Perhaps it’s poetic license that has seen They Might Be Giants—Johns Flansburgh and Linnell—through a voluminous series of ups, downs and holding patterns over its three decades in operation. TMBG’s second adult album in five years and its 16th overall, Nanobots (Idlewild/Megaforce) boasts 25 new songs. Much of Nanobots takes advantage of what is now a fully acclimated quintet that also includes guitarist Dan Miller, bassist Danny Weinkauf and drummer Marty Beller. “We’d been functioning as a two-piece for 10 years, and we really just sort of talked ourselves into it,” says Linnell of the bumpy transition, which began in 1992. “It’s still John and I making the decisions, but we lean heavily on the other guys for a lot of the musical resources. It’s a benevolent dictatorship.” Flansburgh will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new TMBG feature.
Flansburgh: Oldies radio has kind of destroyed the appeal of Motown for all of us, but soul music is still an amazing era—and if you are looking for a hearty blast of soul music, I have to recommend Gino Washington. Gino’s unusual story has been lost to the sands of time, but his music is worth a listen, and his bio seems worthy of a screenplay.
Gino was a soul singer out of Detroit making singles for various labels. His short career was put on hold when he was drafted into the Army. While Gino was doing stints in Japan and Germany, the “Northern Soul” movement in Britain took off—with record collectors and disc jockeys rediscovering obscure regional American records and making many of them legendary among their monomaniacal soul-loving audiences. But even as Gino’s reputation was growing in the U.K., he soon had the misfortune of finding his identity had been lifted wholesale by a British soul singer going by the name Geno Washington. The Geno with an e even ended up recording some U.K. chart hits. (“Michael The Lover” is not widely available now, but I have to say it’s a very exciting song, and judging by the sound, it sure seems like Geno was happy to be mistaken for Gino.)
So a few years back, the awesome Norton label set the record straight and made two great collections of Gino’s original singles, and they are fantastic comps filled with some of the catchiest songs you’ve never heard. Check out “Gino Is A Coward.”
Video after the jump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSlCvEu08DM
