They Might Be Giants

Since 1982, a few years before they released their 1987 debut, John Flansburgh and John Linnell -- both originally from Lincoln, Massachusetts, both now longtime New Yorkers, both named John -- have been They Might Be Giants, an independent band named after a 1971 George C. Scott movie who are, to echo their own description of their current collaborators The Dust Brothers, pop musicians unto themselves. Their work provides, in the prescient judgment of 'The Spin Alternative Record Guide' (1995) "a fabulous example of just how far the concept of punk can stretch." In subsequent years, They Might Be Giants have elongated things further, although never to the breaking point.

They have released twelve albums, of which The Else, a wildly rocking and sturdy collection of thirteen unfailingly acute songs, is the latest. It features Linnell (who sings and plays keyboards, primarily) and Flansburgh (who sings and plays guitar, primarily) working in tightest accord with their current band of guitarist Dan Solder Miller, bassist Danny Weinkauf, and drummer Marty Beller.

In the creative tradition of their pioneering pop-and-telephone service Dial-A-Song, They Might Be Giants have added projects such as film and TV scoring, contributing original orchestrations and tunes to projects such as 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,? and podcast hosting, where They Might Be Giants' monthly presentations often appear in the top-10 of iTunes music podcast charts.

They do not burn out, and they do not fade away.

On The Else, They Might Be Giants and the Dust Brothers mesh as though they always were destined to record fascinating songs and cohesive tunes together.

Effortlessly, the music mates the latter's rascally rhythms to the former's inimitably earthbound and elevated singing and songwriting. Some songs, like "Take Out the Trash" are based on simple, timeless rock and roll structures; others, such as "Upside Down Frown," where sweet harmonies float above a restless Dust Brothers drum loop, travel less direct yet equally immediate, routes.
"The textured and colorful jacket and pants of the melody and lyrics" in "Withered Hope," They Might Be Giants explain, "have been expertly fitted to the muscular contours of the naked rhythms underneath." Some songs, like "Climbing the Walls," take buoyant melodicism sort of theatrically through the roof. Others, like "Bee of the Bird of the Moth" and "The Cap'm," engage with fields such as, respectively, insectology and headwear design. Of a rocker such as "Shadow Government," They Might Be Giants just say "Finally, a protest song for drug dealers."