Pitchfork

They Might Be Giants don't just write songs about battles between particle and triangle men, nor do they just write Disney-produced children's tunes about the alphabet. On their 2004 tour, they wrote songs for and about the town and venues in which they played. And now, they've released a two-disc DVD/CD set of those very same songs.

According to the band's website, the DVD, entitled Venue Songs, includes "eleven original video clips along with an original narration by former literary agent John Hodgman in the role of the Deranged Millionaire," with bonus videos for "Damn Good Times", "Bastard Wants to Hit Me", "Experimental Film" (with Homestar Runner), and "I'm All You Can Think About".

The CD contains studio recordings of all the songs on the DVD as well as live versions of the other 30 Venue Songs recordings, PLUS the rarities "Renew My Subscription", "Love Is Eternity", "Taste the Fame", and "The Bloodmobile". In other words, this thing is a cornucopia for ner...er, TMGB fans.

Though a commercial release is likely, the set is currently only available online HERE and at their live shows.

Here are the tracklists for both discs.

DVD:

01 Greeting From the Deranged Millionaire
02 "The experiment begins"
03 Dallas
04 "A Concrete shrine"
05 Albany
06 "Paradoxically"
07 Los Angeles
08 "An oasis of hooch"
09 Anaheim
10 "The great walled city"
11 Vancouver
12 "Monongahela"
13 Pittsburgh
14 "You can't go home again"
15 Asheville
16 "and so"
17 Glasgow
18 "Returning to the U.S."
19 Charlottesville
20 "Skee-ball and saltwater taffy"
21 Asbury Park
22 "The tour nearly over"
23 Brooklyn
24 Goodbye from the Deranged Millionaire
25 Damn Good Times
26 Experimental Film
27 Bastard Wants to Hit Me
28 I'm All You Can Think About

CD:

Studio tracks:

01 Dallas
02 Albany
03 Los Angeles
04 Anaheim
05 Vancouver
06 Pittsburgh
07 Asheville
08 Glasgow
09 Charlottesville
10 Asbury Park
11 Brooklyn
12 Love Is Eternity
13 Renew My Subscription
14 Taste the Fame
15 Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
16 Bloodmobile

Live tracks:

17 Omaha
18 Houston
19 Leeds
20 New Orleans
21 Colombia
22 Santa Cruz
23 Minneapolis
24 Tucson
25 San Francisco
26 Memphis
27 Charleston
28 Atlanta
29 Farmingdale
30 New Haven
31 London
32 Raleigh
33 Towson
34 St. Louis
35 Philadelphia
36 Austin
37 Dallas
38 Albany
39 Los Angeles
40 Anaheim
41 Vancouver
42 Pittsburgh
43 Glasgow
44 Charlottesville
45 Asbury Park
46 Brooklyn

Speaking of live shows, TMBG has scheduled a couple weeks' worth of dates with ukulele troubadour Michael Leviton, who, according to a recent press release, is inspired by happy couples "kissing, smiling, looking into each other's eyes longingly, etc." at his shows. So all you goofball-rock-loving happy couples get out there and show the bands some PDA. Remember, you're their muses.

They definitely are touring:

04-26 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club *
04-27 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *
04-28 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel *
04-29 Charleston, SC - Music Farm *
05-01 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution *
05-02 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing *
05-03 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *
05-04 Savannah, GA - Trustees Theater *
05-05 Nashville, TN - City Hall *
05-06 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant *
05-09 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *
05-10 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls Theater *
05-11 Knoxville, TN - Sundown in the City *
05-12 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts *
05-13 Albany, NY - Tulip Festival
07-01 Uncasville, CT - The Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun

* with Michael Leviton

Finally, the Johns are currently working with the Dust Brothers on a new album scheduled for release sometime in 2007. We can only hope for a Paul's Boutique/Odelay-esque concept album about the periodic table of elements.