Coraline soundtrack info, guest DJ spot

Coraline happenings are noteworthy in the week before the film's release. Director Henry Selick spoke to Gothamist in an article published yesterday about the film and describes how They Might Be Giants became involved: The music video for The Spine's "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" was created by the fine folks at Laika, the same animation house that created Coraline, and a director on that award-winning video connected Selick, a fan of their music, to the band. Despite being "basically cut out" of the film (which really shouldn't become the go-to quote), Selick called their preliminary work "brilliant" and "beautiful" (he states he'd like to create a Yellow Submarine with the band) but the project ended up not going the musical (a la Nightmare Before Christmas) route and all songs but one were cut.

That one remaining song still ended up on the film's soundtrack which has been formally announced with a date of February 24th. You can already pre-order the CD on sites like Amazon or go for the the MP3 version which will apparently be made available on the 3rd, even before the film comes out. If you're that desperate to hear the song before release, the entire 28 seconds, yes, that's all of it, can be seen on the film's website.

It's a bit short-notice, but news by way of TMBW informs us that John and John will be guest DJing today for WBRU, 95.5FM in Rhode Island. If you don't happen to be in the area of a signal, you can listen online at the station's website. The guest slot is slated for noon today and will presumably run for at least an hour.

"Employee" video and "Electric Car" preview

Catching up on the past week or two of happenings online, we'll start with the most recent. Animator Elliot Cowan has created a video for They Might Be Giants' "Employee of the Month" using his Boxhead & Roundhead characters. The video grabbed the band's attention and is now being featured in their MySpace and newsletter updates. On Cowan's blog you can read his "interesting" perspective of his exchange with the band.

The Star-Ledger spoke with John Flansburgh for an interview. Topics of discussion included the transition to performing for children, Tommy Lee interviews, and how their unclassifiable music still brings in an audience.

Via TMBW, TMBG manager Jamie Kitman spoke with NPR in a seemingly unrelated interview about electric cars at the Detroit Auto Show. The audio interview ends with the debut of a new song by They Might Be Giants called, appropriately enough, "Electric Car." Only a portion of the track is played, but it's mentioned that the song comes out in the fall, likely with the release of Here Comes Science.

Science images and Philly interviews

While the Grammy nominated Here Come the 123s is still on peoples' minds, people are looking for news on the upcoming Here Comes Science. Frequent TMBG collaborator Hine Mizushima has posted some stills from her new video for the upcoming kids album. (Maybe your guess of which video it's for will be the same as mine if you look closely.) The images were also featured in a recent TMBG newsletter.

These newsletters and MySpace postings of the past weeks have been ramping up the promotion for two purposes. First, to let us know of their new holiday bundles (which you can still order by Sunday to guarantee merch by Christmas via FedEx). They've also put some holiday themed songs on their MySpace profile page.

The second topic is, as always, shows; such as the pair of New Year's Eve shows at the TLA in Philadelphia. To help get the word out on upcoming shows, they've announced an RSS feed on their website that will update you of all upcoming They Might Be Giants shows.

Another promo gig the band had recently is an interview with Phrequency on these Philadelphia shows (via TMBW). John, John, and Marty sit in to tell the folks how they start writing a song, give their Grammy reaction, and tell of some interesting fan interactions.

Also in Philly, the group held an interview with Preston & Steve of 93.3 WMMR. You can hear the audio of the interview (via TMBW again), view pictures from the meeting, and watch video of the two songs performed on the show: "Particle Man" and "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?"

Strong Bad, Podcast, and NPR

The two Johns have collaborated with the chaps behind Homestar Runner several times before in projects from music videos to jam sessions. This week, they provide an opening number for Strong Bad's monumental 200th e-mail video. You can download the song by clicking the 'A' in "Emails" at the end. You might also remember that a song was provided for the e-mail "different town."

Just after the release of They Might Be Giants Podcast 36A is a special 36B. A "rare glimpse of the secret coolness that was Hello," says a newsletter announcing the installment, in this episode host John Flansburgh plays through his Hello Recording Club's 1993 Sampler which includes music from Frank Black, The Residents, Eugene Chadbourne, and others from the Hello catalog.

Finally, we have a double dosing of NPR as TMBW links to a segment from All Things Considered on music for kids and adults. Informed by Stefan Shepherd over at Zooglobble, the piece plays a few clips from bands including They Might Be Giants.

If you are looking for more TMBG than clips, the band's second appearance via the public radio organization this week may be just what you are looking for. Linked to by The Pitch's Wayward Blog, a They Might Be Giants live set on Mountain Stage was re-broadcast this week and you can listen online. [EDIT: An curious e-mailer asked me to clarify that this is actually a rather old performance, but it was played again on Tuesday.]

Podcast 36A, interviews, and more

I have so many links this week I may need to start updating more frequently again. Starting out from the weekend, TMBG's Sunday appearance on Out Of The Box on Q104.3 has been archived on the show's site for both streaming and downloading. John, John, and Marty were interviewed and played some songs live in the studio.

Plush You, a blog dedicated to handcrafted plush items, interviewed TMBG collaborator Hine Mizushima this week. The interview gives us some info on her creative background and explains how she got involved in making videos ("With the Dark," "The Secret Life of Six") for They Might Be Giants.

In movie news, it seems that there won't be as much TMBG in Coraline as everyone originally thought. ShockTillYouDrop.com visited the set of the movie sat down with director Henry Selick. Selick states that the film was initially going to feature more songs but it has since been limited to "a few moments of music." Chud.com, who attended the same set visit, lets us know that only one of the songs They Might Be Giants wrote for the film will ultimately make it on screen. You may remember that "Careful What You Pack" came from these unused songs. In addition to relaying some behind the scenes interactions with the band, Selick informs us that Bruno Coulais is scoring the film, in case you pondered if TMBG had involvement in that as well.


Coraline won't get wide release until next year, so if you're looking for a TMBG fix, hit up the They Might Be Giants Podcast. Released yesterday as an early preview on their MySpace page, Podcast 36A has been sent out. Songs from the podcast include a few from their ringtone projects, a Beatles cover, and more. The podcast-announcing newsletter states a 36B is on the way.

Wrapping up a post too long for its own good is the rumor mill. "Tippecanoe And Tyler Too" was played in today's podcast and Flansburgh reminds everyone to go out and vote (for the people they're going to vote for). It looks like John may be getting a little more active than that in spreading the good vibes for his candidate of choice. A Twitter post from a one Mr. Noah Carter indicates that They Might Be Giants will be making an appearance at a supporter-organized fundraising event for Barack Obama.

So who is Noah Carter? I have no idea either, but he's listed as one of the hosts of the event along with several relatively famous people from the New York area. The event itself is in Brooklyn on October 6th and TMBG has a show in New York on the 5th so this wouldn't be out of their way. It's also not noted if they will be performing or just showing face.

Newsletter notifies of radio appearance

A new TMBG newsletter and MySpace post were sent out this week with the latest from the band. In addition to listing upcoming shows from this weekend into the next year, John F. also mentions that they are "back on the road and back in the studio this month."

The e-mail also gives us notice that They Might Be Giants will be appearing live on New York's 104.3FM on Sunday at 9 pm. If you're not in the New York area, you can listen to the show live on the station's website.

Lastly, and this is an odd one, it appears that TMBG's music has found it's way into a kid friendly "operating system." The application is called KIDOS and it purports to be a safe way for kids to use a computer and communicate online and so on. They Might Be Giants' music, likely select tracks from their Disney efforts, will be purchasable via an iTunes-like online store. You can't make this stuff up folks! Don't expect this to make a splash.

They Might Be Giants live in 1997

A contributor to TMBW has posted that Laura Cantrell's Radio Thrift Shop played a live, 1997 performance by They Might Be Giants last week. Originally broadcast live on the same show years prior, the concert was held at the Museum of Television and Radio. Last week's show is archived on WMFU.org and TMBG's set starts at 1:53:00 in.

WFMU's The Radio Thrift Shop from 8/27/2008

The half hour set includes "Counterfeit Faker," later released on 1999's online-only Long Tall Weekend; an early "Doctor Worm;" the original, slower version of "Finished With Lies," a faster version of which would appear on Mink Car four years later; among others. Hosts Laura Cantrell and Nick Hill had also both previously collaborated on songs with They Might Be Giants.

New Coraline song preview

This Might Be a Wiki seems to have the news this week. Yesterday, WBWC 88.3FM in Cleveland, Ohio, and streamed via their website, held a They Might Be Giants marathon. It was 18 hours of TMBG filled with great songs and what seemed like dozens of user requests. Don't expect this one to be archived folks.

CMJ has announced several of the bands set to play in the CMJ Music Marathon and They Might Be Giants are included. Scheduled for late October, you can find the full list of announced bands on the marathon's website.

Lastly for the week, Neil Gaiman has been posting updates on his journal telling of IGN's Coraline previews. Yesterday's video has a snippet of a song, sung by Linnell, about halfway through. This is the first we've heard of the Coraline songs and if it's a glimpse of what's to come we're in for a treat in the soundtrack department.

Photos and good kids' songs

They Might Be Giants have been appearing online in various places in the last couple of days. One such appearance is in a list of "top 10 kids' songs that don't suck" on one of Paste magazine's blogs. Two of TMBG's songs make the list at numbers five and three.

John Flansburgh and John Linnell are seen at Allen & Delancey in a photo for a Time Out New York article on the restaurant available online. The article is completely unrelated to TMBG except for the image, but there you have it.

Farmanimalsrock from the TMBG LiveJournal community found photos of the They Might Be Giants show at Big Twig Studio a few months ago on the WJFF website. WJFF, who aired the concert live, is still hosting the pre-show interview with John and John on their website for streaming and download.

In other distant show news, TMBW is reporting a new show has appeared on the band's booking agency's website for September in Minneapolis, MN, giving you plenty of time to plan for the concert.

Flans interview, radio takeover archive

A new TMBG newsletter was released, echoing a MySpace post, and in it a new show is announced for Milwaukee, WI in late June. Two previously announced shows are taking place this weekend in Kansas City, MO and the Kansas City Star has an interview with John Flansburgh. As the Jiggle Jam Family Music Fest is They Might Be Giants' Saturday show, the interview stays on the children's music topic and asks about the intent behind their first children's album and how kids' shows differ from regular shows.

Back in January, John and John took over radio station Y Rock and played a bunch of their and their crew's favorite songs. An archive of that hour is finally up on the Y Rock website for streaming. You can find the setlist on the site as well under 9 pm.

Finally, from the fan side of things, a new Theynow was released with some covers and live music and check out Hine's latest art project, 9 Practical Applications for The Else.

"Zeroes" podcast, TIME, radio interview and songs

They Might Be Giants' Family Podcast is back today with "Zeroes." Sung with the help of Hannah Levine, who also sings "One Dozen Monkeys," the song describes the many uses of the zero while the video features several birds, such as the one on the Here Come the 123s cover, helping to demonstrate.

After the video, the puppet Johns sing a quick little song and tell some jokes. I think it's great to see little songs like this in the podcast where they won't necessarily be taken so seriously and are a fun little diversion. The video ends with the podcast's goodbye song.

They Might Be Giants were profiled by TIME concerning their children's work. The article is mostly an overview, but you may want to check it out, if only for the excellent photo of the Johns and their puppets.

Several audio-only videos of TMBG on radio station WNRN have been posted to YouTube. A two part video from last year has an interview with John, John, and Marty on the drums. Part one covers working on The Else and an in-studio performance of "Contrecoup." Part two has them discussing their reasons for releasing The Else online a month before its retail release and they play the previously linked "Star Hill Music Hall."

Also uploaded by the station are several in-studio performances from way back on September 12, 1997. The songs include "Cowtown," "New York City," "Older," and what is possibly the very first performance of "Doctor Worm." They're interesting arrangements and are all well worth listening to.

TMBG "Get Up and Go" with PBS

This summer, PBS will begin airing a music video called "Get Up and Go" between shows. The music in this video is by none other than They Might Be Giants. The spot is part of a campaign to get kids thinking healthily and getting active over the summer months. In addition to appearing on television, an extended version of the video will be played in movie theaters before certain showings. This extended version will also be made available for download on the PBS Kids Go website and will be accompanied by a "printable and customizable dance sequence."

This isn't the first time TMBG has worked with PBS. A few years ago, they were part of the "Share a Story" campaign and similarly contributed a song for a music video.

A smaller recent appearance is in an article on children's music in The Globe and Mail today. While the article focuses on Barenaked Ladies' new kids' album, They Might Be Giants are mentioned and John Flansburgh has a quick word on the type of children's music he grew up with.

Lastly is a recording of the Star Hill venue song live on WNRN before a show at the venue. And while the concert may have taken place last year, the audio-only video was just uploaded yesterday.

[As a side note, I haven't been linking to concert videos in a while mostly because I'm not sure how I should go about it. If anyone has any smart ideas on how to collect them in one place, go ahead and shout.]

New Dunkin' commercial, full interview

A new Dunkin' Donuts television commercial has taken to the airwaves, this one called "All Night Blowout." The 30-second spot is the latest in the "American Runs on Dunkin'" campaign and is viewable on YouTube.

The fine folks at WJFF have reposted Friday's interview with They Might Be Giants. Now the full half hour interview is available for streaming and download from their website. Additional topics covered in the second half of the interview include indie music on the Internet, humor in their songs, and collaborations with Home Movies and Homestar Runner. The Johns specifically note that more Homestar material is on the way and in the works.

Radio interview archived

If you missed TMBG on the radio last Friday, you can listen to some of their interview before the show at WJFF's website (Date: Friday, April 18, 2008 7:28 pm) for the next week or so. Unfortunately the recording is cut off halfway into the interview, but you can still hear what John and John have to say about the band members and their thoughts on illegally downloading music.

All Over Albany has posted another short quote from speaking with Flansburgh. He tells them of the challenges of performing a children's show filled with adults and writing for children with no musical history.

"Triops Has Three Eyes" sees Family Podcast

Hot on the heels of Podcast 33B is the They Might Be Giants Friday Night Family Podcast for the week. The episode begins with Flansburgh in France (which you may remember he visited recently) as he introduces the featured video "Triops Has Three Eyes" from Here Come the 123s.

"Triops" is one of my favorite songs on the album and its video is just as good. Created by David Cowles and Phil Lockerby, the animated piece introduces us to the triops with cameos from our favorite Johns.

After the second video for the night, "Letter/Not a Letter" from Here Come the ABCs, Linnell joins Flans to say goodbye in the language of the land. They also give us the heads up that next Friday's podcast will be celebrating Arbor Day.

A new TMBG newsletter was sent out promoting their two recent podcasts. The e-mail also reminds everyone that tonight's concert will be streamed live online starting at 8 o'clock though an interview with the band will begin one half hour earlier.

Flansburgh on The Egg, upcoming radio show

John Flansburgh has been interviewed a few times recently. All Over Albany spoke with him about TMBG's upcoming show at The Egg finding out John's inspiration for its song and what his first impression of the venue was. John also spoke with WAMC in Albany, NY over the radio on the venue song for The Egg, his philosophy behind performing and promoting their kids' music, and his relationship with John Linnell.

The other day a new TMBG newsletter was sent out hinting at Podcast 34B (though a new MySpace bulletin states it's 33B, which is probably the correct number) and reminding everyone of upcoming shows. The newsletter also mentions a sold out live radio concert on Friday to be broadcast on WJFF. The songs will start at 8 o'clock but the band will show up early for an interview at 7:30.

Soundcheck appearance, Conan reminder

They Might Be Giants appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck today promoting Here Come the 123s. During the interview, they played "One Dozen Monkeys," "Apartment 4," and "Alphabet of Nations" live in the studio.

A few MySpace updates have been posted. On TMBG's MySpace blog, an update mentions the Soundcheck appearance and also reminds everyone of their upcoming Late Night with Conan O'Brien performance tomorrow night. In other live news, TMBW has several new shows on their shows page.

Finally, They Might Be Giants have placed second in Zooglobble's KidVid Tournament with their video for "Seven Days a Week (I Never Go To Work)." There were a ton of votes in the finals so if you need help counting, check out Friday's Family Podcast for a refresher and get your kid video fix for the week.

"I Can Add," new shows, and interview

A new Friday Night Family Podcast has been released today. In it are two videos from Here Come the 123s, "I Can Add" and "Seven Days of the Week," which is seeing its second showing on the Family Podcast.

Three new shows have appeared on theymightbegiants.com's shows listing. Two are for a family show and an adult show on April 19, in Albany, NY. Another new show is for June 7, at the Appel Farm Arts & Music Festival in Elmer, NJ. A new TMBG newsletter has been sent out that also announces these shows as well as mentioning Podcast 32B.

An interview from yesterday has John, John, and Dan appearing on talk station Real Radio and playing a few songs live. In addition to four songs, TMBG talks a lot about getting jobs as theme writers and how that works. The Beat Swamp has the 40-minute (commercials included) segment recorded.

Many interviews for many shows

I've got a slew of interviews for you today, but first I'll start by mentioning that a new TMBG newsletter was sent out recently. Starting with a very persuasive argument to get tickets to their upcoming shows, the e-mail reiterates many of the points relayed by their various blogs.

Starting with past shows, Linnell and Flansburgh were interviewed by MSG, NY prior to their show at the Beacon Theatre earlier this month. (Footage of the concert has appeared on YouTube.) It's a good video interview that gives some background on the band's origins and Flans says what he really thinks of the fans.

Playing in Bloomington, IN tonight, TMBG speaks to The Bloomington Scene in a timely interview wherein they tell the site why they like playing in college towns. The site also has a nice interview with They Might Be Giants opening act Oppenheimer.

Moving on to Saturday, They Might Be Giants will be playing in Omaha, NE at Slowdown in a sold out show. The Omaha World-Herald asks Flansburgh some questions and he notes that they'll be "working on the next album momentarily."

A They Might Be Giants concert is the end cap of the True/False film fest closing on Sunday and in the spirit of the fest, the Columbia Daily Tribune's Arts & Entertainment blog asks John and John some true/false questions. In addition, Vox gets Flans to tell them why it's good to have a large pool of songs to choose from and gets some good trivia out of him in six sidebar questions.

Furthermore, True/False sponsor BXR, a radio station local to the film fest, will apparently be joined by TMBG before the concert on Sunday between 3:30 and 4:30pm. If you don't get the station locally, you can listen live online.

Interviews, shows, and video games

A nice interview with the recently popular John Linnell has appeared on Babble, a parenting website. The interview covers "babies, bad shows and Brooklyn" and has some really interesting and funny quotes from John. Here, he give us an idea of how long their first kid's album was in progress:

"He [his son, Henry] heard No! before it came out, and by the time it came out he was intimately familiar with it — which is funny. We actually recorded it before he was born, but it took that long for the record to be released."

A while back TMBG announced they would be appearing in an expansion pack for The Sims video game, re-recording "Take Out the Trash" in the gibberish language of the characters. A little more information has been released on the game, which is titled The Sims 2: FreeTime and to be released February 26, and a full track listing has appeared for it's soundtrack. They Might Be Giants also mentioned that they'd recorded a new version of "The Sims 2 Theme," originally composed by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, with their regular horn section of Dan, Stan, and Kurt. You can hear the original version online and get an idea of how it will sound.

A new newsletter has been sent out and Flans reveals he's currently in France. The mailing also reminds of some radio shows, such as their appearance on WXPN's "World Café," which is now archived on the show's website. There, you can listen to the half hour with They Might Be Giants as they are interviewed and play several songs live. The newsletter also, along with a MySpace blog posting, gives notice to their fans in Omaha, NE of a free screening of Gigantic at The Waiting Room Lounge.

Finally, via leolapyre on the TMBG LJ group, They Might Be Giants will be performing their first of many in-stores at Borders on February 23, promoting Here Come the 123s.