The Technology of They Might Be Giants

Brian Heater writes "I recently did a two-part interview with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. It might be of interest, as we discussed the role of technology both in terms of their recording and distribution, from Dial-a-Song, to podcasts, to Myspace. Says John: 'All the song writing we do, we'll be working with a computer, just as a recording device, and maybe we'll be working with a program as a music-generating device. That's just the sound-making devices that are there. A lot of times it's good enough, but when you hear it played on a real instrument, it's much more persuasive and exciting. Or conversely, you've have some lumpy, homemade loop that has oodles of charm that you forget to leave on the final version of the song, because it seemed amateurish. Finding the balance is really the key for us. I'm very excited by the time we live in, but I feel like any time in the post-mechanical era would be good for me.'"

Forget?

[tonsofpcs]

How do you forget to leave (a loop/track) on the final version of (a) song, because it seemed amateurish? Sounds more like you purposefully remove it.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

TMBG are known for wordplay, Captain Obvious.

Re:

[John Napkintosh]

He may not have meant that literally. Kind of "I didn't really realize I actually wanted that until now that it's too late".

Theme Song!

[sg3000]

I can imagine there's huge overlap (okay fine, relatively large overlap) between Slashdot readers and fans of TMBG, with their clever lyrics and unusual song topics, such as Mesopotamians [apple.com], past presidents [apple.com], or even Linux users [apple.com].

So when is Slashdot going to pay They Might Be Giants to do a theme song? Fatboy Slim [apple.com] already did one, but there probably aren't as many fans on this board.

Continuing the them of TMBG using technology, I heard that their song Spider [apple.com] was originally created on a Macintosh just moments after they unboxed it. This was back when Apple first introduced 16-bit stereo (as opposed to 8-bit mono) recording capabilities in the early 1990s. I had heard TMBG used the box of said computer to also do some of the percussion for the song.

Re:

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Yeah! We're for freedom of information here! So no posting things we don't approve of!

Re:

[mabhatter654]

OK, they've also got it on MP3 at emusic!!

You're not the boss of me now!

[NotQuiteReal]

You can't make me go out and commission a theme song.

Re:

[everphilski]

but they did for Malcolm in the Middle :)

Istanbul was Constantinople. There. I said it.

Re:

[matt_gaia]

Actually, being a parent, I also know that they did a number of theme songs for the pre-schooler Disney shows as well. They did, at least, the themes for Mickey Mouse Club House and Higglytown Heroes (and I know this from having the theme songs drilled into my head on Saturday and Sunday mornings), but I don't think that they did any shows for the morning block.

Re:

[everphilski]

good to know. I must have missed that somehow. my kids are too young for cartoons yet and I must have been too old ...

Re:

[rizzo420]

support apple much? geez. you couldn't post links to their own site? is stevie paying you?

when i buy my TMBG music, i buy it free of DRM and usually off their website.

Re:

[zero_offset]

That is one of the saddest things I have ever read. And I read slashdot fairly often.

Re:

[PenguSven]

/me goes to pirate a couple of those, as she's still without any legit way to buy (most) music with a Linux box.

what, Linux doesn't work with CDs now?

Re:Theme Song!

[Nazlfrag]

You can get DRM free tunes (mp3) from their site [theymightbegiants.com], or sign up to their newsletter for free mp3s [tmbg.com].

Get TMBG DRM free

[Nazlfrag]

Alternatively, you could visit the TMBG [tmbg.com] website, where you can purchase their music free of DRM, as well as sample free tunes and video clips.

Re:

[Propaganda13]

I already commissioned Wesley Willis to write a theme song for Slashdot.

Me: We need a theme song for Slashdot.
Wesley: How about "Suck a Pitbull's Dick"?
Me: That's not what we were looking for.
Wesley: What about "Suck My Dog's Dick"?
Me: That's not much better.
Wesley: Oh, you don't like songs about dogs, How about "Suck a Camel's Bootyhole"?
Me: No.
Wesley: "Suck a Caribou's Ass"?
Me: No.
Wesley: "Suck a Panda's Cock"? "Lick a Donkey's Ass"?
Me: No.
Wesley: "Taste a Gorilla's Ass"? "Taste a Lechwe's Ass"? "Suck a J

Re:

[byolinux]

Couldn't resist.

You are my favorite Editor of Slashdot.
You really rock it out.
You post harder than a magic kiss.
You whip a panda's Dick.

Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda

Rob Malda got on my nerves.
He slapped my Mom in the Ass.
He shot up my Dad's Station Wagon.
Then he came to my house and typoed my head.

Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda

After Eric Raymond smashed my Cock, he slashdotted my head.
Then 5 Gnus smashed my Gut.
My hands were tied.
My hands were also tagged.

Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda
Rob Malda

Roc

Re:

[djasbestos]

Huh, I always thought it was "magickist", like a magician who does magick instead of magic.

"Winamp...it really whips the llama's ass."

Re:

[Nazlfrag]

It's because hookers pronounce it I-suck-you.

Re:

[Jonboy X]

ICQ allows users to send messages directly to one another, whereas AOL's IM relays every message through AOL's servers.

That's why I used ICQ, back when I was with Al Qu...err, the Boy Scouts.

Re:

[darkgumby]

Back in 1995 a local ISP had a call in contest on a radio show where they'd give $250 to somebody that could convince them that there was a job that would not benefit from the internet. I won the contest by telling them that I drove an ice cream truck and all of my customers were little kids. This was hypothetical and I told the host the truth. I was actually a programmer at the time. I am still not qualified to drive an ice cream truck.

I took $100 in cash and the rest in free internet access for several

Re:

[garett_spencley]

That's odd. I can think of ways that driving an ice cream truck would benefit from the Internet.

Thanks to map tools like google maps you could plan better routes. I suppose you don't *need* the Internet to do that but it adds a level of convenience.

If it's a franchise of ice cream trucks we're talking about then they can use the Internet to communicate with all of their drives more efficiently (offering access to schedules from home, allowing drivers to IM each other etc.).

You can use the Internet to advert

Re:

[DavidTC]

Almost no digital watches are computers. A few, not many, older cellphones are not computers. Older car computers aren't, IIRC. (Some of them aren't anything except recording devices!)

A computer is a general purpose computing device, and must be Turing-complete. It has to be able to execute arbitrary code. (Even if there's no way to easily get the code in there.) There are plenty of electronic devices that are not computers, that are simply a few specific ICs thrown together.

General rule of thumb: If it h

Re:

[Walpurgiss]

You mean computers aren't the people [wikipedia.org] who do my math computations for me anymore?

Times have changed

[Yoozer]

No. "Nerd" or "geek" is generally the moniker for anyone you threaten to beat up if they don't do your homework for you.

Re:

[fractoid]

The rest use cheap little MP3-decoding chips that get fed a compressed stream and output an uncompressed one, and that's all they can do.

Pardon my ignorance (I've only done a few, fairly minor digital circuit designs, and none of those were power-sensitive) but wouldn't they all use the cheap little MP3-decoding chips purely on basis of power consumption? I can't imagine a general purpose CPU running a software MP3 decoder using less power than a custom, optimised-out-the-ass hardware solution, as you'd expect any common chip to be these days. On the contrary, I'd be amazed if the special purpose chip used more than 1/10th of the power a fu

Re:

[DavidTC]

I actually don't know. I know there's a way to upgrade some of the more powerful ones to player other types of media that they were not designed to do, like FLAC. And FLAC actually takes more CPU than MP3. So if the CPU is there, I can't imagine them putting another chip in to do it. Yeah, it'd increase battery life, probably, but still.

Some stuff, like DRM WMAs, has only recently had chips comes out that can do it. (It and MP3 in the same chip.), so previous players had to have real CPUs in them that did

Re:

[mjwx]

Woodworking

Cabinet Making

Carpentry

Carpet Laying

Boiler Making

Most manual labour jobs make no use (or next to no use) of computers and trust me, tradesmen are not friends of the mobile phone.

Re:

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

We're almost there, but the problem is that modern cars use computers to self-diagnose problems. Unless the labourers use really old cars, they still rely on computers.

Re:

[mjwx]

You will find 9 times out of 10 a tradie (tradesmen) will drive a 10 yr old econovan (especially the older tradies). At least thats the case in Australia. Other than that yes but my point was that manual trades aren't exactly the first to innovate. If you took away all their computers (back to manual systems in cars so on and so forth) 99% of tradies wouldn't notice. My dad (who is a cabinet maker) complains about the number of system in his 2003 model car.

That being said, there are a fair few computer d

Re:

[Hognoxious]

When it comes down to it, just about every job today involves the use of a computer.

No shit, Sherlock. Pass the TV guide, I want to check what tonight's film is.

Re:

[drcagn]

http://www.tvguide.com/ [tvguide.com]

They built this whole neighborhood out of wood,

[TexVex]

They built this whole neighborhood out of wood, out of wood
I guess I'll still be around when they burn, burn it down
I will be standing around when they burn it down
Here in the Museum of Idiots

...

If you and I had any brains, we wouldn't be in this place

Chop me up into pieces, if it pleases, if it pleases
And when the chopping is through, every piece will say "I love you"
Every piece of me will say "I love you"
Here in the Museum of Idiots

Re:

[naoursla]

Are you proposing that as the slashdot theme song?

Part 2 Continued here

[yknott]

Part 2 Continued here:

http://www.gearlog.com/2007/08/interview_they_migh t_be_giants_1.php/ [gearlog.com]

they offer their live stuff in FLAC too:

[Josh Coalson]

http://www.theymightbegiants.com/album-venue.htm [theymightbegiants.com]

How About Pioneers in Technology and Music?

[Black-Man]

Back when the technology was new... drum machines, synthesizers and no one knew how to interface them. Here's a link to a fantastic interview from the drummer of Ultravox! who details the issues involved in syncing these devices - live - and long before even the Apple II showed up on the scene. http://www.discog.info/ultravox-interview.html/ [discog.info]

Re:

[pedestrian crossing]

And if you want to skip right to the part about the electronics...http://www.discog.info/ultravox-inte rview5.html [discog.info]

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[AxsDeny]

You missed the best tracks then.

• Bee of the Bird of the Moth
• The Cap'm
• The Mesopotamians

Spend more time with it.

Re:

[mooterSkooter]

I have to disagree and agree with you there. I recieved the album about a week and a half ago. My initial impressions were not good. I left it a week and came back to it. And loved it. Give it another go, perhaps concentrate on 'I'm Impressed', 'Upside down frown', 'the cap'm' and the totally excellent 'The Mesopotamians'. I was completely addicted to it last week, I listened to it constantly for about 4 days!

Re:

[AP31R0N]

So we keep buying/downloading the newer material, hoping to recapture the feelings we had from the earlier work. But you aren't the same person you were then, neither are the artists. Such is the nature of bands that last. If you get into a band right away eventually, they will stop doing what got you into them. You will change, they will change. The divergence increases over time. i just to be obsessed with The Cure and Depeche Mode. But i'm not a hyperemotional/hormonal teenager anymore. Robert Sm

Re:

[djasbestos]

"VNV Nation ... fills that void now for me."
"If a band repeats themselves, that too gets old."

I foresee Ronan Harris, et al, joining Misters Gore and Smith quite soon. You can only request "Chrome" so many times at the club. He can only sing that G to F monotone voice so many times before it gets on me.

Then again, Gary Numan is a bit guilty of that too, but I'm not admitting to the same paradigm, although his new stuff is a far cry from "The Pleasure Principle" and Tubeway Army (ramble ramble...)

Linnell's Robot Orchestra

[Fez]

What, no mention of John Linnell's computer-controlled robot orchestra?

See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL9_IK8YNV8 [youtube.com] (Rehearsal)
And:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4RZpKJ1x6o [youtube.com] (Live)

Hooray for unencumbered, artist-direct MP3s!

[Asmor]

TMBG has been my favorite band for a long time, and I liked them even before I knew who they were thanks to Paticle Man and Istanbul both being on Tiny Toon Adventures.

It's really great, however, knowing that they have set up their own website where you can buy mp3s of their albums at reasonable prices (99 cents a track or $10 an album last I checked). If you buy the album, you even get all the artwork in pdf form!

Music unencumbered with DRM is always great, only kind I'll buy. That it's run by the artists and (presumably, never actually checked into it) they get all the profits is just gravy.

TMBG truly is the future of music.

Re:

[Bobfrankly1]

I liked them even before I knew who they were thanks to Paticle Man

It's Pa R ticle Man you insensitive clod! He's doing the things a particle can!

Re:

[Asmor]

What are you talking about? Says so right here on my copy of They Must Be Gaints CD, Dail-a-song: Track 12, Paticle Man.

TMBG are the best!

[mooterSkooter]

Sorry for posting something totally pointless but I just had to, being a long-term slashdot reader and MASSIVE TMBG fan. TMBG are my favourite band ever, I've adored them since the very first time I heard Ana NG with that awesome guitar riff throughout. Brilliant. I've followed them ever since, going to see them whenever I can (which is rare in the UK) and buying all their albums. Okay, I wasn't overly impressed with 'The Spine' (though some great tracks - Wearing a Raincoat for example) but I reckoned they

live drums....

[rustcycle]

I can completely empathize with the ease of writing without a drummer but the pain of performing without one....double edged sword! Seems similar in some respects to Trent writing all the NIN material and having to gear up with a live crew for the tours....