They Might Be Giants

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American reader/listeners! I don’t think I have any non-American reader/listeners! I barely have any American ones. Hmm, let’s do “dinner” for a special word. For those of you who haven’t seen me explain these before, when I do a special, I search for a word or phrase in the library and pick the random songs from that.

The Evens, “Dinner With The President”

The Evens (Amy Farina and Ian MacKaye) put out their second album, Get Evens, pretty quickly after the first one. And I think it’s a step forward, they seemed to be more comfortable with how to write songs to suit such a stripped down lineup. Is folk-punk a thing? I guess it is.

SNFU, “Costume Trunk”

I think I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of this record, and I think maybe part of it is the way the record is mixed. The vocals are too forward, and it throws the balance of things off.

Tuxedo, “Dreaming in the Daytime”

Just filthy, y’all. Listen to how fat those synths are! And come on, a guest verse from MF DOOM (R.I.P.)? Come on.

Folks, we’ve got a special thing today! Our first ever Five Songs Guest Post! That’s right! For the first time ever, Five Songs is an actual “we” instead of a royal “we”! This guest track listing was provided by Col. Hector Bravado, founder of Breakup Gaming Society, home to America’s Least Responsible Board Game Podcast. Riff with him on Twitter (@T1ChiefRocka) or listen. We’re going all instrumental today, and now I’m going to turn over the mic!

Sloan, “Deeper Than Beauty”

Sloan are a rarity, a band who clearly should have been big in America, but instead settled for a long and celebrated career in Canada. This stuff, really smart power pop, absolutely could have broken through at basically any moment, and just kind of never did. If you like this sort of thing at all, this album and One Chord To Another are must-listens.

Yo-Yo Ma, “Suite no. 1 in G major, BWV 1007: III. Courante”

I feel too dumb to even type out that song title, much less listen to this.

They Might Be Giants, “Nanobots”

The title track of their 2013 album, which was the second album of a little renaissance from TMBG. Post-children’s albums, they put together two outstanding records, bursting with ideas and shimmering tunes. Join Us ranks in the first ranks of their albums, and Nanobots isn’t far behind. I think their next couple albums suffered a bit from attenuated creativity, as the Dial-a-Song project seemed stretch them a bit thin, but these two albums are really top work.

Merle Haggard, “Are The Good Times Really Over (I Wish A Buck Was Still Silver)”

Personally, I look to my country music artists for trenchant commentary on monetary policy.

They Might Be Giants, “Bangs”

The opening of Mink Car, the last record TMBG released for Warner Bros. I suppose being released on 9/11 was probably an ill omen for the sales of the record. It contains some really good stuff (“Man, It’s So Loud In Here” is one of my favorites of all-time from them), but overall is kind of treading water a little bit. It was after this album that TMBG began making kids’ records, and after a few of those, I think they really kind of started progressing again.

The Fiery Furnaces, “South is Only a Home”

Brother and sister duo the Fiery Furnaces kind of epitomize a certain quirky, challenging strain of indie band. They’re restless, always searching for new sounds, and often end up being kind of difficult as a result. It’s all for good reasons, it’s not just experimentation for the sake of experimentation, but it does require some concentration to really pick up.

Mudhoney, “Magnolia Caboose Babyshit”

A lively instrumental from their debut self-titled LP, this is actually one of my favorite songs on the record. Not that I don’t love Mark Arm’s singing, but they’re just in and out on this one, getting the point across in a tidy 1:07. Great stuff.

Pop Will Eat Itself, “Bulletproof!”

After the anarchic fun of Cure For Sanity, which got some popular attention particularly on dance floors, their followup (The Looks or the Lifestyle) came out the next year trying to cash in on the popularity. But while there was a surface similarity, it all felt kind of pro-forma. Lots of chanting, repetitive lyrics gestured at being anthems, but nothing really lands on the record, and it should really be ignored.

They Might Be Giants, “The Mesopotamians”

A lethally catchy song, I’ll be humming this for the next several days. I feel like The Else gets really kind of ignored in the TMBG catalog. By that point, they were really kind of becoming known as a kids’ band, and they just slipped in this really lushly produced thing right in the middle of three kids’ albums.

[looks at “kids’”] That looks wrong. I think it’s right? Ain’t gonna look it up!

They Might Be Giants, “Birdhouse In Your Soul”

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

When I die, and you cut my brain open (which I’m sure somebody will), you’ll hear a tiny echo of this song.

Devo, “Be Stiff”

From their landmark Freedom of Choice, which is a hell of a rock album, the one where they added enough synth pop into their sound to break through. But ignore “Whip It”, subtract it from the album, and the album would still smoke.