Brooklyn’s “Ambassadors of Love,” They Might Be Giants, have had a lifelong love affair with striking art and design over their four-decade history. The duo have collaborated with dozens of celebrated artists and illustrators, including Brian Dewan and Tony Millionaire. They Might Be Giants have always incorporated unusual graphic design motifs into their stage shows and album packaging since their earliest years. From the floating cardboard cutout heads of newspaper editor William Allen White, to their groundbreaking music videos, to their often enigmatic album covers, the Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh) have always embraced visual presentation as warmly as their prolific music and lyrics.
The band was one of the first to embrace the possibilities of the Internet, transferring their innovative Dial-A-Song (once a literal cassette answering machine) to their website – long before most bands had even considered making websites. As early as 1992, TMBG was sending news updates to their fans via Usenet newsgroups. In 1999, They Might Be Giants became the first major-label recording artist to release an entire album exclusively in mp3 format: Long Tall Weekend.
Now They Might Be Giants announces a new deluxe set and an intriguing new artistic partnership with BOOK, with another frequent collaborator: designer Paul Sahre.
The 12″x12″ 144-page cloth-bound hardcover art book features lush full-colour photographs by Brian Karlsonn, as well as select lyrics from TMBG albums My Murdered Remains, I Like Fun, and their forthcoming EP BOOK. Sahre arranged the lyrics artistically in the style of poetry concrete, using an early 1970s IBM Selectric typewriter. Inside every copy of the book, there is a copy of the musical album BOOK on compact disc. Everyone who orders the book version of BOOK will get an instantaneous download on release day.
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