A review of They Might Be Giants' "Why?"

Did you know that clouds are made of bone? What about the fact that the word for “word” is “word”? Or that you should never picnic with wolves? Oh, man, your education is just beginning...

In the early 2000’s, They Might Be Giants found themselves with a few extra bits of studio time here and there. They decided to take the advice they’d been receiving, unsolicited, since their career started: they recorded a children’s album. It was called No! and it’s unlike any children’s music you’ve ever heard. After this, they signed a deal with Disney and, between 2005 and 2009, created the Grammy-winning Here Comes trilogy (ABCs, 123s, and Science). Finally, over a decade later, the proper follow up to No! has arrived, and, of course, it is called Why?

The album opens with "Oh You Did" starring the ever-sassy, ever-brassy Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser trying her best to tame unruly children and failing because they've already done the thing they weren't supposed to do. One of the best lines on the album is right here in the opener, specifically "did you just eat a napkin/to find out what would hap-kin?". Throw in a glimpse from the kid's side of things towards the end and the Johns featured as the chastened scamps in question and you have one hell of a strong start.
For the most part, the album remains strong; the playful, mischievous bass and guitar on "I Am Invisible" matches the childish glee coming from Linnell as he tells us what he chooses to do with his newfound ability, Danny Weinkauf (TMBG bassist and creator of his own kids record, No School Today) takes a moment to explain the dangers of elephants on "Elephants", and "Or So I Have Read" introduces young fans to one of the longest running and most featured characters in They Might Be Giants' three-decades-deep mythology: the Unreliable Narrator..."everything you hear is a fact/and the opposite is also correct".

The strongest tracks on offer, however, are "Out of a Tree", which sprang from a Dunkin' Donuts jingle penned by the band and which comes to full, spectacular fruition here, "Definition of Good", the beautiful "Long White Beard" (another spotlight on Ms. Goldwasser, whose voice is that of your favorite first grade teacher; the perfect blend of instructional, warm, fun, and encouraging), the inspirational, anthemic closer "Then the Kids Took Over", and "Thinking Machine", a bizarre back and forth between the Johns, one of which might be having a stroke. An excerpt:

Flansburgh: uncle fourteen marching flame

Linnell: don’t know what you said

Flansburgh: sleep expensive cloud enjoy

Linnell: still not following

Flansburgh: gurb long trom flom dim fim lim

Linnell: pretty sure that’s gibberish

Flansburgh: dog dog dog dog dog dog dog

Linnell: now you’re just repeating the word “dog”

The only weak link on the whole album is "So Crazy for Books", which belabors the point a bit and doesn't really fit with They Might Be Giants' tilt on the genre.

On the whole, Why? feels less experimental than No!, perhaps because capturing that spontaneity and unique moment of creating something completely new has already happened, or maybe their years working within the confines of Disney straightened out their "kid song" thinking a bit too much. Whatever the case, this is still a fabulous record, and, guaranteed, the only kids album you'll ever hear that features the word "skeleton" utilized twice in a non-didactic fashion. They Might Be Giants are insuring that the future is going to be awesome, weird and awesome.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - October 2015

They Might be Giants

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 10

Fantastic opening to the final quarter. Fans have been waiting for this punk version of "Black Ops" since before 2013's Nanobots dropped. Yes, I like this one better. That crazy monster sax is just more candy on top of a mountain of candy.

"Prepare" chases its own tail until it disappears. Feels a bit like "I'm All You Can Think About" or as if it could be a response/coda to "Older".

"To A Forest" is somewhat unsettling on its own, but throw in that video and it becomes seriously eerie. The inclusion of "hobo signs" is really the cherry on this nightmare sundae. And, seriously, Flans, you need to learn how to write more verses...

Oh good, another rambling account of something odd that probably didn't happen from yet another unreliable narrator. Something about "It Said Something" is reminiscent of Apollo 18. Good stuff.

This month will see the release of They Might Be Giants' 18th studio album, Why?. There will be a review.

Also, TMBG closed out the month with Horntoberfest, which, despite sounding...a bit under-rehearsed...blew my socks off my dick.
Review is forthcoming.


Furious gentleman, John Grant released his third album, the follow up to 2013's Pale, Green Ghosts, entitled Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, and it's the best thing he's done thus far.  The sqwampy fleep of "Snug Slacks" will make you explode out of your pants in a supernova of dancing. Here, Grant is channeling Frank Zappa so hard you could get pregnant. "Guess How I Know" and "You & Him" are dark, electronic, and hilarious. Amanda Palmer's broken smoke of a voice goes perfectly with Grant's mahogany on the latter. He's still so scathing, but, clearly one has to have an open heart for it to be hurt so much, like on "Voodoo Doll": he just wants to help. "Black Blizzard" is ominous and terrifying and "Disappointing" is a great twist on "My Favorite Things". The anger here is a lot more perceptible in the music rather than just the lyrics. But the juxtaposition of soft music and scalding lyrics is still there.

Just...go listen to the fucking thing.

Christ.

Here's a review of his October 17th show at Le Poisson Rouge.

Garbage released the 20th anniversary edition of their first album*. Typically, Garbage albums have this amazing ability to be half hit/half shit (although not, like, shitty shit, just not nearly as good or catchy as the rest, but "half hit/half not nearly as good or catchy as the rest" does not rhyme). Half are timeless pop jewels and the other half...the exact opposite, dusty remnants of whatever year they were released. On this reissue, which tauted endlessly how they went back to the original tapes, the shitty songs sound clearer and deeper, and the awesome songs sound EVEN MORE AWESOME....probably because they went back to the original tapes... The second disc of b-sides (or "g-sides" as Gorillaz coined the term about 15 years ago) are nothing new to fans who've been paying attention to the band and its web presence over the years, so that was kind of a disappointment. Then there's the additional forty one fucking tracks if you purchased the Super Deluxe digital version. These are mostly painfully 90's remixes and a half dozen demos, great for a true darkling, but not for an average human or even your average Garbage fan. The best and most interesting artifact on this epic uber deluxe edition is the very last track, an early demo of "Supervixen" on which the verse is completely different, changing the entire feel of the song and, kind of, the album, as the song sets the tone.

Here's a review of their October 24th "20 Years Queer" show at Kings Theatre.

Also working on reviews for ESKA's debut album and CocoRosie's new one, Heartache City. Thus far both of these are pretty spectacular. 

MORE SOON.

* 1995 was twenty years ago.