Talk:Join Us

Quotations about upcoming material should have sources

Please! Like this. ^[1] Linking to the interview inline works once in a while, too ("TMBG said in an April 2010 interview with Etc Etc."). -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 05:18, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

I was in the process of making that same comment and you beat me to it. Also where did that March date come from? I'm pretty sure they started recording quite a while before that. I remember a radio interview from before the fall tour where Flans was talking about a new song of Linnell's that they were recording the he really liked. I'll do some digging tomorrow and see if I can confirm. And perhaps some reformatting. --BlueCanary 05:32, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Oh never mind. You beat me to it again :-) '09 makes much more sense. --BlueCanary 05:35, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Right, I didn't notice that that was from 2009, sorry. And on the subject of that "Spike Jonze and Kraftwerk" quote, I'm going to have to agree with the lone commenter on that article and say Flansy probably meany "Spike Jones." -Apollo. 05:40, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Um, the "good ship rock" quote source is a Flans interview, not Linnell. (I'd edit it myself but I'm not sure how you want to juggle around that phrasing there as far as incorporating Linnell into the thing.) --Self Called Nowhere 06:02, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry! Not sure how I missed that. For some reason I read through the whole interview like it was with Linnell. Too many interview tabs open at once, I guess. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 14:11, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

So there's a bunch of quotes being thrown around with the discovery of the Songfacts article. I'm a big fan of this one, from this 103.9 article:

"Half the time, there are only three instruments playing at any given moment," Flansburgh points out. "And often we're both singing. We wanted to have music that we could sing together. That's all very much a return to our first couple of records."

But there's already three huge quotes about this kind of stuff on the page. Is that too many? Would this be too many? Are these questions worth answering? -j2

I think that before the album gets released, this article will undergo a massive re-write. The blockquotes are ok now, but we'll need to work them into the final article a little bit better. --Duke33 16:16, 20 June 2011 (EDT)

Bonnaroo article

There's a little bit about album-ing in general in part of this interview, which most of you have read already, I'm sure. Nothing that really belongs on the page, but I figured it should be brought up here for consideration along with the other things. -Apollo. 23:40, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Found something.

Read the bottom of this.

missing

oh look... here...

Album art + format info

The caption under the album preview art on tmbg.com says that the provided picture a) isn't necessarily how it'll look for the preview release, and b) seems like it isn't actually the cover for Join Us. Also: vinyl!! done in some over the top way!!

JF: So this is a rough version of the artwork for the advance tracks, and will be included as part of the final album package. It was put together by the very talented Paul Sahre, a graphic designer/illustrator from NYC who has done book covers for Rick Moody, Chuck Klosterman and Patton Oswald and oodles of stuff for the NYTimes. Can't wait to for the grown-up sized vinyl. Dayglo, y'all!

~ magbatz 22:17, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Dayglo vinyl??? fuckkkkkkkk --AGR 22:54, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

you people should check out that guy's website, because it has cool stuff. he put up the back of the hearse thing, which makes me think that that might be closer to the final whatever? -Apollo (colloquia!) 22:56, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

canajoharie

?????????? --AGR 00:43, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

nor celebration... but that could be called something else i suppose... --AGR 02:32, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

The Lady and the Tiger

Someone on Facebook pointed out that this could be a re-titling of "No Answer." Just throwin' that out there. --Self Called Nowhere 21:57, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Whoa. ~ magbatz 22:17, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

what magz said. -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 22:28, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Oh god this needs to be true.∂x --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 14:15, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

As much as I wish this to be true, The Lady, or the Tiger? is the name of a short story that was also adapted for part of the play The Apple Tree (which I saw a version of once, which was great), so probably that's what it's referencing maybe? BUT MAN I HOPE IT'S NOT. --Valerie 03:47, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

I found a publicity article that mentions "the existential despair of "The Lady and the Tiger,". Looking more and more like it's a studio version of No Answer. Here's the link. Sorry...I'm new at editing. I hope this posts.

Well to be fair, "existential despair" is a consistent thread through a whole lot of TMBG songs. It could be evidence, but I wouldn't bet on it based just on that. --Self Called Nowhere 02:34, 15 June 2011 (EDT)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B00518HATA?ref=tmbwnet-20 <== Okay, so it's definitely not No Answer. --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 20:20, 1 July 2011 (EDT)

But it is still very good! And the Amazon sample flows directly into the iTunes sample, so we get a solid two minutes. But this is a narrative song. All we get to hear is the tension, there's no introduction or resolution. This happens again for Spoiler Alert, where we have Flans (in universe) talking about his magic car and Linnell talking about writing that while driving. Something is about to happen, and something probably happened that led to this, but the sample just misses it. This is a very strange, very specific way of building hype. I'm certain it wasn't intentional, and it's possible that no one else is feeling like this, but I just became a thousand times more excited. -j2

18

Flans says via Twitter that the mixing is done today and there are 18 songs on it. Presumably we know about two of those--wonder what the other two are, anything we know? A FULL TRACKLISTING WOULD BE NICE, GUYS. --Self Called Nowhere 02:19, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

we have the Pitchfork track listing and that could be correct if Flans is including the 4 songs for the Instant Fanclub EP in his 18. I can't wait for the album. --Nosaj56 08:48, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Except that Flans already said the Pitchfork track listing was incomplete and that they don't know what's going to be on the IFC EP. 18 songs on the album is very exciting. Can't wait to see what the other 2 tracks are! --BlueCanary 13:41, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

New tracklisting, via Facebook

Flans is calling this the "real" tracklisting... "Here's the real sequence to Join Us. Out July 19th. 1 Can't Keep Johnny Down 2 You Probably Get That a Lot 3 Old Pine Box 4 Canajoharie 5 Cloisonné 6 Let Your Hair Hang Down 7 Celebration 8 In Fact 9 When Will You Die 10 Protagonist 11 Judy Is Your Viet Nam 12 Never Knew Love 13 The Lady and the Tiger 14 Spoiler Alert 15 Dog Walker 16 2082 17 Three Might Be Duende 18 You Don't Like Me" --Lemita 21:14, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

artwork?

I don't think it's unlikely that all the tracks from Join Us will have their own individual piece from Paul Sahre, would this call for a new category, like the one for the LTW vignettes? I don't think "cover art" is totally accurate. -Apollo (colloquia!) 00:47, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

my plan was to wait and see, then recategorise if necessary. they aren't doing any harm there in the meantime. -- 00:48, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

well for one thing, what exactly is going to be done if the other tracks don't have their own artwork? would these four just stay in "cover art" forever? that's kind of silly. i think a category could be made regardless of whether or not there are more. i also intended to add that if there is indeed a new category, perhaps it would be good if that and the ltw vignettes could be subcategories of some larger "track artwork" category or something. -Apollo (colloquia!) 01:07, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Reviews

Maybe it'd be cool if we posted reviews for Join Us in this space. I'll start with this one http://www.subba-cultcha.com/album-reviews/join-us/article/contentID/25370/

It's encouraging that the guy liked it. I'm most curious about Protagonist. Lady and the Tiger is sounding a bit more like Withered Hope than No Answer the way this guy describes it. Oh well.

So advance copies must be out there then. I want to hear it. --Nosaj56 22:26, 22 June 2011 (EDT)

God help us all if any version of "No Answer" can be described as "Beck indebted funk hip-hop." --Self Called Nowhere 01:04, 23 June 2011 (EDT)

Amazon 30 second samples

Amazon has 30 second samples out. I guess I'll make some partial lyric pages... --Nosaj56 11:40, 1 July 2011 (EDT)

We generally don't do that. I think we should wait until we have the full thing. Partial lyric pages aren't really much of a help. --Duke33 15:05, 1 July 2011 (EDT)

I appreciate people's work on these, but I still deleted them. We can restore them when we get the full lyrics. I'd just prefer not to have incomplete lyrics out there. --Duke33 17:49, 1 July 2011 (EDT)

I want to read some of the lyrics, but I don't want the songs spoiled by listening to the samples. I'd appreciate it if the lyrics came back. Just note that they're incomplete and call it a day. Also, iTunes has longer samples.

I don't really care if the incomplete lyrics come back. thanks for pointing out that iTunes has longer samples, anonymous. I had forgotten to check iTunes since I've been listening to the Amazon samples over and over. --Nosaj56 18:40, 1 July 2011 (EDT)

Leak

Amidst the fake leaks, there really is a genuine leak out there now. I know this because I'm listening to it right now, and the songs sound like full versions of the 1:30 previews on iTunes.

Yes, there is a leak. I'm going to acknowledge its existence this one time, right here, because we already have an influx of information about the album now including full lyrics pages. However, no further discussion of the leak shall take place on TMBW, and anyone who discusses or asks where to acquire it will be banned without warning until July 19 - we're going to be taking this very seriously.

I also ask that users here please try to refrain from discussing the album's content in general on TMBW until July 19 comes; don't ruin it for those who want to wait. Hold back your opinions, interpretations, etc. for the next two weeks. Lastly, a spoiler alert: if you don't want to see lyrics from the new album, don't look at them yet! I'm heavily considering hiding and protecting the lyrics pages (except the four preview songs, of course) until closer to the album's release if other people would like that, too. Any more thoughts? -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 22:37, 2 July 2011 (EDT)

I agree fully, Q. --Duke33 22:49, 2 July 2011 (EDT)

It's been done. Having the lyrics here before the album's release is outright disrespectful to the band. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 23:21, 2 July 2011 (EDT)

Agreed. -- DruClotwo

Australian release

Does anyone know anything about the status of the release in Australia? I have been to 2 JB Hi-Fi stores (probably the largest record store chain in Australia) and they said it's not going to have an Australian release although it's available to order on their website. I went to an independent record store who said that if JB isn't going to stock it then they probably won't either. Personally I don't mind as I've ordered my copy online as well as being a Instant Fan Club member and awaiting my vinyl copy. My concern is casual fans who may not know about the album as I really want TMBG to tour Australia which will be less likely with no official release - Ash

details are pretty sketchy, to be sure... there's really even minimal info about any releases besides the US... i'm guessing that details may just be coming a bit late. but, really, that's just speculation. -- 04:16, 17 July 2011 (EDT)

well if JB aren't gonna stock it then things are looking pretty grim. stores here might eventually import it, but it's still pretty bad news especially after we got our very own special release of The Else. on the upside, we got some hints of an Australian tour recently, so that's some good news if true. — Limabeans (✉ · ☎) 04:42, 17 July 2011 (EDT)

found this: [1] not sure if it's an australian release or not, even though it does say "Sourced: Australia". a good sign, nonetheless. — Limabeans (✉ · ☎) 00:55, 20 July 2011 (EDT)

I asked Flansy about an Australian release and he said there was going to be one but the Australian distributor went bankrupt - Ash

JB in Melbourne have it, looked like an import - I saw it in there today, $21.99. I honestly dont see why if there was an issue with one distrib. or label though, that it cant be put out on another. A lot of lesser known (and of dubious talent) US bands get put out on labels here all the time, and brought out on tours for that matter. - Chiasmus 21:48, 12 September 2011 (EST)

Breaking news - Join Us is due for release through Warner Music Australia on 23rd September

Warner havent replied to me and there is nothing acknowleding this release on their main site or any of their social media. Ive seen the release indicated in more than one location (Australian-charts.com the ARIA forum, and online record stores) as being through Warner so Im kinda confused as to what's up with this. ITs a bit hinky as according to the ARIA forum/portal site, it was supposed to be releiased August 8 through ADA Global/Warner..this appears not to have eventuated, in Aus., at least. So I'm ordering it through Chaos music who assure me its a local release, and I will just see what turns up in a week or so. - Chiasmus 15:08, 23 September 2011 (AEST)

So, I contacted Red Eye Records (Syd) who are one of the more reputable indie record stores left. They have listed Join Us as an Aus release, 23/9.

The reply I got back from them when querying whether it was a local release was the the Aus. "release" is "It's an American import on Rounder". So, whilst the record released here, that just translates to a local distribution of the US release. 15:41, 26 September 2011 (AEST)

The production...

Anyone else feel the production kind of hurts the album? The drums sound very thin and the bass lacks punch. Also, the essentially monaural mix of "When Will You Die" robs it of a little power. The writing itself is great but I think it's just a little unsatisfying when listening with headphones. -- DruClotwo

To be honest, I didn't even notice the mix of "When Will You Die" until people started talking about it here. Upon first listen though, I definitely was struck by how "thin" a lot of the tracks sounded from a production standpoint. In combination with the rather minimalist arrangements, it took a little getting used to. Pretty different sounding from most latter-day "adult" TMBG albums (though granted, there have only been two of those in the last 10 years...). -- J-Gatz

I agree about the production. The songs are mostly killer, but the recordings themselves are pretty sparse (which apparently is what they were going for). Seems like they spent four years writing, and three days in the studio. Duende for example needs another verse, but instead it abruptly ends right when you feel it should be kicked up a notch. My brain loves the album, but my gut is all "Where's the RAWK?!" I want me some Dr. Worm, Man It's So Loud In Here levels of bombast with my TMBG. That being said, Johnny, Lady and the Tiger and 2082 feel like they have the perfect amount of production. They said they're bringing out a live compilation from the upcoming tour, and I think those versions will be the definitive versions for me (much like John Lee Supertaster, and Thunderbird are from Almanac).

I love the production. I couldn't disagree more with the comment above: I think it sounds like they really focused on inventive arrangements and unusual sounds. This is closer to the TMBG I discovered in the early 90s- to me, the louder, "rock"ier later albums, while great, are more of a departure for them. I think the production here goes closer to the sound of albums like Lincoln and Apollo 18, my two favorites which pretty much define the band's sound for me. To paraphrase Flansburgh, this sounds to me like TMBG in a more natural place. --Oddjob 09:41, 20 July 2011 (EDT)

It's not the arrangements, etc. that the beef lies in. It is the mixing of the instrumentation. Lincoln and Apollo 18 at least have some sort of lower frequency on the drum mix, and those weren't even real. --DruClotwo

I don't think the mixing is what's bugging you, but more the mastering and EQ. The bass does seem a little tame, which isn't a bad thing, necessarily. It doesn't sound like a modern album, really, which I think is a positive. I'm personally glad the thing isn't brickwalled with booming bass. But then no TMBG album really is. To me, it's a very intimate, warm album, and I can understand Flans' comment about it being "TMBG in a natural place." If you want a rock album, there's always "The Else." I also disagree with the comment about "Three Might Be Duende," possibly my favorite track on the album. A LOT of TMBG's songs are short and feel unfinished. That's part of the band's appeal.--The Vanishing Dot 06:50, 29 July 2011 (EDT)

Influx of publicity/review/interviews

I think it'd be a good idea to catalog all of these links for posterity and future reference, so please feel free to add to this listing of press material surrounding and after the release of Join Us. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 22:38, 19 July 2011 (EDT)

Professional Reviews

• Allmusic - 3.5/5
• American Songwriter - 3.5/5
• AV Club - B
• BlogCritics - positive
• Buzzine - positive
• Calgary Herald - 3/5 (unreadable on page, but viewable in source)
• Consequence of Sound - 3.5/5
• God Is in the TV - 3.5/5
• Los Angeles Times - 3/4
• The National - 3 out of... 4 or 5?
• Paste - 8/10
• PopMatters - 6/10 (this guy dismisses some of the most intricate tracks :\ )
• Reuters - positive
• Rolling Stone - 3.5/5
• Salt Lake Tribune - B+
• Seattle Post Intelligencer - positive
• SoundSpike - neutral
• Spin - 8/10
• Subba-Cultcha - 8/10
• Aggregation: Metacritic; Any Decent Music

Interviews

• July 12 - Billboard - "They Might Be Giants Grow Up Again With 'Join Us'"
• July 14 - Status - "They Might Be Giants: Big Deals"
• Vanity Fair - "Q&A: They Might Be Giants Aren’t Just for Kids and Still Aren’t the Proclaimers"
• July 17 - Lancaster Online - "No 'might' about it: They're giants"
• July 18 - Suicide Girls - John Linnell interview
• Gothamist - "They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh: The Catskills Is The New Williamsburg"
• July 19 - NYMag - "They Might Be Giants: Sixteen Random Tales From 30 Years on the Road"
• Austinist - "Dark Cartoons and Burning Cars: An Interview with They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh"

Bursts of static at end of FLAC files

I'm noticing most or all of the tracks have a small burst of static at the end in the FLAC versions provided by MerchDirect. They are very brief, but certainly audible, and easy to see by zooming in to the end of the track in Audacity. I assume all copies are like this, and I can edit them out, but has anybody else noticed? --buschap

I've seen other people mention this, including to Flansburgh on the Twitter - I don't think he had much to say about it. Try writing to MerchDirect. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 19:56, 21 July 2011 (EDT)

Yeah, I have this too. Mine are the IFC files. ~ veggieman 21:35, 21 July 2011 (EDT)

Yes this happened to my FLACs as well, just edited the static out. Minor annoyance, but no big deal. -- DidgeGuy (आ ज)

Glad it's not just me. I'm also having this issue. --tehbagel ( o ) 02:24, 22 July 2011 (EDT)

I got it too. Is there an easier way of removing it besides doing each track individually in audacity?

First of all, I suggest that everyone keep emailing the store and IFC - maybe everyone will get a replacement FLAC link if they get enough feedback on this issue.
Secondly, if someone figures out exactly how many miliseconds of static are at the end of each file, you could set dBpoweramp to reconvert to FLAC while trimming the end of each file by that amount of time (via a DSP effect). No quality would be lost going from FLAC to FLAC. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 13:20, 22 July 2011 (EDT)

In case anyone wants to know, the static seems to last 11 milliseconds. -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 17:32, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

No response from MerchDirect, but I managed to edit the static out. If anyone's interested, I looked at the files in hex editor and it's ID3 data. The original WAV files seemed to have been encoded with an 'id3 ' RIFF chunk (semi-standard), but whatever tool was used to FLAC-ate them neglected to remove the chunk, so it included it as audio data.

Disc artwork?

Is there anyone who has an image of the artwork on the actual Join Us disc?

Linnell A/V Club interview

AVC: Do you have to go back to past songs to make sure you aren’t repeating yourself? Do you vet each other along the way? JL: I think there have been cases where John or I have said, “Well, that’s a little bit like this other thing.” I mean, without beating myself up, I would say there’s one song on Join Us where the middle, the bridge bit, is almost identical in melodic, harmonic structure to part of the song “The Statue Got Me High,” and it was so late in the process when I realized it, it was like, “Fuck it. There’s nothing I can do about it now. This song is kinda done.”

which song is this? it should be on the recycled material theme page. --Nosaj56 13:54, 26 July 2011 (EDT)

When Will You Die. Check out that guitar in the first half of the bridge and compare it to the last few seconds of Statue. (For what it's worth, that little motif at the end of the fourth bar makes me smile every time, though, so it can't be all bad!) -j2

Liner Images

Would it do anyone any good if I (or anybody) uploaded all those images from the Join Us liner notes? -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 00:11, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

not really... they're not super-fascinating, and at least something should be left for people who actually buy the damn thing. that's why i don't generally go deep into the liners and booklets. -- 20:15, 14 August 2011 (EDT)

Looking for an interview

I swear i read/heard an interview with Flans in the last couple of weeks, in which he said that approximately half the original songs written for the album were scratched. Does anyone remember that, and have the source interview? --Duke33 13:55, 16 August 2011 (EDT)

I remember that, but don't have the source interview (I think it was linked form the homepage here though). More specifically, I think he said something like they recorded 30-40 songs and the last 15 or so are what ended up on the album. --Oddjob 13:58, 16 August 2011 (EDT)

I believe you are looking for this AV Club interview. The quote is towards the end. --BlueCanary 00:35, 17 August 2011 (EDT)

Join Us videos

"@tmbg @IncandescentGas No, but we are in the vid.s for Spoiler Alert, Cloisonne and You Probably Get That A Lot (an IncandescentGas exclusive)" I didn't see this mentioned anywhere on the wiki yet and I just saw this tweet. I was hoping that they would do more than one video for JU and it appears they will. --Nosaj56 10:37, 4 September 2011 (EDT)

I'm not sure if Flans was being serious! I had just asked him if they were in the one for "Can't Keep Johnny Down" when he gave that reply, but by the time I asked whether or not he was joking about the others, he had already signed off Twitter, or so it appeared. I suppose we should wait and see before taking action. - Apollo (colloquia!) 11:42, 4 September 2011 (EDT)

"@tmbgSpoiler alert: the video for Spoiler Alert from TMBGs new album Join Us debuts at boing boing tomorrow morning." yesssssssssssss. --Nosaj56 15:50, 5 September 2011 (EDT)

HELL YES. --Self Called Nowhere 16:32, 5 September 2011 (EDT)

Design of the Year

The Design Museum has nominated the cover art of "Join Us" for a 2012 Design of the Year! --Duke33 11:38, 12 January 2012 (EST)

The Day

Happy birthday, Join Us! It's time to celebrate, go crazy, dance at parties, cut loose! May you get everything you like, although I'm sure you get that often enough. In fact, I hope you live for at least 70 years, you fine young specimen. (Join Us's response? "Mind your business!") --MisterMe 11:23, 19 July 2012 (EDT)

~rolls eyes at past self~ --MisterMe (talk) 07:43, 19 July 2021 (EDT)

JOIN US VINYL!!!

Rejoice, people! The album is getting a vinyl rerelease!