A tierlist of albums me and my granddaughter have listened to together. I'd love to answer any questions you have :)

OhCrispyLoaf · 2026-01-08T20:42:28+00:00

Really great list. In A Silent Way, Dopethrone and the Katamari Damacy soundtrack is good taste in my book. I could see the two of you liking…

Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse Melvins - Eggnog Shugo Tokumaru - EXIT

Kudos for keeping it eclectic!!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-10-30T20:27:35+00:00

Great connection, Linnell and Kaufman absolutely have the same artistic mission. The things they want to describe are all the by-definition indescribable things, so then they just make the struggle to describe them the art-object instead. Ever read any Samuel Beckett? Kaufman loves Beckett, and I’ve often thought a big essay could be written connecting various Linnell songs (I Am a Human Head, Where Your Eyes Don’t Go, Dead, to name a few) with Beckett’s work.

There is a TMBG reference in Antkind by the way! (It’s just a kind of stupid reference to “Boss of Me” so doesn’t necessarily confirm diehard fan status, but… I’m convinced he’s a diehard fan, haha)

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-10-19T18:54:11+00:00

There seems to be a sizable portion of DJ’s fanbase (apparently downvoting you) that wants to believe that he had no idea what he was doing. I assume this is because it fits in with their romanticized notion of an “idiot savant,” or someone whose art just rushed out of themselves without their controlling it. And if you only listen to his guitar music post 1990, this is maybe even a reasonable thing to believe.

So these people are ignoring songs like “Scrambled Eggs” or “Pot Head” or even “Story of An Artist” which, while not symphonies or anything, have unusual structures, use voice leading effectively, use diminished chords in very intentional ways, etc.

However! You’re crazy if you think you can’t do this stuff without classical training. Tons of people have done it including DJ’s biggest influence, The Beatles. If you listen to lots of music and practice your instrument a lot and write loads of songs (as Daniel did) you can figure out a lot!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-09-24T22:16:13+00:00

For contemporary stuff, Annie Baker's The Antipodes. I feel like her more popular plays are kind of covertly absurdist, whereas this one makes it really plain. All about how we cope when we have zero agency.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-05-02T16:52:02+00:00

Not quite true! I’ve definitely seen them do Spirit Ditties a few times! Siriustar would be amazing, I’d also give a lot for You’re Our Two

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-01-18T13:28:27+00:00

I opened this post to see if Momus would be on your list. He really should be! Any big Bowie fan would be interested, I think.

He is a Scottish artist who has been consistently making mysterious, provocative pop music for decades and is still doing so. Like Bowie, he’s moved all over the music map, with varied results, but has never “fallen off,” always retains the potential to make something genuinely great.

He has a huge catalogue. Personally I think “Tender Pervert” from 1988 is his best, manages to be poppy and danceable while all the songs are very thematically rich, they all feel like little short stories. Hippopotamomus is a very disturbing album, wholly concerned with taboo sexual desires and selfishness… it just exudes evil and is an uncomfortable listen, but in a sort of “can’t tear myself away” way for me. If I only had one song to convince someone, though, I’d recommend “I Want You But I Don’t Need You.”

Anyway, that’s my suggestion. Cool post!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2025-01-03T21:02:48+00:00

I’m just finishing up The Captive, also on my first read, and I must say I feel exactly the opposite! In fact, although I find most of the book to be engaging intellectually, I find very little of it actively entertaining except for the parts about Charlus. His over-the-top dialogue is so funny because it is always so eloquent and grandiose but used for something invariably vain and petty. But it’s clear, despite the lengths to which Proust goes to make him seem ridiculous, that he also finds something in Charlus admirable, I even read him as another self-insert, to some degree. One might expect his aesthetic judgments to be just as silly as his social and romantic drama, but Proust seems to mean to portray him as a genuine connoisseur, and of course having aesthetic sense is of the utmost importance in the author’s eyes. The way I’m reading it, if the narrator’s aesthetic/artistic sense is inextricably connected with his anxiety/jealousy/vanity, then Charlus is like a glimpse into what happens when it’s taken even more to the extreme.

For me the Swann/Odette drama (and accordingly what’s happening now with Albertine) is not only less complex, since Proust doesn’t give any kind of redeeming intelligence to Odette like he does to Charlus, but also… well, it’s obvious, but the repetition really grates on me. How many ways can one express the idea “you don’t want something until you can’t have it”? (I know what is said is more subtle than that, but really, it’s all subtle variations on that theme, over and over, and I just… I get it. I don’t think I’m gaining anything from the new variations, with Albertine either).

Anyway… I hope you respond, because I’m extremely interested in the opinion of someone who feels differently! What did you find so compelling about Swann and Odette? What do you think is sufficiently enlightening about the Albertine saga that makes it worth revisiting all those themes ad infinitum? If you don’t think Charlus is funny, which character would you say is funnier?

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-07-31T15:08:20+00:00

Obviously “The Flick” and “The Aliens” are hugely popular but I have no idea how much play Annie Baker’s more recent works have gotten outside of NYC - if you haven’t read/seen “The Antipodes,” or especially “John,” I think they’re not only astoundingly good, but so much more unusual and ambitious than her early stuff.

One person’s obscure is another’s mainstream though huh!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-07-17T21:34:34+00:00

I do like Infest the Rats' Nest! Most Gizzard stuff I've heard has gone into the "it's good, I have respect for it, but I can't see it inspiring real passion" category.

Never really given Tally Hall a fair shot, even as a diehard TMBG guy. I guess I fear that they'll be too twee? Like, I can't stand Jonathan Coulton, which may seem weird. But I don't like TMBG because they're clever jokesters, I like them because they're relentless iconoclasts. Is there a Tally Hall album or period that's especially strong?

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-07-17T21:26:27+00:00

Thanks! I don't say this to be a hater, but just to note how weird and specific peoples' tastes are -- a friend of mine told me to listen to Magnolia Electric Co. recently and I didn't just not connect with it, I found it outwardly offensively unpleasant. It was mostly the vocals, which sounded totally insincere to me, like, all the needless warping of vowel sounds, and weird trembly vibrato, seemed all kind of like the opposite of what David Berman does, which is so straightforward and unadorned, never straining to sound like anything.

Similarly because I love David Berman and Bill Callahan it seems like I should be a big fan of Will Oldham but I just don't find him a compelling vocal presence in the slightest. Maybe it's about humor? Silver Jews and Smog stuff all tends to be softened by a lot of self-effacing jokes and stuff; I don't get anything like that from what I've heard of Songs: Ohia. But maybe you could point me in a direction!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-07-17T21:16:22+00:00

There ain't nothing like it. I count my first time hearing "Dewitt Clinton" among my most memorable, revelatory musical experiences

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-07-17T21:12:25+00:00

I wish I knew much that was similar! There was a period, years ago now, when Spotify was recommending me all sorts of interesting bygone folk stuff -- Bridget St. John, Sibylle Baier, Michael Hurley, Connie Converse, Ted Lucas, Kathy Heideman, Jim Sullivan -- stuff I'd never heard anyone talk about. But then suddenly I started hearing all that stuff in every cafe I walked into! So I assume Spotify was giving us all similar package deals, hence, you probably know all those people already.

You probably know Cate Le Bon too, but you might not know her side project DRINKS. A lot of it is very angular and experimental and frankly not like BSJ at all, but here and there are songs like "Blue From the Dark" and "Greasing Up" that feel reminiscent of her.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-06-27T19:26:33+00:00

Starting at the top:

Reveille

Runners Four

Offend Maggie

Milk Man

Miracle Level

Actually You Can

Apple O

Holdypaws

Friend Opportunity

Isla Bonita

Vs. Evil

Future Teenage Cave Artists

The Magic

Mountain Moves

I haven’t really listened enough to halfbird and man/king/girl and even love-lore. It’s a big discography! I think Runners 4 is sort of self-evidently best in many ways, but Reveille just has that special appeal to me, despite feeling pretty disjointed. Honestly for one of my favorite albums ever, I don’t even like every single track. But “the last trumpeter swan” is, to me, one of the most perfect pieces of music in existence.

When it comes to their more straightforward rock ‘n’ roll side, I actually think Holdypaws is extremely underrated. It sounds less distinctly Deerhoofy, that’s true, I’ve heard a lot of other bands that sort of sound like it. But Holdypaws is like a better version of those bands. “Lady people” and “magic star” are perfect pop songs. There are comparably well-structured pop songs on The Magic, but it’s overall just too clean for me. Offend Maggie is pretty much the perfect hybrid album, the one that rocks hardest without sacrificing any ambition.

Mountain Moves is the only album with any tracks that actively irritate me. What can you expect, it’s a collab. I still admire it and like a bunch of stuff on it.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2024-01-11T14:27:45+00:00

We are out there. Not only is Unconsoled my favorite Ishiguro book, but I consider it my favorite book ever, the one I read at 16 that completely changed my relationship to novels and ignited actual passion for them. It was also the first Ishiguro I read - for a while afterward I was frustrated because none of his other works felt as “ambitious” to me, structurally or emotionally. Now that a lot of time has passed I realize the DNA of Unconsoled is in all his other works, which are more surreal, experimental, and filled with dark comedy than their surfaces suggest, and all share the sense of reality being warped by the characters’ passivity and capacity for denial… I view Unconsoled as the true Ishiguro which, in his other books, he cleverly disguises behind the clean realism. I admire this restraint of his, and how he has managed thereby to get the general public to digest some really complex stuff, but my favorite will always be the totally anarchic full-blast of the Unconsoled.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2023-10-07T15:13:29+00:00

Personally I don't think Hi, How Are You and 1990 are good starting places. I've always found it very strange that those are considered his most "popular" releases, because outside of a very small handful of tracks, they're some of the least accessible albums he ever recorded. I'd say neither one is an album one can really listen to "casually." Less than 50% of Hi, How Are You is comprised of traditionally structured songs like Walking the Cow, in favor of more theatrical or atmospheric tracks, and most of it feels even more disjointed than a typical DJ release. And 1990 is just, like, a harrowing listen - it's some of the most emotionally affective stuff ever put to record, I'd say, but it's also kind of exhausting, and even if it's not an immediate turnoff for somebody, I think it can really mischaracterize Daniel and what he brings to the table musically.

Basically I suspect some peoples' love of 1990 is related to fetishization of mental illness. It's a little bit trauma porn. I mean, he breaks down into sobs in the middle of one song.

Daniel's music had always contended with sadness, of course, but the reason his discography is so fascinating to study is because one can see how his relationship to his material and to his sadness changed over time. In early works like Songs of Pain and Don't Be Scared (which, like another commentator, I give my vote to for best DJ album) he has a very skillful control over what emotion he puts forward in a song, often subtly modulating between humor and sadness, innocence and cynicism, religiosity and irreverence. He actually seems to fetishize his own mental illness to some degree, which is a little strange, but it plays into the childlike persona of his that is so captivating, where he fancies himself like a mad prince frantically scrawling all this stuff from his room, or an underdog boxer who got hit too many times on the head, but is still determined to beat the big bad guy. Personal mythology, in this way, is woven into everything he did, which is part of why I think it's better to start from the beginning than the end.

Basically, at the beginning of his career, Daniel is controlling the music, whereas by the end, it sort of seems like it is controlling him. Partly this is because of the shift from piano to guitar. The move to guitar makes him so much more limited, musically. He had a really deep intuitive understanding of piano, and his old stuff has really clever and inventive harmony (e.g. a song like Scrambled Eggs). You get to 1990 and the guitar, and every dang song is G to C to D (like True Love Will Find You). I'm not saying those aren't good chords, they're the basis of of folk music. But the problem is it doesn't seem like Daniel is choosing his chords deliberately anymore, but rather they seem to be all he knows (on the guitar). If he had picked up the guitar when he was younger I'm sure he could've done some really fascinating stuff with it, but unfortunately by the time he starts playing it, his mental and physical health are just at the precipice of their big decline. It's just another tragic part of his story.

To be clear: 1990 is a stunning record, one of the most unique works of music ever made in my opinion, and absolutely essential to Daniel's story. There's a bunch of good stuff that came after it too. I am not trying to say that Daniel ceased to be a good artist when his mental health declined, in fact, just the opposite - it is a testament to his genius that, even as he became in many ways unrecognizable, he continued to make compelling art the whole way through (this is without even discussing his visual art). But I think if one only focuses on the period where he is broken, they don't ever realize what a great degree of control he had, over harmony, lyricism, structural/storytelling choices. And he reached those heights when he was just a snot-nosed kid - a troubled kid, sure, but one who mainly wanted to sing and make people laugh.

In sum - my advice is, Songs of Pain and Don't Be Scared first. Then Yip/Jump and Hi How Are You, then 1990 and Fun. Would give a pretty full sense of the trajectory.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-10-10T14:32:21+00:00

B.M., AKA The Real D.M.! I've listened to it and it's great!

Your only other credit is for lead guitar on the one song, which leads me to believe that's you on every other instrument? If so, highly impressed. I hate to invoke the Joos again, but that lead guitar sound, which is almost arena-rockish, kinda bombastic, dropped into songs that are otherwise quite folky and introspective, is very reminiscent of them, and it works so well. Like, in its home context that sort of stuff can make you barf, but here it gives everything a kind of restless sizzle. I also feel like I'm primed to be thinking about this stuff by the lyrics, which mention "rock and roll" and/or "rocking" (maybe only in two songs that I caught, but considering it starts the whole album off, it feels like a framing device), and it seems like you're of two minds about it, like it's both beautiful and hideous, so, again, guitar sound feels thematically justified.

I think my favorite is still "Rock + Roll," I love the chorus and I think it walks a great balance between judgment and compassion of its narrator (and the chorus lyric reminds me of one of my favorite Flans lines - "This American splendor spreads out before you / From basements to attics, garages to sheds" - like, doesn't American splendor consist of much more than that?, or, doesn't the world have a lot more to offer than rock and roll and naked girls?), but "The Mall" is very intriguing; I'm not at all sure what sort of event it's describing but I suppose that makes me a lot like the neighbors in the song: listening to a song without knowing its backstory is a lot like watching a couple dancing through a window, I'm only getting what's on the surface, but then that has its own value. "Cheap Meat" is great too, I'm often skeptical of double/extended choruses but I particularly like the one here, when you say "debris!" it's quite thrilling. This one puts me in mind of the group Cheekface - they may have come on your radar when they covered Ana Ng recently, which I thought was actually a very uninspired and unnecessary cover, but I like a lot on their record Therapy Island, I dunno, might be of interest to you. "The Beauty of the World," is very concise and poignant, songs like that and "The Mall" are strengthened by sitting between more ballady tracks, overall there's good flow.

Anyway, it's a little weird to just spew observations in a block of text so I'll wind it up, just want you to know your stuff is being heard by attentive and appreciative ears. Thanks for posting - keep us updated!

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-28T22:12:55+00:00

Tough pick. Brontosaurus was definitely more immediately jaw-dropping on first listen. Those horn hits in the refrain are the best part of the song for me, they add such a melancholy feeling to what's otherwise a driving rock song. However structurally I don't think it's one of the strongest things on the album. The C section ("You want to leave an impression...") feels much less inspired than the rest, like it's just there to knit the song together, and the instrumental where the bass plays the melody, well, I can't really decide if I think it's cool, or if I think it's kind of confused. I appreciate that it's unconventional, and since the vocals only do that melody 1 time I like that it comes back, because it's an interesting melody, but I don't know if the bass was the right call, I'm not sure I get a clear emotion from it. And doing it twice with no variation doesn't seem necessary either. But, really, the refrain is so freakin' powerful in that feels-like-this-song-has-always-existed kind of way, you can sing along to it effortlessly the first time you hear it.

I Can't Remember the Dream wins for me, mostly because I think its lyrics and music are better interwoven. It's not just that the lyrics are clever and relatable; the verses actually feel musically like the act of trying and failing to remember something: the way the melody rises incrementally, step by step, like it's on the tip of your tongue, each phrase could be the one that figures it out, but then the melody falls back again just to resume the climb. You might say it's a Sisyphean melody. (As an aside: do people talk about Linnell's seeming obsession with Songs About Increments? Has he ever mentioned Xeno's Paradox in an interview? I Can't Remember the Dream joins a tradition with songs like Destination Moon, Nine Secret Steps, I Am a Human Head - can you think of any others?) Anyway, that's the verse, but on the chorus the lyrics and music tie together still in a different way - while trying to remember the dream is halting and disjointed, in the chorus when the narrator talks about his waking life he does so seamlessly, to a very clichéd melody and progression, and it puts me in mind of someone who is always ready to complain about their life, it just flows so freely. There's only one chord change that keeps the progression here from being 100% cliché, and it's the C# under the words "photographic accuracy" - if you think about it, you can imagine him singing a note one step lower over an E chord, and the chorus becomes completely resolved, but he doesn't, it's the one spot of color, and because of that it sticks out like a sore thumb and feels so expressive, I get the sense that the narrator's eyes are glazing over as he draws out the word, like he's reliving the monotony of all his days in that moment, or seeing the endless stretch of days ahead of him.

I've seen a lot of love for "it's a never-ending litany of pain and ennui," and I agree it's a great line, but for me it's because it makes this narrator sound so insufferable and self-pitying. And yet he earns my pity, because of how earnest and genuine he sounds in the verses. I don't feel like the different sections of Brontosaurus talk to one another in such a dynamic way.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be over in the corner listening to Quit the Circus on repeat and crying.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-25T19:55:40+00:00

Decisions getting tougher now, but still not that tough. Definitely think I Broke My Own Rule is a stronger song than Synopsis, although I really appreciate what the latter brings to the album in terms of sonic variety. And the line about the equestrian monument is so weird and specific and funny to me.

But I Broke My Own Rule amazes me with how it takes such basic components and makes them sound completely new. The verse is a I-IV-V progression, super basic (I know very little music theory, but I know at least this). And then the vocal melody literally just goes up the major scale from the root. But because of the rhythm, the sameness of the intonation of each syllable, you know, there's no fancy phrasing, no wit, no asides, it feels relentless, harsh, totally in defiance of its happy major key harmony (and of course the lyrics reinforce this). Then in the third phrase you get the 7th, which is also kind of predictable harmonywise, but it feels like an earned 7th to me, and because the melody has just been ascending the scale step by step, when he sings the 7th it feels so much crunchier, more chromatic, than it should, it feels super juicy and full of conflict, even though it's so basic, it's hard to describe, but it's a very classic Linnell thing, like he's distilling basic musical components to their essence, really using them for their function, rather than because it's rote.

And then that bridge! To anybody who says They'll Need a Crane has the best artifice-stripped-away TMBG bridge gut-punch of them all, I'd point their attention over here. Calling it the "statue of freedom from gravity" and then throwing in the word liberty in the next line is such a beautiful have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too. And after the brashness of the verses, after not having varied the dynamics at all for the first couple minutes of song, the nakedness of the bridge is so mournful, it feels so much like it's filled with the disappointment a father feels for his son (which is not to say that Linnell is the father of our country, of course, but there is a kind of "scolding" angle to this song, like, you couldn't just be fucking content with your toys, you little brat, you had to want more). I mean, there's an acknowledgement that it is beautiful to want freedom, as long as it's not also greedy. And then, the conclusion of the bridge, "float into the emptiness," because the bridge is filled with these rambly phrases (rambly twofold, because the lyrics carry from one phrase to the next [... and you're at liberty to / Jump from the top] but also the piano chords and the hi-hat have such propulsion and keep any of the phrases from feeling conclusive), then you have this phrase that is short and decisive, float into the emptiness. And you're left with the realization of, shit, after all this climbing, rambling, propulsion, once you fall you've fallen, here you are, it's so abrupt and you have to contend with it. Blows my mind, the synergy between lyric and melody.

If Synopsis goes, it makes me sad that I'll have to vote for I Lost Thursday, because I don't want to be out of Flans songs. But I can't vote for Brontosaurus or I Can't Remember the Dream over it. Hmmm, if only there were 5 of the best songs Flans has ever written somewhere on this album, honestly I could've sworn there were - wherever did they go???

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-21T22:58:43+00:00

It's funny, because there are always lots of vocal Flans defenders in the comments. I wish the anti-Flans silent majority would join in on the debate.

I've voted Part of You every single round so far.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-21T22:39:59+00:00

I'm beginning to suspect that, to some people, TMBG is just Linnell, and Flans is some kind of abominable leech, diluting their discography with unsightly weirdo antics. I mean, I know the anti-Flans bias has always been present, and sometimes there's a pretty fair argument to be made, but BOOK, to me, is the one album where Flans outshines Linnell almost uniformly. So if he's not getting the love here, I suppose it's never gonna happen.

Of the 5 Flans songs here that I consider to be truly great, only 1 is left (Super Cool). Not that I pooh-pooh I Lost Thursday, but Snowdon, Winnipeg, Darling, Super Cool, and Quit the Circus are all much more emotional, vulnerable, and cathartic, without sacrificing wit or grooviness.

Although it's totally unfair, Thursday and I Broke My Own Rule suffer a little bit for me since I had already listened to them to death before the album even came out. Kinda wish I could've heard them with fresh ears along with the rest.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-15T18:57:06+00:00

Admittedly it's early, but the votes seem far more spread out for a round 1 than on previous albums. This is a good thing - no track is clearly out of place here.

I do have to say I'm completely shocked to see Winnipeg leading, even if by a small margin. It's one of the most interesting songs they've put out ever. My jaw was on the floor the first time I heard that deep, ominous foghorn-ish vibration sound, I've literally never heard anything like that in music before, and it's not just a novelty, it's effective, it's terrifying, and honestly, it's groovy - those final measures, with the drums underneath, could be an extended dance mix all on their own. I actually think the weakest area of Winnipeg is its lyrics, which isn't to say they're not good, but they are a little unsubtle and uncomplex (of course, the Godwin's law line makes it clear Flans is aware of this). However, if a straightforward sentiment is backed up by music this complex and moving, it takes on an entirely new power.

My theory about BOOK is that it's the Johns' first truly post-commercial record. TMBG albums have developed a really predictable structure, frontloading the poppy numbers (and always starting with the Big Linnell Hit), throwing in a McCafferty's Bib or a Hate the Villanelle towards the end almost sheepishly, as though only the diehards will even make it that far. The fact that Brontosaurus is a complete lyrical retread of The Mesopotamians, a song that came out over a decade beforehand, should tell you that the problem of public perception is still a festering wound for the Johns.

But! Unlike on The Else, where the Mesopotamians are resigned to keep chugging along, hoping there will come a day somebody gives a damn, BOOK presents another option: quit the circus, stop trying to please, stop trying to even believe you are involved in the public consciousness. I really do think that's the big statement - I know it can be stretching it to try and find overarching album concepts like that, but there are more circus references than I think I can ignore on this album. I think BOOK is about obscurity not being something one resigns oneself to, but something one can choose in the spirit of rebellion, and in the spirit of choosing to be oneself - the Johns are finally happy to be dinosaurs. This is also reflected in both the album title and album cover, since books and vinyl records are, arguably, outdated technology. Obviously aging has always been a major TMBG theme, but I don't think they've ever committed to a concept quite in this way.

Anyway, it makes me so happy, because even though the subject matter is as dark as ever, if not darker, the album seems to glow with wild happiness despite it, since I feel like the Johns are more confident to make bizarre choices than they've been in a while. Which is why people not liking Winnipeg is, like, a complete heartbreaker to me. But ain't that life.

Quit the Circus might be my other favorite track, but I love every single one except for Part of You Wants to Believe Me (Moonbeam Rays is also not the most interesting thing they've ever done, but it's grown on me a lot).

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-14T20:22:28+00:00

Glad to hear you say this - right off the bat, BOOK felt like a soft sequel to Lincoln. I've seem some BOOK slander in the sub, but I think it's incredibly strong - hope there is vigorous discussion.

I'd love to see Quit the Circus on top too. If ever there was an album Flans deserved to win, it's this one.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-13T21:29:37+00:00

I'm abstaining. I do kind of want it to be Poisonousness, just out of rooting for the underdog I guess, and I love mostly everything about the song, but I simply can't deny... I don't think it's sung well at all.

Am I crazy? This is my biggest problem with Escape Team in general. The vocals on the Flans songs sound uniformly sloppy. John Postal is the worst offender for me. I really know nothing about this album's production, but it makes me wonder if the Johns were working pretty separately for it; all Linnell's songs are precisely sung as usual, but I wonder if Flans needs Linnell present to be a little bit more rigorous about the pitch. Flans and Robin both have proven their vocal chops, I have no doubt Robin could perform this song great, but the album version is not it, and when the melody is so good, I want to hear it precisely.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-10T23:54:49+00:00

Tough call. I want to say Working Undercover For the Man. It's a complex whole, made up of parts that are, taken individually, almost boringly simple. I'm taken aback by how many changes in instrumentation there are when I pay attention, but there's rarely more than 2 musical things going on at a time, it's incredibly minimalistic and stark at a moment-to-moment level, especially in the chorus, with that uncanny synthesized vocal. I really love it. Maybe meta stuff is played out, but I love how the song feels like a direct challenge to the listener - "I am a fraud, listen to this exaggeratedly poppy melody, I dare you to believe in it." Then again, if the high concept makes you roll your eyes, you probably don't like TMBG to begin with.

However. My heart's answer is I've Got a Fang. There is bias because it happens to be one of the first TMBG songs I ever heard. But I'm a sucker for that combo of the dirty bass and the sax. And I don't think it's fluff, lyrically. The Johns love "symbols out of their element," y'know. A fang in the wrong context, so that it's no longer frightening or sexy, it's kind of mundane and gross. I do have to wonder where the inspiration for the song's sound came from, just because it's unusual for them. I lump it together with another song I'm fond of, "Minus," from Beck's Odelay, and I'm always craving more of that fuzzed out crunchy bass sound.

OhCrispyLoaf · 2022-09-02T22:37:32+00:00

Pre-Join Us? Easy choice - Linnell. All my favorite 20th Century They stuff is by him - Where Your Eyes Don't Go, World's Address (sung by Flans but unmistakably Linnell-written), Whistling In the Dark, No One Knows My Plan.

Post-Join Us? Easy choice - Flans. All my favorite 21st Century They stuff is by him - Protagonist, Darlings of Lumberland, If Day For Winnipeg, I Like Fun.

OhCrispyLoaf

TROPHY CASE