They Might Be Dead
And now for something completely different: As promised in my earlier post (Death Cab For Cutie's I Will Follow You Into The Dark, now with a working audiolink), here's two They Might Be Giants songs on today's theme.
First up, the simply titled Dead, a somewhat bored-sounding funeral dirge (if funerals usually featured grandoise piano and accordians, that is) off Flood. "You're dead, the funeral wasn't bad, but I'm still alive and kind of mopey" seems to be the basic premise, lyrically speaking; sonic-wise, the music never really goes anywhere -- what with the nasal harmonies throughout, and the otherwise-constant plod of keys and tune, the end result manages to be pleasing and fun while somehow sounding more like a dorked-up glee club performance in high school, if that's possible.
Next up, You're Dead, a song which manages to cover the same basic conceptual ground while goes into an entirely different direction -- you're dead but the world's still spinning sort of covers it all. The music builds from a tinkle, adding a synth drumbeat for layering, and then turns into this sort of fuzzy guitar thing with harmony before flying into almost-rap. The resolved-then-unresolved tension in the instrumentation wobbles, speaking to a complex set of emotional underpinnings about death and the world in general. It's a bit like the Eels meet Hanson, if that's even possible.
In case you can't tell, I have mixed feelings about both of these tunes, though both stay on the playlist for TMBG fans, and You're Dead is truly fun to listen to. Still, worth a shot if you're fans, and worth the novelty if you're on the fence about the good old Johns.
Buy Flood, though, because it is a pretty stable, oft-hilarous album. And buy
First up, the simply titled Dead, a somewhat bored-sounding funeral dirge (if funerals usually featured grandoise piano and accordians, that is) off Flood. "You're dead, the funeral wasn't bad, but I'm still alive and kind of mopey" seems to be the basic premise, lyrically speaking; sonic-wise, the music never really goes anywhere -- what with the nasal harmonies throughout, and the otherwise-constant plod of keys and tune, the end result manages to be pleasing and fun while somehow sounding more like a dorked-up glee club performance in high school, if that's possible.
Next up, You're Dead, a song which manages to cover the same basic conceptual ground while goes into an entirely different direction -- you're dead but the world's still spinning sort of covers it all. The music builds from a tinkle, adding a synth drumbeat for layering, and then turns into this sort of fuzzy guitar thing with harmony before flying into almost-rap. The resolved-then-unresolved tension in the instrumentation wobbles, speaking to a complex set of emotional underpinnings about death and the world in general. It's a bit like the Eels meet Hanson, if that's even possible.
In case you can't tell, I have mixed feelings about both of these tunes, though both stay on the playlist for TMBG fans, and You're Dead is truly fun to listen to. Still, worth a shot if you're fans, and worth the novelty if you're on the fence about the good old Johns.
Buy Flood, though, because it is a pretty stable, oft-hilarous album. And buy