It finally arrived! (I pre-ordered this so long ago...) I like how the album mirrors the colours of Linnell's shirt.
It's amazing. Best album so far! I have so much to say about it but no time right now!
we're not kids anymore.

oozey mess
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
RMH
Monterey Bay Aquarium
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
NASA
Keni

Origami Around
d e v o n
todays bird
AnasAbdin
hello vonnie
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
KIROKAZE
occasionally subtle
ojovivo
trying on a metaphor
Stranger Things
styofa doing anything
seen from Indonesia

seen from Germany

seen from Brazil

seen from Malaysia

seen from Mexico

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Canada

seen from United States

seen from Egypt
seen from United States

seen from United States
@ravenxxy
It finally arrived! (I pre-ordered this so long ago...) I like how the album mirrors the colours of Linnell's shirt.
It's amazing. Best album so far! I have so much to say about it but no time right now!
From the song, "They Might Be Feral", track 18 on "The World Is to Dig" by They Might Be Giants
"they might be solo, they might be crowd
they might be silent, they might be loud
they test their eyes and test their will"
I wonder if this was written in response to the KEXP show that I went to in June of 2025. It was silent in there because the speaker equipment was broken and so about 70 of us stood in the viewing room and watched the whole show and interview in complete silence.
Then we joked, "They Might Be Silent"...
And then this song was written. Makes you think!
It's a Vibe Report!!!!
John Flansburgh and Password1234
I got my copy of TWITD (The World Is to Dig) in the mail Saturday!!! I was a medallion level supporter there's my name on the reverse side of the liner notes sheet!!!
I just want to tell you that this album is a complete masterpiece and I'm thrilled that it exists now. Thank you John and John!!! I love you both so much for being such a wonderful creative source in this world today! You really did make The World to Dig. All 18 tracks are magnificent but my favourites are They Might Be Feral, Character Flaw, Telescope, Hit The Ground, What You Get, and New Wave Will Never Die. To be honest I could keep going....
I absolutely love the strings on Back In Los Angeles and the note bending(?) on Slow.
I have had this on repeat since I first downloaded the songs.
Please let John, Dan, Danny, Marty, Dan, Stan, and Mark know they all did an amazing job and I can't wait to see you all live when you come back to Portland Oregon!!!
.
Can you feel it?
one look as much as tells us everything
The pre-orders are in!!! Get your digital copy NOW!!!
https://tmbgshop.com
Best album to date! I can't wait for a25 now!
as of 2026-02-07 at 1339.
I really love this song! But it's not out yet so I can't really say anything about it yet. So I have scheduled this to post after album 24, The World Is to Dig comes out.
I have no idea what wu-tang means. Perhaps it is just a fun thing to sing? I know I'm having fun sing/screaming WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-TAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!
I love how this has a similar theme to Eyeball as well. The part "somebody planted a seed" seems like the part in Eyeball where the narrator is claiming to like modern jazz, but hoping it won't be played because they don't actually know what it sounds like.
The chord progression reminds me of something I can't quite place.
The song seems to be in E major. (but perhaps A major too? Not sure.) I do know there are 4 sharps though. Which is really all you need to know.
If I was going to rate this song I would give it a 10.
The part "listen to the sound on the CD" is just so great also...
the two heavenly warriors are myself and society with society trying to make me do things I know aren't right. And if I let them run my heart I'll be blinded.
I've had a bunch of other thoughts but it's easier to think them when i'm not sitting at the computer.
lyrics under cut
Remember They Might Be Giants say Trans Rights!!!
Here is Danny Weinkauf sporting this amazing shirt at the KEXP radio show they did last year on June 16th (2025). I was there also! It was an odd experience because the viewing room was broken but they didn't know that until we were all in there waiting for them to start. We couldn't hear anything and we couldn't leave during the performance. So I got to lip-sync the songs silently whilst bouncing to the beat of Marty's drums since that was all we could (barely) hear! Super weird but I was able to identify every song they played just because this was literally my 12th TMBG concert in 2025.
(still taking donations to turn my water back on)
$LordRavenX (cashapp)
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/lordravenxx (paypal)
I've done a lot of primitive camping so this lack of water isn't that difficult. And I've found that there is a slow trickle into my house anyway so my toilet actually very slowly refills each day so flushing once a day hasn't been a problem either!
I won't be able to wash my clothes or dishes though. But I have enough clean right now. And I still have some water for coffee as well so that's good. That's the main way I use water anyway, coffee or cooking.
And a splash of water on the hands (or wherever) and a rub on a towel cleans just as well as running water and soap!
If I didn't need water for washing dishes and clothes I don't know if I'd really need running water that badly. Showers are nice but a luxury that I don't really even need right now since I'm not doing manual labour or digging in the dirt or doing anything that even gets me dirty. Nor am I even leaving the house except for interviews and groceries.
I will survive this lack of H2O. But I do hope that I get that job!!!
.gif of my kitty Nicol Bolas chasing her tail for fun
Goal: $20 / $1,115.02
paypal.me/lordravenxx or cashapp: $LordRavenX
Can anyone help me get my water turned back on?
Without running water I can't wash dishes, take showers, wash my clothes, or even FLUSH THE TOILET.
I have an interview for a job on sunday but even if i get that job I won't magically have this money for a while...
So please, anything helps!
Anyone who sends me money to help will get something in return. Or you can just let me know to pay it forward to someone else in need later. Either message me or put the request in your donation comment. Anything physical will need to wait until I have money for postage though.
Things I can do: graphic design work, drawings, kandi jewelry, and more!
More stuff about my life under the cut:
Produced by They Might Be Giants and Patrick Dillett this is an open letterto explain myself to the finer folkto uphold my kind to the highe
My prediction was correct!
New track just dropped! Outside Brain!
lyrics under cut
Also, I forget if I've ever asked, Mr. Flansburgh, but I remember either an interview with you or a podcast talking about TMBG where it was brought up that you, specifically, tend to have these sort of surprising chord progressions where the listener thinks it's going to go one way but it goes another (I think the "that bell can't be un-rung" part of Madam was brought up in the conversation?)
It sounds cool. Are you conscious of this? Any neat tips or explanations?
JF: sure. There are many standard chord moves, and they commonly support basic harmonic structures (which is to say the chords will be in a shared key) and these "stock" progressions boost recognized ideas of tension and release.
Once you are familiar with these forms, you also start to see smaller moves you can make that will bring a unique color to your song.
Just using one of the most bog standard progression-- I, IV, V, I / C, F, G, C. This is essentially the structure of a blues. A songwriter would see those four chords as foundation, moderate harmonic tension, maximum tension, and release or return.
You could write a melody over this, but then pretty confidently change the chords underneath it to, say, VI minor, II minor, V, I or A minor, D minor, G, C. That first minor six chord is the relative minor (A minor) and share two notes with the original C major triad. The second chord in the sequence is a II minor--for moderate tension--also shares two notes with the original F chord which was the IV chord in the original progression.
So that's a simple example of swapping out chords just to be less stock. One moment after this, there are endless small moves that embellish and inform a song. Of course four note chords like 7ths and 6ths add fascinating color. Adding an unusual bass note to create a complex chord with your triad. (very much a Carol King or Donald Fagen move) In our early years we experimented a lot with tossing in the II and III chords of songs major (often in more Tin Pan Alley songwriting these are always minor. But by if you are modulating to a different key or just creating a momentary departure from the established key for added interest, there is a lot to investigate there. Introducing a minor IVth would feel very Beatlesk to most people.
And then finally there is making the "GOD" move where you create a sequence where you hit a chord with notes fully outside of the established key. (Just adding a triad that is all sharped from the eight notes in a major or minor scale I guess) I don't really know why it's called a God chord, but my best guess it because by making that move you become God by essentially creating a brand new harmonic universe when you leave the established key fully behind. But somebody probably has a real explanation.
Obviously a songwriter can get into a lot of trouble very quickly just by trying different things out. That is kind of the remarkable thing about it. There is no end.
I am not really qualified to get this deep, and I don't want to annoy the formally trained folk who are already writing their grumpy replies. So I will leave it there.
I really love the new song, "Sleep's Older Sister" and have a question about the drums at the end; the echo / reverb quality to the sound reminds me of the that similar sound of the drums in "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel and I'd love to know how you made it sound like that, if it was a similar process or something completely different? Or any other interesting stories about recording this song are welcome too! It's so tight and put together!
JF: I appreciate your message. I wish I could say it was pure analog studio trickery, but it was home-brewed, project studio trickery made with modern digital audio plug-ins. But you have good ears, as the sound of "The Boxer" and the sound on "Sleep's Older Sister" both come from large super-reflective live spaces, or "chamber" reverbs. I don't think you could say Simon and Garfunkel's producer Roy Halee was unrecognized, as he probably had a garage full of Grammy awards, but I think it's fair to say he wasn't know too much outside of the industry. But he was very well known to work with acoustic spaces in his process. While the impulse to create a wild evocative snare sound lives in the imagination of every drummer, songwriter and engineer, it takes somebody with skills like Halee to realize it. I know there is a pretty amusing story from drummer Hal Blaine about recording it, but I'm not sure where it ran.
So with Sleep's Older Sister, I thought how could I make the track winnow down to just the drums and crescendo into a blizzard of reverb. I wanted it to be menacing. Fortunately with modern equipment we can do this kind of experimentation on our own time at our project studios. It did take a LOT of knob turning to really get it to roar in the exact right way, and I am grateful we live in a time you can realize an idea like that without spending a million dollars in a studio!
John, thank you for your informative answer! I really appreciate your answer; it's always a pleasure to learn more about the process. Great job with the knob turning! You did exactly what you sought out to do. It's perfect.
Thanks again for your continued excellence in creativity.
"Hi ho, hi ho into the canyon we go!"