CD of The Week

At this point in their lengthy career, John Flansburgh and John Linnellhave done it all. High-school friends who formed an offbeat, artsy band in post-punk, early ‘80s New York City; the Johns have had mainstream success, won Grammys, scored TV shows, toured the globe and in the past decade, launched a second career as children’s musicians. This week brings us Join Us, their first album for “adults” in four years and their 14th studio album overall.

As if to prove this isn’t a kids album, opening track and lead single “Can’t Keep Johnny Down” kicks off with a cranky lyric about “all of the dicks in this dick town.” Join Us is actually the strangest and most surreal They Might Be Giants album in a long while, hearkening back at times to their earliest ‘80s work. Flansburgh name-drops the Land Of The Lost’s Sleestaks in “Cloisonné,” over a drum machine and big brassy saxophones. I’ve always loved the big band horn sound that TMBG have employed since John Henry and they’re out in full force all over Join Us. “Celebration” mixes indie-disco influences into a tune that references painter Hieronymus Bosch. The most upbeat tune onJoin Us is also perhaps the darkest, as Linnell celebrates an adversary’s eventual demise in “When Will You Die.”

The last third of Join Us feels more like B-side territory, but overall it is a solid representation of TMBG in 2011. Flansburgh gets to work in his love of pure power-pop while Linnell as always gets to sing some of the catchiest rockers on the record. Obviously the songs aren’t as strong as the highest points in their catalog, but as the Johns close in on the band’s 30th anniversary, it’s still a sign that they show no sign of slowing down and are still beckoning new fans to Join them. TMBG return to the TLAonce more on September 30.