How many times has a band’s 15th album been one of their best? The answer is four. And one of them is Join Us, the new album by They Might Be Giants. Join Us finds John Flansburgh and John Linnell on a creative roll, making music that positively swarms with energy, invention, and an impeccable grasp of the miraculous synergy of words and music.
To understand where this artistry comes from, it helps to remember They Might Be Giants’ beginnings: as a key part of the early ’80s explosion of visual art, music, and performance art that put New York’s East Village on the cultural map. But while most cutting-edge rock at the time was bruising and nihilistic, the two Johns were making Dadaist, truly post-modern pop, forming a branch of underground music whose membership consisted entirely of themselves. “We’re fully aware of the musical worlds both to the left of us and to the right of us — we’ve heard avant garde music, we’ve heard popular music,” says Flansburgh. “That’s given us the notion that we can be as original as we can be and still make worthwhile songs.”
In 1990, They Might Be Giants created some of their greatest work just as alternative rock was cresting — and went platinum with the classic Flood. In the ensuing 20 years, they’ve become a beloved and fully diversified institution, conquering all media throughout the known universe, contributing to film and TV soundtracks, making hit DVDs, winning two Grammy awards, becoming Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year, appearing as cartoon characters, writing music for a robot ballet, topping the iTunes podcast charts, and being the subject of the acclaimed documentary Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns. And now the very aptly titled Join Us.
They’ll be joining us on Sunday, October 30th as part of our Low Frequency Series. We hope to see you there!
KRUI’s Low Frequency Series w/ They Might Be Giants
Presented by The Englert
Date: October 30th, 2011
Time: 7pm
Ages: All-ages
Tickets: $22 adv/$25 door
Tickets on sale now: HERE
Englert Box Office: 319/688-2653
