. She was working at XM Satellite Radio in the late 00’s. She worked with a guy named Bill and told me I should meet him...
We all got together for lunch one day and I happened to be wearing a TMBG shirt. Bill offhandedly mentioned that he grew up with them in Lincoln.
Hm.

A CORRECTION FROM BILL: "I did not grow up with them in Lincoln. My late best buddy Jimmy Mac did, and we all hung out a bunch before they got famous when I would hitch-hike from the New York suburbs (where I did grow up) to visit. Then they got famous, and I only hung out with them for Famous Reasons, like radio interviews. But we’re still friends."

Skip forward a few months to Megan calling me and asking what I was doing that afternoon. I told her I was working and she told me that I wasn't, that I should call in sick, and that I should visit her at XM. I did so and, lo and behold, there were the Johns being interviewed over ISDN by Bob Edwards. Soon after that, Bill and I got to know one another and discovered that he and I are the same person, just from alternate timelines. He is a massively talented voice actor with a penchant for Slack, cartoons, and the weird. I respect him greatly.

• An Afternoon At Kampo - The Best Day Of My Life Thus Far

Bill and I worked together on a few audio things here and there, built a friendship and then, one day in mid-October of 2007, I get a call from Bill. He tells me to show up at Kampo Studios in downtown New York.
I asked no questions.
Turns out Bill had booked the studio for a live recording and interview with the band and he'd invited me.
Over the next few hours, I met Pat Dillett, saw TMBG assemble their cover of Mark Mothersbaugh's Sims theme, enjoyed a mini concert as one of two audience members (the other being Bill), sat in on one of the best interviews with the band I've ever heard, and, perhaps coolest of all...got coffee with the Johns. Anyone who knows anything about They Might Be Giants knows how ridiculous of an honor that was.
But, most importantly, I just got to be a normal guy chatting and hanging out in a studio with They Might Be Giants. All that weird fan/band member stiffness and stress sluiced away as I was there as a friend of Bill's, not some fanboy who'd bribed his way in, or someone asking endless question about the meaning of this song or whatever. It was singular and perfect.
This was a major shift in my relationship to the band, a maturing moment.

• Interviewing Linnell...Without Pants

Some years later, after I'd been writing for Soundblab (a UK alternative music site), the opportunity arose to interview Linnell for Glean. I took that opportunity and, in my opinion, conducted a pretty solid interview. I asked some general questions and some pretty deep cuts, got some great responses from the man. The bit towards the end about Gloria and how Linnell wished people could still stumble blindly upon the music of TMBG really got me. Nothing is unknown these days. A quick look at your phone and everything confusing or mysterious is laid bare, a known quantity, processed and then forgotten.

• Aftermath

As a result of all these unique experiences with They Might Be Giants, I've achieved a sense of calm...I no longer scrabble for a setlist after a concert or show up four hours early to shows in order to potentially lock eyes with Linnell or paw at Flansburgh's guitar...I merely appreciate what they do along with the fact that they're still choosing to do it all these years later and that they don't have any of the usual bullshit that causes other bands to break up or whatnot.
All these years later and I still can't seem to articulate why I love TMBG so much, just that I continue to do so unabated.

Signed flyer from my first TMBG show

As an afterthought, here are the handful of TMBG videos I've worked on in some capacity over the years. These guys make inspiring music...

"It's Kickin' In"
Featuring the aforementioned Jade. I made this because it's one of my favorite songs from The Spine. I wanted to make something as literal as I could and it paid off.

"Can't Keep Johnny Down"
Why was DV ever a thing? It was the "muddy" quality of this video that potentially cost me first place in They Might Be Giants' "Can't Keep Johnny Down" video contest, although I did take one of the runners up positions.

"Am I Awake?"
Referred to as a "lovable sasquatch" by contest judge the honorable John Hodgman, this entry was named as one of a small handful of finalists.

"Erase"
One of the winners of the "Erase" video contest; I owe all the success to the cast and crew.

* Nine Inch Nails hadn't put out any music since February of '97 and I was legitimately dying.


** Back then, if you hadn’t heard of a band I liked, I’d make you a mix CD, then ask you if you had listened to the mix CD yet, then ask you why you hadn’t listened to the mix CD yet. See, I liked the best bands and I was super cool and smart and I could help you get super cool and smart too by sharing my music with you...did I say “music”? I meant “Truth of the Universe”...

While I have mellowed out since then, allowing people to like and not like whatever they want, reducing my rate of proselytization by about 98.8%, I am always happy to put together a playlist for a potential new conver-...ah...fan.

A review of They Might Be Giants' "I Like Fun"

The one thing lacking from I Like Fun is fun. And that's 100% as it should be. After thirty-five years and twenty albums, They Might Be Giants have perfected their unique style and the result is this obsidian gem of an LP.

Not only is "Let's Get This Over With" a fantastic and relatable sentiment, a great name for an opener, and an excellent song, it also has what might be the best opening lyric from a They Might Be Giants album since their debut in 1986.*
And the album keeps getting better.
"An Insult to the Fact Checkers" centers around a surly Flansburgh sneering over aggro-surf rock. "Mrs. Bluebeard", one of the most straightforward and stunning tracks here, joins the ranks of PG-13 educational songs like "The Lady and The Tiger" from 2011's Join Us, a posthumous lament from one (or all?) of the notorious pirate's dead wives ("I want to say I learned something valuable today / alas my murdered remains are incapable of learning anything / I’m not complaining / I’m not anything"). “I Like Fun” could be the theme for a follow up to The Oblongs. It starts off a little eerie with that warbling Linnell sample, then the chorus makes it weirdly nostalgic and warm. The enigmatic "McCafferty's Bib" is funky, slick, and untrustworthy, and "The Greatest" would have been perfect on an episode of Malcolm In The Middle. 

But the secret, sad heart of the album are the four tracks tucked between the uneasy creep of the title track and the sci-fi, hippie rock of "Lake Monsters". The forced, aching smile of "Push Back the Hands" ("it wouldn't help you if you'd had any sleep / it wouldn't save you from the mission creep"), the subtle, sorrowful sharpness in the mellow, sun-warmed "This Microphone" ("selflessly hiding all emotions inside / chilly and dry / New England style"), "The Bright Side" which sounds like a friendly, exhausted band locked into a shitty 15-album contract performing for a sunny field full of fans whom they loathe ("the bright side / is blinding our eyes / and the sound keeps ringing / the bright side / is just a white lie / that the crowd keeps singing"), and the frenetic, desperate hope of "When the Lights Come On"** ("there won't be any more trouble / you'll be dragged from the rubble / when the lights come on / and I'll be looking so great / I will have lost some weight / when the lights come on"). Listen to that tetralogy, read the lyrics, and you'll get the band's manifesto, the soul of They Might Be Giants.
This opus comes to a close with "Last Wave", the broken, unveiled face of I Like Fun. "We die alone  / we die afraid / we live in terror / we're naked and alone and the grave is the loneliest place".
It's not quirky. It's not funny. It's not fun. It's the truth and that is so goddamned sad.

Everything here is seething or apprehensive or resigned or snarky. The title track is about medicating away someone's enjoyment of life for Christ's sake...and the fact that this whole thing is called I Like Fun is the best sneer ever. Some might think this album is too morose***, but those people haven’t been paying attention; not to the music of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, and not to recent world events. This is the best, darkest, and most cohesive They Might Be Giants album in a quarter century.

* Perhaps a reference to "Don't Let's Start". Since we did let them start, we may as well get this over with.

** All the while it's so crushingly, painfully obvious that the lights will never come on again.

*** A potential alternate title for the album could be Songs of Fear, Anxiety, And Defeat.

The Year of Dial-A-Song Wraps Up

More than 52 brand new songs in one year. The scope of this is still messing with me. Some bands don't release that many songs in a career, but these lunatics did it in ONE YEAR.
Jesus.
And what's more impressive is that almost all of them are great, not just good or passable. It's ridiculous.
True, about a fifth of them are less than two minutes and not one was over three and a half minutes, but when it comes to the music of They Might Be Giants, it's never about the length of the songs, but the depth.

After a short tour in the UK (starting January 27th), the release of their 19th studio album, Phone Power, and, finally, a month touring the US (starting March 17th), the band plans to go dark until 2017, enjoying a well-earned rest...or recording material for their 2017 Dial-A-Song project...we'll find out which in a year.

It was truly an honor to be a part of this experiment, and it's never been more excellent to be a fan of They Might Be Giants.

And now...QUANTIFICATION!

Favorite Line
I was ready to give Favorite Line to 'ECNALUBMA' pretty much the first time I heard it..."help me out, I can't seem to get this window open / never mind, now it's open / I think my hand is broken" and, while stuff came close ('Trouble, Awful, Devil, Evil' with "the weight of my insensate body draws all the bedclothes down with it / unknowing, ecstatically lowering into a bottomless pit surrounded by / trouble awful devil evil"), nothing topped that for me. Then, three weeks before the end, 'I'll Be Haunting You' brings a damn strong contender with "my absence has been weaponized, the empty sockets where my eyes are swiveling to recognize and pin you down". 
Man. 

I think it still has to go to 'ECNALUBMA', maybe because I've been hearing it for most of the year and I stop to appreciate it every time; the awful little story it tells in less than the length of a tweet and about ten seconds. 

Top 10 Dial-A-Songs (in no particular order)*

'Unpronounceable' - for its uncanny familiar-at-first-listen sound, a literal instant classic

'Let Me Tell You About My Operation' - for its ability to make the listener instantly jitterbug

'ECNALUBMA' - for its deification of the (over?) importance of emergency medical vehicles, the title is just a cherry on the sundae

'Underwater Woman' - for its jagged edges telling a story as sad and desperate as its lyrics

'I’m A Coward' - for its delicious contradiction

'I’ll Be Haunting You' - for its characters and the lives they led

'Thinking Machine' - for its perfect manifestation of a They Might Be Giants song, and for Ansel Adams' mouth

'Music Jail, Pt 1 & 2' - for its avalanche of raucous energy, and for its brilliant turn

'Daylight' - for its sorrowful, hazy grace

'Trouble, Awful, Devil, Evil' - for its dark, unsettling beauty

HONORABLE MENTIONS

'Whole Lot Of Glean' - for its self reference and Beatles impersonation

'Definition of Good' - for being the most adorable thing ever

'Madame, I Challenge You To A Duel' - for its decorum and the tale it tells

'It Said Something' - for recapturing the glory of Apollo 18

'Summer Breeze' - for finally fulfilling its destiny 

* These are for the songs, and not their videos. There are links because this is the Internet, whether you like it or not.

A review of They Might Be Giants at the Williamsburg Hall of Music on 7/26/15 - "Lincoln Show"

"Should you worry when the skullhead is in front of you, or is it worse because it's waiting where your eyes don't go?" 
Jesus, that is still creepy.

July 26th was They Might Be Giants' Lincoln show at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. They performed all but one track from their stellar 1988 album, as well as a blend of tracks from their catalog, with a slight focus on their newest effort, Glean. Although they were, self-admittedly, under-rehearsed, I love watching They Might Be Giants fuck up more than any other band, as it always leads to something delightful.

Standout moments included 'Where Your Eyes Don't Go' (which might be the most unsettling song from their thirty plus year career), the stripped down version of "Kiss Me, Son Of God", "The World's Address", "Cowtown" (which Flansburgh stated was "his favorite"), "Lie Still, Little Bottle" (despite the lack of Stick), "You'll Miss Me" (for its glimpse into the long forgotten days of the bands' inaccessible, East Village, art fuck period), and "Twistin'" (which served as a fantastic closer). Other moments included Linnell's confession that all They Might Be Giants songs are inspired by/stolen from Erasure, Flansburgh's strange fixation on Donald Trump saying 'huge" on a loop in his head, and the Avatars of They addressing the recent Ashley Madison/hacker threat fiasco.
  
I've still yet to see a bad show by these guys, although two things bugged me about last night's otherwise great performance; namely, the lack of horns on certain tracks (most notably "Underwater Woman") or, I suppose, the choice to play these horn-driven songs without horns. This wasn't a deal breaker, there were just a few times throughout the evening when things felt a bit sparse. The other issue is something I've been worrying about, off and on, throughout the year: the lack of the dozen or so brand new Dial-A-Song tracks from the bands' Dial-A-Song Direct service*. Of course I understand they just returned from a week in the UK and they've been busy finishing up those new tracks for their upcoming kids album** as well as the last twenty or so tracks for the aforementioned DAS service, so, hopefully, as 2015 grinds to a close, we'll see some of this brand new (and, for the most part, really interesting) material played live, if not though...well...just because they're confident they could play "Birdhouse In Your Soul" without their heads, that doesn't mean they can't keep things interesting for fans.

They Might Be Giants is taking the next month off from performing, but will return on the last Sunday of September with yet another live show at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. 

* Which promises fifty two brand new songs, every Tuesday, for the entire year.

** The follow-up to their groundbreaking 2002 children's album, No!, which will be titled Why?

A review of They Might Be Giants at the Williamsburg Hall of Music on 5/31/15 - "The Else" show

In May of 2007, They Might Be Giants released The Else, their "least coziest" album, which had been produced by themselves, their long time friend and producer, Pat Dillett, and the Dust Brothers. It is, at times, a political album ("I'm Impressed", "The Shadow Government"), a classic TMBG album ("Bird of the Bee of the Moth", "Take Out The Trash"), and a TMBG/Dust Bros. collabo ("Withered Hope", "Upside Down Frown"). It also features a Monkees pastiche, the opening track from their scrapped work on the Coraline score, a Frankenstein experiment, and a song which resulted from a challenge issued on NPR. It stands, boldly, out from their later catalogue of work and, about eight years after its release, at the nigh-submersed Williamsburg Hall of Music, it was given its due...except for "Feign Amnesia", which was too hard to learn.

Highlights from an evening absolutely teeming with highlights included "Doctor Worm"*, the instant live classic "Unpronounceable", "Withered Hope" (even with the lack of horn support), the abrasive punk assault of "The Shadow Government"** , "Don't Let's Start", "Bills, Bills, Bills" (because I know it's fleeting and because I love how angry Flans seems to get when telling us about the "triflin', good-for-nothin' type of brother"), "Twistin'", "Rhythm Section Want Ad" and "Contrecoup", which, although Linnell said they didn't do very often because it was too difficult, they made sound easy.
Lowlights included the idiot girl on ecstasy who was alternately making "heart hands" at the band, snapping her head around wildly, and licking her poor-bastard-of-a-boyfriend's teeth throughout the evening.
The. Entire. Evening.

The real star of the show, however, was TMBG's drummer, Marty Beller. He can't be 100% human. Can not. The way he obliterated tracks like "Let Me Tell You About My Operation", "The Famous Polka" and, especially, "Upside Down Frown", with their combination of precision drumming and high BPMs prove this point.
He's a weaponized drum machine in the shape of a guy from Brooklyn.

Overall, I found their lack of horns disturbing; The Else, performed live, needs horns.
Bottom line.
Despite that fact, it was still a fantastic and varied show.

Next month, the band is performing two kid's shows and then, in July, a Lincoln show.

* I saw a lot of TMBG shows in 1999 and have heard this song, with and without horns, dozens of times, but I can't remember a time when the energy was this high. Either the coffee was doing its job or the band has fallen back in love with this track.

** A performance choice which really illustrates the unease and chaos at the heart of the song.

They Might Be Giants to Peter Firehead: "You're On Fire"

Just a quick note to tell you that there's a new They Might Be Giants track (from their March 5th release, Nanobots) called "You're On Fire".
It might or might not be the theme for my web comic, The (Mis)Adventures of Peter Firehead.

Listen and look and then decide for yourself, but I will tell you that the music video is now in the works.

TMBG: Join Us Vs. The Else

8.3.11

7:17 pm

First off, I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but it's been harping on me.

So, feel free to skip this if you don't want to see me debate myself out loud about whether or not They Might Be Giant's "Join Us" is a good album or better than "The Else" and why or why not.
Fair warning. 

The whole catalyst behind this foray into esoterica came from two bits in some recent interviews with the Johns of TMBG.

The first was Flans recounting that, while listening to their 2007 album, "The Else", during mastering, Linnell turned to him and said, "Well, this is the least-coziest record we've ever made". Flansburgh remarked to the interviewer, "I don't think it's our goal to make cozy albums, but there's a little bit of cozy in "Join Us", in a good way."

This got me to thinking...

The second bit was also Flans, who was asked which of their records he has a specific fondness for.
He goes on to say while recording their 2004 album, "The Spine", "there was a real overabundance of spiderwebby, Halloweeny kind of songs. Some were manic, and some were more pastoral -- but as a group, it seemed like a bit much to put them all on the album, so we left a lot off, and the overflow became the EP The Spine Surfs Alone. When I listen to it now, the EP is wonderfully, if unintentionally, cohesive and so damn paranoid -- it's a real song cycle."

That also got me to thinking...

The result of this thinking is as follows:

From first listen, "Join Us" has struck me as a bit beige, if you catch my meaning.

The songs aren't bad; several are good and a few are great, but, as a whole, there's no rock.
You'll never have to turn down the bass on this album, you know?
All the instruments are there, and, for the most part, they're played with skill, but there's a lack of feeling.
Everything is set to "4" rather than "8", especially when compared to "The Else".
The most obvious reason for this is because "The Else" was produced by the Dust Brothers, who have worked with bands 1,000 times more "rock" than They Might Be Giants will ever be, and they added a lot of touches that Pat Dillett (TMBG's producer and friend for almost thirty years) and the Johns wouldn't have thought to.
When I first heard "The Else", the difference was immediately noticeable: it was still a They Might Be Giants album, no question, but it sounded so fresh.
The bass wasn't just something dropped on the track, you could feel it driving the songs.
Miller's and Flansburgh's guitars were crunchy and fuzzy and other adjectives that should be applied to animals or food.
Beller was actually drumming as opposed to playing the role of human metronome.
Let me put it another way: "The Else" has a sense of space being filled by the whole band working together whereas "Join Us" sounds like everything, the vocals, drums, keys, are all, for the most part, dead center on the same track.
There's no dynamism on "Join Us".
Maybe this was a simple as moving the bass a little off center or putting a dollop of distortion on the guitars or hiding some hand claps in the mix, but it worked wonders. 

In one of the above mentioned interviews, Flansburgh complained that "The Else" has "kind of a relentless quality" and that, on "Join Us", they didn't want that. That struck me as odd for artists who are trying to sell a full length album in this world of randomized mp3 playlists and listeners who only want the most downloaded tracks from an album. I would think you'd want a relentless album, one that makes people want to keep listening, as opposed to stopping after two tracks to go do something else.

And, as for Linnell's remark about "The Else" being their least-cozy album, well, "cozy" isn't really why I listen to They Might Be Giants. I'm not saying that TMBG should take a page from Slipknot, but I will say that "The Spine Surfs Alone" is amazing and not one of those tracks is "cozy".
In fact, I kept thinking, as I listened to "The Spine" and then "The Spine Surfs Alone" that the former should have had more flavor from the latter.
I would listen to something bland and uninteresting from "The Spine" like 'The World Before Later On' and think how great something frantic and compelling from "The Spine Surfs Alone" like 'I'm All You Can Think About' would have worked better.
On one hand, I was just grateful, as a fan, to know that TMBG could still make the weird-ass shit that populated "Surfs", but, on the other hand, I wondered why "The Spine" didn't have more stuff like that on it, why it was all relegated to an EP you had to seek out; it almost seemed like the band was embarrassed by these intriguing oddities.
Flans also mentioned in an interview that, originally, the band recorded about 30 songs for "Join Us", the last 15 or so which actually became the album. He described the first half as "just the most mutant songs". If someone asked me to pick between the words "cozy" and "mutant" to represent what I'd like to see in a They Might Be Giants album, guess which one I'd pick.

The strange thing is, as much as John and John seem to not like the relentless nature of "The Else", they certainly enjoyed playing eleven of the thirteen tracks live for a period of several months on their nationwide tour.

At the moment, they're only playing eight of the eighteen tracks off their new one.
In the end, I think that, while Flansburgh and Linnell might not have liked the album the Dust Brothers helped them create, they knew it was good.
I also think that "cozy" can be replaced easily with "sleepy" or "dusty" and that "relentless" can be just as easily replaced with "intriguing" and "compelling". 

So, I guess what I'm saying is that They Might Be Giants should work with the Dust Brothers again.

Seriously though, TMBG have been working with the same person as their producer for decades and they've gotten very comfortable. Based on their last few albums, it doesn't seem like their really challenging themselves much anymore.

When Trent Reznor feels comfortable (musically speaking), he knows he's done something wrong, something boring. It's when he's most unsure about something that he follows that thread to its end, usually with some interesting and unexpected results.
It might not always be gold or even good, but at least it isn't something you've heard before.

Water, Laughing & The Screaming Death Of My Sound Receptors: My Review Of TMBG and EELS

8.1.11

7:35 pm

 

Those three things made up my extended (Friday taken off because I was sick with Thepeopleiworkwithareidiotsandspendingtimearoundthemiskillingmyspermitis) weekend.

The first two were mostly experienced at the Williamsburg Waterfront, where Christina, Micole (and eventually Barrett), Sylvia (sort of), Gia (and her portly/porky friend, Alex...her words, not mine, I thought she was a lovely girl), Linza and Josh got wetter than an Atlantis made of vaginas at a Tom Jones concert*.

Eugene Mirman started things off by explaining that God is a 12-year old boy with Asperger's, then he introduced Jim Gaffigan (a complete surprise to me) who started to do his thing (talking very quietly about how overweight/pale/hungry he is) but was soon interrupted by the skies opening and trying their damnedest to obliterate each and every human being there. It got so bad that Gaffigan actually commented on it and tried to do some improv...about rain.

Didn't work too well though and he then tried to get back into his routine, but he'd been derailed by the rain.

It began to clear up (not that it mattered to the audience, we were, literally, soaking wet, all of us) as Mirman introduced Kristen Schaal, who doesn't take the way-too-overdone-and-obvious route for female comics ("I said 'cunt', isn't that funny because I'm cute?!") and who was genuinely touched that we were all still here, despite the shit weather.

Her set was great, but again, things got a bit distracting towards the end when the Poison Skies took their second, less-obliterating-but-still-pretty-obliterating dump on us. There must have been some time crunch because she cut herself off and launched into a her one-woman performance of Flashdance, complete with Eugene Mirman dumping buckets of water on her when she required it.

I'd love to see her again when I'm not drowning.

I find her adorable and hilarious and a wonderful stand-out in the world of comics.

The, Mirman came out and brought up Todd Barry...who I have never heard of before.

I can remember, literally, nothing of his set, except for him pointing out that this guy was trying his best to protect his iPad and that he was an idiot for bringing it with him to the show.

Funny or not, I was inclined to agree.

Then, Patton Oswalt.

At more than one point in his fifteen minute set, I was unable to breathe because I was laughing so hard.

This guy is my favorite comedian out there and, if you don't know his stuff, your life is missing something.

This isn't an opinion, a scientist told me.

And, speaking of scientists...when we were all seated before the show started, we were handed a strip of paper with fields for our name, age and "a science question".

We were puzzled.

After Patton got off the stage (actually, this guy was on before Patton Oswalt, but that segue is far too tasty to rewrite simply to be "accurate"), Mirman brought up Neil Tyson, the President of the Hayden Planetarium (or something).

Eugene proceeds to say that Tyson is there in honor of the 53rd anniversary of something Eisenhower did regarding the space program and then he starts answering the science questions that Mirman reads to him.

One question: "Is the earth trying to kill us ?", was answered in the affirmative, with examples and proofs.

After the science, laughing and rain stopped, Jonathan Coulton was brought up and did a tiny set (four songs).

He was actually kind of a dick about the fact that we were soaked and he wasn't. Anyway, after he made his dry ass way off the stage, They Might Be Giants hit it about ten minutes later.

A side note: everything ran with very little down time, it turns out it's because the huge stage is about 100 feet from a posh apartment building.

I can't tell if it's ironic that hipsters have to end all their parties here by ten or just funny.

Anyway, for those in the group that hadn't seen TMBG much/often/in a while, it was a great show, but for me, it felt a bit short and the Johns didn't have their usual back-and-forth going on. 

It was a truncated performance, but they did bring it (and, seriously, this was all free, so I have no right to bitch...but I will).

 

The set list:

Birdhouse in Your Soul (odd that they opened with this, but it certainly gets you into the mood)

Clap Your Hands (all the clapping/stomping/jumping probably saved us from getting arthritis caused by sitting around in wet clothes for two and a half hours)

Can't Keep Johnny Down (you know, I still don't love this song. It's a shame they have to play it at EVERY SHOW ON THIS TOUR)

Damn Good Times (why this song is still being performed live, I really have no idea. At least it's not "Drink!")

Don't Let's Start (this made up for "Damn Good Times", xmax. It's an amazing song, even better live)

Judy Is Your Viet Nam (a song from the new album that has totally grown on me, it's pretty rocking live...even when Flans messes up the lyrics...)

The Mesopotamians (I have a funny feeling we'll never hear anything from 'The Else' again. Too bad as it's a really solid album. This is still a great song though).

Never Knew Love (Same deal with "Can't Keep Johnny Down". Also, neither of the Johns can really make this sound like it should...less screamy. With so many great tracks on the new album, I'm not sure why this seems to be settling into their rotation...)

When Will You Die (Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. I heard them do this at sound check and was waiting for it the whole time. Just as awesome as I knew it would be, even without horns. I love this song)

Spoiler Alert (If they had just done this, it would have been a bit off, but they performed it as The Avatars of They- hand puppets on a Jumbotron- and it worked perfectly)

Ana Ng (Always wonderful to hear this one.It also seems to be a fixture on this tour so, Jade, whenever they get there, I think you'll be happy)

You Probably Get That a Lot (another favorite off the album and they nailed it. CEPHALOPHORES!!!!)

Cloisonné(Still needs some work, or, more likely, some horns, but Linnell did what he could his with bass clarinet)

Graveyard (aka Band Intros/Audience Thank Yous, during which Flansburgh thanked me and decided that I was 12 feet tall, a fact he repeated several times before the "song" ended. Score.)

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (some weird guitar fart from Dan's acoustic cut his crazy intro a bit short, but they got the job done)

Encore:

Fingertips(before this happened, Flans reintroduced the band. When he got to Marty, the drummer, he informed us that Marty has come all the way from New York to hear us scream, then he wanted to hear all the ladies scream, and then Flans told us that Marty wanted "the eight foot guy to scream". I looked to make sure I wasn't standing near anyone who might be confused with me and then obliged. Nice. The song, as always, was excellent.)

 

Then, Chris and I went home to get dry and let my sister in, who had come up for Saturday's Eels show.

We were all half dead from drowning and half dead from rocking, so then we slept.

 

The next day was a leisurely one, Chris and I woke at about 2:30, had Brunch and then met back at our place with Kathy to head over to the Music Hall of Williamsburg, where Eels, a contortionist and a band called The Submarines would be playing at nine.

We got there only an hour before doors (to my horror) and ended up being the third, fourth and fifth people  into the place and about one inch from the stage.

I guess Eels fans aren't as obsessive as They Might Be Giants fans...

Then the contortionist brought Kathy up to make sure it was a real lollipop he was jamming into his nasal cavity before having her lick it while still in his nasal cavity.

Then he offered it to me.

I declined his kind offer.

The Submarines came on soon after and were actually pretty good. They consisted of a guy (non-descript, good at guitar and occasionally twiddling with a laptop for extra beats) and a girl (the sunniest sunbeam you ever have seen, she made Megan Boggia look like an evil asshole). They did six songs or so and we ended up buying two of their three albums after the show.

I don't think I've ever seen an opener at a venue this tiny with three fully produced and packaged albums.

I might tell you more about them, if their music warrants it.

Then Eels took the stage...and proceeded to explode my genitals with sound.

I saw them some time last year with my sister and they consisted of The Chet (multi-instrumentalist and guitar GOD who has been with E since the Blinking Lights tour), Peeboo (or maybe it's Pee Boo), Krazy Al (on bass) and E (on loud guitar, louder guitar and the guitar he uses for "Souljacker, Part 1" and no other song).

This was the same line up, but with two horn players (and Pee Boo occasionally picking up his trumpet).

The horns added a lot of nuance and allowed the band to stop murdering us with rock every once in a while.

It was amazing.

Aside from the addition of the horns, the fact that half the set list wasn't from their three latest (and not greatest) albums was also good.

There were hits, their were deep cuts plus a few surprises and even a Sly & The Family Stone cover or two.

 

The set list:

In Gratitude for This Magnificent Day (playing over the PA as the lights dimmed and they took the stage)

That's Not Really Funny (Surprise! 'Souljacker' is one of my favorite albums and this track is one of my favorite songs from it. It set the tone for the evening, that tone being LOUD AS FUCK)

Flyswatter (the horns took on the main melody and it worked wonderfully)

Somebody's Watching You (I don't know Sly & The Family Stone, but this is by them, and, if the audience is to be any judge, Eels does a great cover of it)

Grace Kelly Blues (good to hear, but not a favorite of mine)

Packing Blankets (sort of the same as GKB, but I like this one more)

Prizefighter(see above)

My Beloved Monster (E does a different arrangement of this song on every tour, this one, while fun and rocking, doesn't really stand out)

Fresh Feeling (from 'Souljacker', another favorite. The horns took the string section and it worked well. Beautiful song.)

I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart (a super-drawn-out-slow version. Kind of funny, but not that funny) 

Tremendous Dynamite (throbbing garage rock sex!!!)

Love of the Loveless (another surprise. From 'Shootenanny!', kind of their forgotten album in my mind)

Saturday Morning (a super-fast-speed-rock version, most likely to make up for "I'm Going To Stop etc.". So loud at times I sort of couldn't hear the words...or the individual notes...rawk)

This Is Where It Gets Good (one of the only tracks from their most recent album, 'Tomorrow Morning', and one of the few I really dig. Some killer bass and...killer flute...if that's a thing.)

Climbing to the Moon (yet another surprise. This is one of the most heartbreaking songs off of 'Electro-Shock Blues' and it was astounding how they jumped from a solid wall of noise to this quiet little gem. Tearjerkingly sweet.)

Hot Fun in the Summertime (two Sly & The Family Stone covers in one Eels show? Who are these guys?)

Talkin' 'Bout Knuckles (a song written, sung and played by the drummer, Knuckles. I need to get the lyrics some time...it sounds fun...but I'd still give anything to have seen Butch) 

Novocaine for the Soul (yes, WITH the album instrumentation and arrangement. Not a weird salsa version, not a backwards waltz, the most "album version" version of this song I've ever heard live, which was amazing and incredible, even more so because E seems to have a real love/hate relationship with this one and doesn't always enjoy playing it)

Souljacker, Part I (complete with that really long and awkward moment where E just sort of stands with his arms at his side for a full two minutes while his guitar makes an awful noise; this is the closest thing to Art Rock I will tolerate)

I Like Birds (EVEN LOUDER than "Saturday Morning". This is the sweetest, most delightful song from 'Daises of the Galaxy' and these guys rocked the living shit out of it. Well done, gentlemen, I say well done.)

Beginner's Luck (a surprise, simply because it seemed like a track that E would have just forgotten. But here it was.)

Losing Streak (the second of only two tracks from Eels' epic 'Blinking Lights and Other Revelations' album. Not the one I would have picked to play live, but it seemed to go great with "Beginner's Luck" and there was a wonderful, triumphant moment where E raised his guitar over his head and yelled "Did you hear me? I said my losing streak is done!")

Encore:

It's a Motherfucker (a nice, gentle, touching song. The horns took on the role of the strings and, as before, did a great job)

P.S. You Rock My World (one final, amazing surprise. This is the closer from 'Electro-Shock Blues' and the most uplifting track from the album. And it's awesome live)

Encore 2:

Fresh Blood ("KILL THEM ALL" is kind of the vibe I got from this performance. This song is so dark and sensual. Oh, also loud as fuck, this song was dark, sensual and loud as fuck. I'm hoping this song popping up on the True Blood soundtrack with get Eels some more air time)

Looking Up(E removes his mic from the stand for this gospel show closer, singing and screaming joyously in case people don't believe his upbeat lyrics. I couldn't tell if my ears were ringing with hope or hearing loss...but I'm leaning towards the latter)

 

So, every time I've seen Eels, they've totally switched their plates.

The first time, on their "Tour of Duty" in support of the 'Shootenanny!' record, it was two guitars and a bassist along with a drummer, all wearing cowboy hats and playing some simple, dirty rock.

The next time was with Phil at Town Hall for their "Eels With Strings" performance which featured E, two multi-instrumentalists (playing the organ, the piano, a suitcase, a garbage can, an upright bass, lap steel and more) plus a string quartet.

Next, just E and Chet with a piano, a drum set and some guitars.

Then the show last year with this current line up, minus the horns.

In essence, this show was last year's plus some of the arrangements from Eels' Daises of the Galaxy tour, which featured a mini-orchestra.

Although this isn't, technically, a totally different show, I missed that one and have always regretted it.

I can't say this is the best Eels show I've ever seen (the With Strings show takes that particular taco), but this goes up there.

Barring some horrible disfigurement, I'll never miss these guys in concert again.

 

After the show, we three headed back home and watched The Chronicles of Riddick from some stupid reason.

Mindless, sci-fi pap...with Judi Dench.

We were all pretty confused.

The rest of the weekend was sleeping and playing Mortal Kombat (with the three new downloadable characters, a psycho-chick made of blood whose fatalities are genuinely disturbing...and not even in a funny way, some blind dude with a magic sword and a purple ninja named Rain...yeah, like Purple Rain).

I realized last night that I haven't had a full five day work week in over a month, and I surmise that this week (this full, five day week) is going to suck dragon balls.

 

Speaking of dragon balls, I'm now going to finish the second book in the Song of Fire and Ice series.

Dragon balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Fucking quote me.

I think I may have stumbled upon something...

6.20.11

 

3:55 pm

 

Specifically something in regards to the recent decline in the quality of the music of They Might Be Giants.

 

In a recent interview, Flansburgh described the verses from their new song, "Never Knew Love", as " these raging rock moments and very dense with words and very dense with ideas. It's a lot of crazy, compressed thought in the verses."

Two things: first, if someone gave me a list of every adjective in the world and told me to pick the one that best describes the verses in "Never Knew Love", the LAST word on my list would be "chewy". The second to last word would be "raging".

Using a heavy guitar pick on your guitar does not make a "raging rock moment".

Live drums playing a 4/4 beat does not make a "raging rock moment".

Crooning in falsetto does not make a "raging rock moment".

Second thing: these are the words to the first verse of "Never Knew Love":

 

"Cartography/ Is not my métier/ And the mountainsides of daydreams/ Too steep for me today/ Lovers lost before us/ And most did not return/ The few so hale and hearty/ Now broken down and burned"

 

These are the words to the second, and final, verse of "Never Knew Love":

 

"Biography/ Is all they understand/ No semaphore or secrets/ Or just good old pretend/ And now they all are sleeping/ But this keeps us awake/ These words, they need safekeeping/ A promise not to break"

 

Now, I'll concede that there are words and ideas here, but I'll fight you if you argue that the verse is dense with them.

And crazy and compressed thoughts?

Que?

Anyway, the thing I've stumbled onto: They Might Be Giants seem to think they are still making great music filled with "raging rock moments", "crazy, compressed thoughts" and "dense with words and ideas".

Just because a song has the words "secrets", "métier", "semaphore" and "daydreams" in its lyrics, it doesn't make it interesting.

And I believe that TMBG has forgotten that basic fact.

It's along the lines of the song "Experimental Film" from The Spine.

It's about the idea of an experimental film, not an actual experimental film.

Okay, let me put it like this...if I'm hungry, I don't want to see a picture of a delicious meal, I want to eat the delicious meal.

They Might Be Giants, I feel, has been showing us a picture of a delicious meal for almost a decade.

There have been notable exceptions, some songs here and there and the majority of The Else, but, for the most part, they're selling us the shadow of their true selves, their old selves.

Or young selves, I suppose.

Just take a listen to virtually anything from their first four albums and you'll see what I mean.

I hate to be among Those Fans, the "their earlier stuff was better" fans, but...well...their earlier stuff was better.

Rather than puzzling listeners and making us feel like they were the only two people who truly knew what the fuck they were talking about, they're crafting things to be willfully incomprehensible.

"Hey Linnell, does this assembly of words sound random enough for you?"

That kind of thing.

Oh well.

Preaching to the choir, cursing the darkness etc.

 

On another, slightly more devastating note: I just received an e-mail from the head of the facility...apparently, my place of work has just received a deficiency-free report from the Department of Health's recent survey.

Folks, I've said it before and I will continue to say it until it happens: we are gonna fuckin' DIE.

((((((((((((((((((((((((

With further regards to my shitty, shitty hospital receiving a blemish-free review, and the celebratory attitude that's been floating around since the e-mail went out, I'd like to paraphrase Chris Rock, if I may...

"You know the worst thing about (employees at this hospital)? (Employees at this hospital) always want credit for some shit they supposed to do. An.(employee at this hospital) will brag about some shit an (employee at) normal (hospital) just does. An (employees at this hospital) will say some shit like, "(I didn't neglect a resident today." You're supposed to, you dumb motherfucker! What kind of ignorant shit is that? "(I didn't misplace a resident's earthly remains)" What do you want, a cookie?! You're not supposed to (misplace a resident's earthly remains), you low-expectation-having motherfucker!"

Yes.
Thank you, Chris.
All these dumb motherfuckers are going to want cookies now.
And they'll keep wanting cookies the next time they fuck up royally.
Why?
"Because remember that time we didn't fuck up royally?"
A sad state if affairs, my friends...a sad, motherfucking state of affairs.

4 TMBG FANS ONLY

4.8.11

5:16 pm

 

I've been immersed in a discussion with Jade over the one, brand new TMBG track, "Can't Keep Johnny Down", that was released earlier this week.

The discussion touched on many subject related to TMBG, ranging from Jade possibly being the One Australian Member of the TMBG Instant Fan Club which opened and then closed on Wednesday to TDK dying horribly to the recent unsettling development in They Might Be Giants' music, namely the shortening of songs, specifically by recording one full verse, then taking the second verse and cutting it into two verses.

Anyway, during my purge, I found myself making some good points.

Or at least loud ones.

So, below is my way-too-in-depth rant about this sorry practice and it's origins and possible solutions.

Unless you're a fan...a big fan of They Might Be Giants', I'd probably ignore this one...

 

As for the "verse splitting" thing, here's what I think happened...

They did Factory Showroom, which I consider the last of the "old, good TMBG".

Each songs had a different feel while still feeling like they were TMBG and belonged on the same album.

One song was 80's shred rock (XTC Vs. Adam Ant), one song had a string AND horn section (S~E~X~X~Y), one was pure TMBG rock ('Til My Head Falls Off), one was dork rock (James K. Polk), one was a straight up Instant TMBG Classic (New York City) and one was a fun curiosity (I Can Hear You). The whole thing was just TMBfuckingG.

Then, they took some time off, each of them dropped a solo album and they put out a live album then they toured for two or three years...and then Mink Car, an album on which every song except for four or five had appeared in some form, either live (Man, It's So Loud In Here and Cyclops Rock) or on some pseudo-album, like First Kiss from Severe Tire Damage, Working Undercover For The Man from the WUFTM EP, Finished With Lies from Dial A Song, Older from Brave New World and Bangs and Edith Head from the McSweeney's disc etc.

Mink Car was their "we have these fifteen songs lying around in different states of disrepair, some that we've been performing live for three years and we should really do something with them" album. So they dusted some tracks off, adding something here, cut something there and put it out just to have done with these songs.

Mink Car was where I noticed some things appeared to be shorter than they should.

Then they did "No!" and everyone was so caught up in the novelty of it and how weird some of the stuff was to notice how short these songs were. But the thinking was, these are for kids, kids have a short attention span...rather than have two full verses, let's cut the second verse in half.

Then they did "The Spine". An adult album with that "kids album" mentality still in place.

THAT is where it happened.

And it's stuck ever since.

There have been exceptions, but that is where this sickness began.

Will Join Us be the cure?

Can't Keep Johnny Down seems to say, "No."

But, we'll get a better idea on April 26th and an even better idea of July 19th.

 

There you have it.

Now leave me alone.