The Else

Since 1982, a few years before they released their 1987 debut, John Flansburgh and John Linnell have been They Might Be Giants, an independent band named after a 1971 George C. Scott movie who are, to echo their own description of their current collaborators The Dust Brothers, pop musicians unto themselves. Their work provides, in the prescient judgment of The SPIN Alternative Record Guide (1995) "a fabulous example of just how far the concept of punk can stretch." In subsequent years, They Might Be Giants have elongated things further, although never to the breaking point. They have released twelve albums, of which The Else, a wildly rocking and sturdy collection of thirteen unfailingly acute songs co-produced by The Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys), is the latest.