They Might Be Giants have resurrected their ingenious Dial-A-Song concept by streaming a new song each week of 2015 at www.dialasong.com. MAGNET’s Matthew Fritch reviews them all.
There might be a fan club. A secret They Might Be Giants fan club that I’m forbidden to acknowledge. I am also compelled to frame just how unlikely it is that I would belong to such an organization in the first place, not being a natural joiner in any way, nor a particularly acute “fan” of TMBG in the sense of being fanatical. But let’s suppose this fan club offered an insanely good deal, an exchange of money for material goods that ultimately led me here, to these reviews. Does a secret They Might Be Giants fan club exist? Oh, I don’t know. You must be thinking of some other band.
If you’d rather shoot a woman than a man, this is the song for you! “Madam, I Challenge You To A Duel” is the sum of its title and its McCartneyed piano/drums instrumentation. It’s a bit of a comedown from last week’s high-energy “Erase,” bordering on lassitude; trim the song in half and it would be an excellent snippet in the larger context of an album. “Madam” has a tough time standing on its own. Instead of further dissection, let’s remember another song about dueling, “Glove Slap,” from maybe the greatest Simpsons episode ever.
Important Update: All ratings will now appear at the end of the review under the “File-A-Song” designation. I know! I just thought of it.
File-A-Song: 5/10
