Talk:The World Is To Dig

Contenders / Relegation

I wonder if Tan Minivans and Killing are still contenders for the new album? Also, I found this quote from an interview with John Linnell (I don't know which) right before BOOK came out and he said:

The new album hasn't even come out and yet we're working on the next one.

Does this deserve its own page, or should we just relegate it to a talk page for now? Just putting this out there - HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 15:47, 12 April 2022 (EDT)

Maybe Killing should be removed, since they said it was "in limbo." --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 01:34, 15 April 2022 (EDT)

Major Label Debut

I went to the March 7th show, and I remember Linnell joked the new album would be called "Major Label Debut", and they mentioned the experimentation on the album (that being number 24) is this worth mentioning? --⇂⇂↋ suᴉɥsuǝZ ʎɯɯᴉᒋ (talk) 18:48, 11 April 2023 (EDT)

On one hand, it feels like an improvised joke. But on the other, people thought John Flansburgh was joking when he said that the follow-up to No! would be called Why? so I dunno. — HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸

Almost definitely a joke. Worth mentioning in a review on the show page if you like but not here. --Self Called Nowhere (talk) 01:31, 12 April 2023 (EDT)

24

This will be TMBG's 24th album, and it will most likely come out in 2024!!! Am I the only one who finds that kinda awesome? — HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 13:38, 31 May 2023 (EDT)

Stillub

Stillub should really be removed I think. It would make absolutely no sense to include a backwards version of a song from 34 years earlier, even the Johns have their limits. It is also getting a single release for IFC members, so it’s safe to say that’ll likely be its only appearance. --Lukehennisch (talk) 13:48, 13 April 2024 (EDT)

While I agree it's improbable, it's not impossible. TitanicFog (talk) 15:38, 13 April 2024 (EDT)

Feel Good Sublet

I assume its out of the cards, but should we consider that Feel Good Sublet could end up on here? If Flansburgh was curious enough to rerecord it, do you think that could end up on the album? Obviously its a track with a much older origin story, and if I had to guess would probably be the largest amount of time between original recording and feature on a studio album. (Very few things come to mind that would rival it, I feel like 10 years is the expiration date on most TMBG songs in terms of their album-readiness. Tesla's the longest that comes to mind) Either way I think the option is there, it'd be fun to see. --Robot Parade (talk) 06:07, 9 July 2024 (EDT)

18 SONGS?

Yes, please. We haven't had an album with an amount of songs like that since Nanobots! --HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 18:30, 12 September 2024 (EDT)

hello Phone Power TitanicFog (talk) 20:01, 12 September 2024 (EDT)

No one ever remembers Phone Power... :( --Robot Parade (talk) 01:10, 13 September 2024 (EDT)

Oh yeah, right. I always thought that Phone Power had like 13 or 14 songs. But still, I’m just hyped for the new album. HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 13:52, 14 September 2024 (EDT)

Release date?

Any speculations on when this record comes out? My theory is somewhere from late December to early February. HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 21:57, 18 September 2024 (EDT)

Guys, I don't think Album #24 is coming out in 2024. --HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 01:28, 1 January 2025 (EST)

The Glamour Of Rock

Anyone else think it's a little odd they debuted The Glamour Of Rock in May 2024, declaring that it's gonna be on the next album, but then stopped playing it after two months, especially as we get closer to album #24 at the time of me writing this? I wonder if its simply going on the backburner, or if they are potentially having second thoughts about including the track on the album? --Mel 12:36, 4 March 2025 (EST)

It got demoted to the Eyeball EP LMAO I guess I called it --Mel 17:34, 5 January 2026 (EST)

Status????

So, um... after a lot of "late 2024/early 2025" talk, we're here about to close out May 2025 with no expected date and no word of any kind in about 3 months. Is it possible this album might not actually happen now? Does anyone have any clue what's happening? -- 21 May 2025

My theory is sometime this summer or late fall. — HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 15:14, 21 May 2025 (EDT)

Well, technically as long as they release an album in the future it'll still be "TMBG's upcoming 24th album." --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 03:48, 22 May 2025 (EDT)

Blurry titles

The titles in this Dan Miller photo on Instagram are so tough to read that I'm not entirely sure the guesses on our page are currently accurate (and others on the TMBW Discord felt similarly). I'm moving them here so these guesses don't accidentally become canonical in some form, in case they're off-base.

• "Hit The Ground"^[1]
• "Overnight Sensation"^[2]
• "Steal Awards"^[3]

-CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 01:14, 28 September 2025 (EDT)

I can get behind this. (Guy who added some of the guesses) --⇂⇂↋ suᴉɥsuǝZ ʎNIXON BUBBLE (5:00 PM) (talk) 17:49, 28 September 2025 (EDT)

Sally Boy Candy Bar!?

JF May have just confirmed that Sally Boy Candy Bar is coming to the album, but he may have been joking. What do you all think? Is it likely enough that he's serious to put it in the article? https://www.tumblr.com/tmbgareok/800303312195977216/do-you-have-any-intention-on-re-recording-sally

Signed, DonutEater (talk) 13:22, 15 November 2025 (EST)

Think he's just being funny. If it's the truth we'll put it in the article later! -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 14:04, 15 November 2025 (EST)

i actually asked that question (my tumblr username is "dillyissocoollike") - i think they're really doing a re-recording of sally candy bar, but we'll just have to see. seriously! --The Mayor of Cowtown (talk) 10:11, 20 November 2025 (EST)

Flans confirmed today he was just messing around. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 12:50, 30 November 2025 (EST)

my hopes are down

this is my first time following a new album- is the double-triple delay unusual, I'm guessing? it's strange that it's confirmed 18 songs, but we've only heard so few(especially with all the recent touring for older albums! is this one a secret?)... and what with the recordings being "already finished", save for the hit single(snowball's chance in hell), it's... strange. I like these guys, I really do, and it's definitely not gonna be like Chinese Democracy, but my hopes are sufficiently muddled. (Doesn't help that between the announcement of "we're done" and now, we've gotten Beast of Horns, Spine Rarities, and AmeriFlood. I ain't complaining about any of it, but it feels funny to me)

This is certainly a long gap, but I believe the longest gap between (non-exclusive to eMusic) albums was Factory Showroom (October 8, 1996) and Mink Car (September 11, 2001), which was 4 years, 11 months, and 3 days. This is the second longest gap of 4 years and 9 days. But I agree, this wait is frustrating, but I'd rather TMBG take time to perfect something amazing than put out something rushed. --HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 11:23, 21 November 2025 (EST)

Are you not counting Long Tall Weekend? (Also, I don't think the wait has reduced my hopes for the album at all. I'm glad they're taking their time to get it just right.) -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 11:32, 21 November 2025 (EST)

No I was not counting LTW, edited my comment to reflect that. --HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 02:01, 3 January 2026 (EST)

“There Go Your Civil Rights"

i remember listening to some interview about Here Comes Science where John Linnell mentioned that they were joking about releasing a fourth installment in the "Here Comes..." kids' album series called "There Go Your Civil Rights" that would cover social studies. if "There Go Your Civil Rights" really is a considered EP title as luke hennisch said in a recent edit then this would be a neat callback, like Forest/Trees to the rejected alternate title to Join Us --Ncrecc (talk) 23:46, 8 December 2025 (EST)

I dont think There Go Your Civil Rights has any relation to this EP, but I do think it is an actual project they're planning. - Hailey821 (talk) 11:13, 9 December 2025 (EST)

This is the Silksong of They Might Be Giants albums

Do you all think we'll be seeing the album by early 2026? I have no quarrels with the amount of time the album has taken, but I do think that it is very funny.

Flans recently said through the tmbg newsletter that he expects the preceding EP to be out in January. This is the first time he has named a specific month instead of saying that it will be "late this year" or "before Christmas" or something. I feel like it's getting close. Really close. It's close. It has to be. It has to. --Mel 10:40, 29 December 2025 (EST)

It's actually coming out on January 15! Coffee Table of Love! (talk) 22:27, 5 January 2026 (EST)

Garbage In

I could not make an edit on the normal page because it links to an outside link and I don't have an account here so even though I was just adding this comment about the link for the song, "Garbage In" - (this is a link to discord but not everyone uses discord, do we have another source?)

I've replaced both links to Discord video uploads on the page with unlisted YouTube links. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 18:23, 8 February 2026 (EST)

Thanks! Didn't know what to do with my download of the stream because its only less than half of it and was also encoded weirdly, so i just sent the raw file on discord. glad you got it up - Hailey821 (talk) 22:20, 8 February 2026 (EST)

A Hole Is To Dig

Flans dropping a hint to album title on his Insta in September 2025: Flansyflans instagram showing Krauss and Sendak's A Hole Is To Dig

Title capitalization

If I'm not mistaken the title would be capitalized like "The World Is to Dig" instead of both "is" and "to" being lowercase. IIRC the social media posts from yesterday show the title being capitalized like that too. - HayBombYT talk ⋆☾⋆｡°✩ 10:19, 10 Feb 2026 (CST)

Page cleanup

I feel like this page should be cleaned up once the album is released, particularly the Sessions and Build-Up sections. We should still keep some of that info, to reflect the somewhat unusually long wait, but this can definitely be tidied. --HotelDetectiveInTheFuture🪗 talk 🎸 22:57, 19 February 2026 (EST)