Tag Archives: NERRRRDS!

Racking Up Plays: “Nanobots” by They Might Be Giants

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

In short, “Nanobots” is everything that TMGB fans have come to expect from the band, which is still engineering insidiously catchy little songs out of pop melodies, heady topics and peculiar humor. Continue reading →

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The Annotated Decemberists No. 5: “I Don’t Mind”

Posted on October 5, 2011 by

It sure sounds to me like this verse describes an elderly, infirm woman being abandoned in the woods. It also seems reminiscent of a folk tale, though I can’t point to a specific example. Folklore is rife with descriptions of euthanasia and geronticide, however, as this academic review makes clear Continue reading →

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Racking Up Plays: “Canajoharie” by They Might Be Giants

Posted on September 1, 2011 by

if you’re wondering whether the Johns still can still write a popular anthem for the unpopular crowd, look no further than this evolutionary epic off the band’s 15th album, Join Us. Continue reading →

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Look, everybody! I got a comment from somebody who thinks I know something about William Butler Yeats, Greek mythology and The Decemberists

Posted on February 3, 2011 by

Hey, this Internet thing works after all. Someone out there in the inky void of cyberspace stumbled across my Decemberists Glossary and posted a comment asking my opinion—me!—on a lyrical detail from the Portland band’s new single, “Down by the … Continue reading →

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Here it is, your handy dandy Decemberists glossary for “The King is Dead”

Posted on January 19, 2011 by

This has been a week for expanding the ol’ vocabulary, because I’ve been listening to the new album by The Decemberists on a constant loop—or as Colin Meloy might say, on a sempiternal picot. While “The King is Dead” eschews … Continue reading →

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Decemberists listening party at Philz Coffee in San Francisco gives fans chance to unite and converse using words like “parapet”

Posted on January 13, 2011 by

Anyone who knows me knows I am counting down the minutes to Tuesday, which is when The Decemberists will officially release The King is Dead, the Portland band’s sixth studio album. I’ve already listened to the streaming preview that NPR … Continue reading →

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