Talk:Indestructible Object

1-25-2004: Flans mentioned this new ep in his intro to Au Contraire. He said it should be out in March or April, FedEx depending. The title is taken from an image in the [Corbis Image Library] that they can't afford to use. - GersonK

1-26-2004: Just to check, EP means it's NOT an album, right? If so, why are they putting out an EP before the album itself? Or, is that how it usually happens? I lack knowledge... - Doctor Masonstein

1-26-2004: Right, just an EP. Apparently at the second show they said the album would be out a few months later, so I'm not sure if this will be a really early single, or a true standalone EP, a la Why Does The Sun Shine (EP) - GersonK

1-27-04: It sounded to me like it would be similar to the "Back to Skull" EP which contained Snail Shell and came out a month or so before John Henry. There's no way they'd not put a song as strong (and often played) as Au Contraire on an EP and not on the album. - TVsKyle

1-27-2004: I checked the Corbis Image Library and there were two images with this title. One was of surrealist photographer Man-Ray holding a sculpture of his, which seemed odd; the other was of a building with debris exploding off of its side, which seemed inappropriate. Do you know whether one of these is the image, and why They found it appealing? -User:Tisher

1-27-2004: I checked 'em out too... it's gotta be the metronome with eye on it. That's so TMBG-esq. Also, I did a search on Google and I got more pictures of metronomes with eyes on 'em. - Doctor Masonstein

2-9-2004: No one else has said it ... but Ant again? Am I the only one that's a little disappointed by this? - BigJohn

2-9-2004: I'm not disappointed by it at all, to me Ant was a song that never got as much recognition as it should and I'm happy it's making sort of a comeback. They've been playing it live with the horn section recently, so it will probably be based on that arrangement (closer to the demo version than the EP version). The new arrangement does sound pretty great. - FrankEinstein

2-16-04: Ant definitely deserves to honored on the EP. I've loved it since I first heard it on Dial-A-Song a looong, long time ago, and so I'm excited that it's going to be put out to the public (well, their fandom, basically) again. The song I'm intrigued about is the only song that I don't know backwards and forwards already; namely Memo To Human Resources. And I'm kind of glad that Am I Awake? is on it, too. Not to mention Au Contraire and Caroline, No.-- Aurora Hawthorne

2-17-04: Don't get me wrong; I like Ant. If it's a new arrangement, that's worth it. I was disappointed because they had already put it out on Birdhouse In Your Soul (EP) and Istanbul (Not Constantinople) EP. I guess I would rather they put on songs they've not yet released. Put the horned version on Clock Radio, or as a free MP3 download. I'd rather hear something new - a new song moreso than a new arrangment - but I'll take whatever I can get. -BigJohn

2-18-04: I saw The Other Thing in NYC last year and I personally think they've never sounded better. I hope they keep releasing Other Thing horn arrangements, like they've done with Mr. Me and Dirtbike. They did Caroline, No and Ant with the horn section, so I'm hoping that the EP has the same ones I heard in the concert. As a matter of fact, I'd just love to see an entire Other Thing album come out. -Stuart Levine

3-15-04: I'm so gettin' the T-shirt/EP combo. - Doctor Masonstein

3-16-04: I'm so also getting that combo. -anonymous

4-3-04: Wahoo! It came! I've got a funny story to tell. First time through, I was a little disappointed. The EP as a whole sounded... lacking. Then, I realized someone had been screwing around with my stereo, and they had turned the treble ALL THE WAY DOWN. So, I cranked that back up, relistened, and now I love it! It's pretty short though. - Doctor Masonstein

4-3-04: Yeah, 12:36 is the running time. Memo to Human Resources and Au Contraire will definitely fit it on the psychedelic masterpiece. With Caroline, No you can't help wondering if Pet Sounds was an inspiration for the next album. And what can I say...Ant rocks. - anonymous

5-1-04: From "Man Ray" by Roland Penrose-

"The title given originally to the metronome with its permanently vacillating eye was Object to be Destroyed. A drawing of it dated 1932 and belonging to Tzara appeared in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1936, with the title Object of Destruction and the following inscription on the back:

Cut out the eye from a photograph of one who has been loved but is not seen any more. Attach the eye to the pendulum of a metronome and regulate the weight to suit the tempo desired. Keep going to the limit of endurance. With a hammer well aimed, try to destroy the whole with a single blow.

These precise instructions seem to hide an inner rage, but they are also prophetic of what happened in a more impersonal way when the object was exhibited again in Paris after the war. During the exhibition it was violently destroyed by a gang of reactionary art students; Man Ray reconstructed it without difficulty and with equanimity renamed it Indestructible Object."

3-1-06: The title is even more appropriate for an EP with such a Ray-esque photo on the front; one can assume that Man Ray was another (i.e., James Ensor) artist that Flansburgh was inspired by in art school.

iTunes Plus

Indestructible Object is now available in iTunes Plus. Wahoo! — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 01:40, 6 November 2007 (UTC)