Will Hines

“Cloisonne” by TMBG off of Join Us.

When you’re trying to win people over to TMBG, you’d usually pick one of the catchier songs by John Linnel like Don’t Let’s Start or Doctor Worm or Ana Ng. But let me just come clean and tell you that it’s the weird Flansburgh songs that are true TMBG songs to me. This song with its abrasive saxophone and it’s what-the-fuck-is-that percussion thump in the left speaker? And the strange line “What’s a Sleestack” which vaguely makes me think of an older guy who feels out of it, but not quite, because the words just don’t ultimately make sense.

This is the band, warts and inaccessible weirdness and all.

YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN LAW ENFORCEMENT / MIND YOUR BUSINESS / TELL ‘EM A STORY, RAINDROP (I DON’T WANT TO TELL ‘EM, MISTER)

Listen to this song and join the club.