March 22, 2021

They Might Be Giants - Flood (w/ Silas Price)

2 hours 18 minutes

Austin Powers. Malcolm in the Middle. Looney Tunes. Blues Clues. Istanbul (not Constantinople). What do all of these things have in common? No, it's not that they all include slapstick gags, it's that they have all had songs from the quintessential art rock group, They Might Be Giants. Whatever strangely themed music they made, the level of production mastery they brought to it was undeniable. “Boss of Me”, the theme for Malcolm in the Middle was so good that they even parodied it's style in the 2000s sitcom episode of WandaVision. In 1990, however, they were still on their rise to the giants that we know them as today. They had gained the respect of college radio and MTV, and their most recent album “Lincoln” had a #11 on the US Modern Rock chart with “Ana Ng”. With “Flood”, They Might Be Giants had their first big budget major label release, having signed to Elektra Records, and they did not waste a second of it. With the odd beauty of “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and the outright catchiness of their The Four Lads cover “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” (which was used in a Looney Tunes cartoon), they won over a mainstream audience, earning them a platinum album.

Today we are starting a MONTH (or so) of the members of Inspector 34 as guests! We're getting them each on individually to talk about an album that they love and we're starting with their keyboardist, Silas Price! He tells us about his other projects Fomosurfer and Pleasure Center and we talk about how They Might Be Giants influenced his own music. And we got the full cast of Brad, Jon, Dave, and Jake to discuss it!

Links from ep:

Fomo Surfer: https://fomosurfer.bandcamp.com/

Pleasure Center: https://pleasure-center.bandcamp.com/

Sad Milk Collective: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvUbpeHF5pg3uJOZgvpfnyg

Birdhouse in Your Soul Music Video: https://youtu.be/NhjSzjoU7OQ

Particle Man Dragonball Z Music Video: https://youtu.be/LyklJ263ObQ