A couple of months ago I presented the idea to my musical friends to make a They Might Be Giants (TMBG) cover album. We have no affiliation with the band and can’t make any money from it, for us nor charity. The project was completely a passion project that revealed that some long time listeners of a band, known for being strange, have grown up to make some pretty wild music. 

Call Me Bea

"Call me Bea” is my newest project. I took on the songs “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” and “Experimental Film.” Birdhouse is a song from my childhood from the 1990 album “Flood.” I and many others found throughout this project that TMBG songs are a lot more complex than they seem. Birdhouse features guitars, drum machine, synthesizers, and as a homage to the band, accordion. 

Greg Nahabedian

You may recognize Greg Nahabedian from several other articles I’ve written. For this project, they came through with an absolutely wild noise rock cover of “I Hope I Get Old Before I Die.” The song features noise breaks and a heavy beat. Nahabedian’s work can be found on their website. 

Chazz Rogers

Chazz Rogers is a music teacher, jazz nerd, and amazing songwriter. He’s also my roommate. Rogers tackled the song “Kiss Me Song of God,” from TMBG’s second album “Lincoln.” The song features a complex array of vocal harmonies sifting between jazz and baroque like harmonies. As a multi-instrumentalist, this was an interesting choice for him. You can hear more of Chazz’s work on their Bandcamp. 

Elena Chimaera 

Elena Chimaera is a long time friend of mine who has long shared many musical interests. I love their music so so much and was thrilled to see how they tackled the more obscure “Self Called Nowhere.” The song features incredible synth sounds characteristic of Chimaera. Elena Chimaera is also a multi-media artist and you can check out more of their work on their website. 

Chodus 

Chodus covered “They’ll Need A Crane,” in an acoustic punk style. Chodus, a Clairemont NH band is spearheaded by Loren David Howard. Howard’s music is self-described as “asthma punk, spaz rock, and squeetle pop.” You can check out more of Chodus’ music on their Bandcamp. 

Rachael Moss

I met Rachael Moss at the University of New Hampshire. We share a strange sense of humour and I was happy to see that she chose a track from one of TMBG’s few children’s album. The song is an array of vocal harmonies combined with several sizes of ukuleles. Rachael Moss doesn’t have a music page but I’m sure you can find some of their video projects and stand up on youtube. 

Sprightly

Sprightly is the project of my friend Sarah Hubbard. Hubbard and I met at a Django Reinhardt festival. She is an incredible jazz violinist and theremin player and her track “Roy G Biv” definitely shows this. Hubbard also picked a song from a TMBG kid’s album. I strongly recommend a visit to their website to see more of their amazing projects. 

William Downing & Sophia Kurzius

Downing and I used to play the same college open mic. Anyone who’s ever seen Downing will remember these performances as they were almost always improvised, beautiful, and often hilarious. Downing and Kurzius were part of the band Daylo during university. It should be noted that when listening to Downing and Kurzius’ cover of the TMBG classic “Ana Ng” — your headphones ARE NOT BROKEN — Downing is a master of using audio software as an instrument and will take you on a trip through doing so. 

Thank you to everyone involved and I hope you all enjoy the album.