{"id":14047,"date":"2018-02-07T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T10:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=14047"},"modified":"2018-02-06T05:30:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T10:30:26","slug":"like-fun-they-might-be-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/07\/like-fun-they-might-be-giants\/","title":{"rendered":"Like, Fun: They Might Be Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: an edited version of this feature ran in Brooklyn Paper; the story was written to preview January shows in the NYC borough.<\/i><\/p>\n

Released on January 19, I Like Fun<\/i> is the 20th<\/sup> studio album from clever Brooklyn-based rock band They Might Be Giants. Co-leader John Flansburgh says that for many years the group’s touring schedule often found them on the road during New Year’s celebrations. \u201cIt really felt like when everybody \u2013 the entire world, really \u2013 was having a good time, we were just running around,\u201d he says. So They Might Be Giants began scheduling New Year’s shows back home. <\/p>\n

The band’s 2018 schedule already lists more than 65 dates in the U.S. and Europe beginning in mid-January. But Flansburgh says that the pair of dates at Music Hall of Williamsburg represent \u201cthe beginning of the changes that the tour will probably evolve into.\u201d Half-joking that They Might Be Giants subscribes to the \u201cearn as you learn tour philosophy,\u201d he says that the Williamsburg shows will be the debut of a live lineup that includes trumpeter Kurt Ram, veteran of performances with Bruce Springsteen and Nile Rodgers. \u201cSomehow we talked him into coming on board full time with us,\u201d Flansburgh says. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Many popular songs in the TMBG catalog feature trumpet, but while the instrument has shown up frequently on the band’s records, this will be the first time They Might Be Giants features one onstage. \u201cWhen we\u2019ve done those songs live [in the past], we\u2019ve just kind of glossed over the fact that the trumpet isn\u2019t there,\u201d Flansburgh admits. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll be able to do some real audience favorites much more precisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shows will preview some of the songs from I Like Fun<\/i>. Two singles, \u201cI Left My Body\u201d and \u201cLast Wave\u201d have been released ahead of the album. The latter tune employs a proven-successful TMBG creative model: wedding a hook-filled, uptempo melody to lyrics about living and dying alone. In that way it recalls \u201cDon’t Let’s Start, a song from the band’s self-titled 1987 LP. While cautioning that he doesn’t want to speak for co-leader John Linnell (who penned \u201cLast Wave\u201d and \u201cDon’t Let’s Start\u201d), Flansburgh believes that both tunes explore the nature of the pop song. \u201cYou can really put a lot of ideas into a pop song,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ideas in the melody, rhythm and arrangement are incredibly persuasive to people. And in a way, the lyric is pushing the outer limits of what\u2019s possible in that format.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast Wave\u201d is by no means a retread; They Might Be Giants has a seemingly bottomless well of musical ideas. Still, Flansburgh is forthright. \u201cWe\u2019ve been making songs for 35 years now,\u201d he says. \u201cAt a certain point, you have to forgive yourself for reusing nouns and revisiting ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

More TMBG features coming soon.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: an edited version of this feature ran in Brooklyn Paper; the story was written to preview January shows in the NYC borough. Released on January 19, I Like Fun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,51,62],"tags":[2197],"class_list":["post-14047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","tag-they-might-be-giants","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14049,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14047\/revisions\/14049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}