''The Else'' is the twelfth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
group
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...
, released by Idlewild Recordings on May 15, 2007. The album was produced in part by
the Dust Brothers, along with Pat Dillett and the band.
''The Else'' was first available for download through the
iTunes Store on May 15, 2007. The CD version was released in stores on July 10, 2007, with initial runs accompanied by a full-length bonus disc of rare material, ''Cast Your Pod to the Wind'' (the title being a parody of jazz pianist
Vince Guaraldi
Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...
’s 1962 hit "
Cast Your Fate to the Wind
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind" is an American jazz instrumental selection by Vince Guaraldi; later, a lyric was written by Carel Werber. It won a Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition in 1963.
It was included on the album '' Jazz Impres ...
").
On September 11, 2007, the band released a
gatefold
A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for gramophone record, LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½-inch 2.7-centimetresquare). ...
vinyl LP
The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...
of the album. ''Cast Your Pod'' was made available separately on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
in July 2009.
"Contrecoup" was originally written and recorded in 2005 as part of a challenge issued on
the Next Big Thing in which lexicographer Erin McKean implored
John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
to use the words "
contrecoup", "
craniosophic", and "
limerent" in a song so that the words could be added to or remain in the dictionary.
A video, created by Mizushima Hine, for "With the Dark" was released on the band's
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
page on June 7, 2007. Two additional videos, for "The Shadow Government" and "I'm Impressed", were also later released. A full-length video for "The Mesopotamians" was released on Stereogum.com on October 2.
"Careful What You Pack" was originally written for the soundtrack of 2009 film ''
Coraline
''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...
'', but it was not used in the film.
Track listing
''Cast Your Pod to the Wind'' (bonus disc)
Personnel
;They Might Be Giants
*
John Flansburgh
John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar.
Earl ...
–
songwriting
A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
,
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
s, programming
*
John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...
– songwriting, vocals,
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
s, programming
;Backing band
*
Marty Beller –
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s
*
Dan Miller – guitar; piano on "Careful What You Pack"
*
Danny Weinkauf –
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
;Additional musicians
*
Mauro Refosco – percussion (track 9)
*
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, St. Vincent, Wolf Alice, and Deafheave ...
–
acoustic bass guitar
The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...
(9)
* Dan Levine –
trombone
The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
(9, 10)
*
Stan Harrison –
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
(9, 10)
* Jim O'Connor –
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
(9, 10)
*
Lyle Workman
Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous '' Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compos ...
– guitar (6, 9)
*
Sharon Jones – vocals (10)
;Production
*
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...
– producers (except 3, 6, 9, 10, 12)
*
Patrick Dillett Patrick may refer to:
*Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
*Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
* Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
– producer (except 3, 6, 9, 10, 12), engineer
*
The Dust Brothers – producers (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12)
* UE Nastasi – mastering
* Yuki Takahashi – engineer
* Greg Thompson – engineer
* Jon Altschuler – engineer
*
Marcel Dzama – artwork, costumes, photography
Reception
The album reached #9 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums chart.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Else
2007 albums
They Might Be Giants albums
Albums produced by the Dust Brothers
Albums produced by Pat Dillett
Idlewild Recordings albums
Albums with cover art by Marcel Dzama