They Might Be Giants

More than likely, the first song by They Might Be Giants that'd pop into your head is a certain musical account of Mustafa Ataturk's 1930 nationalistic renaming of the Ottoman Empire's capital. Their cover of "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" has been played at every middle-school dance since, and on The Else, the geek-rock band's newest album, their tunes continue to be eminently danceable, with heavy guitars and funky beats. The tone of their lyrics, however, remains playful (if increasingly cynical). Here's an example from "The Shadow Government," a sideways-and-squinting look at the current regime—"Crawling out of the flophouse/I saw the mayor stealing my junk/I doth protest, citizen's arrest/Now my body's in his trunk." At the show, expect a good mix between new tracks and old favorites—if you're lucky, they might play a few tracks off their shockingly perfect 2002 children's album, No! With Oppenheimer. 18+.
Mon., Sept. 17, 8 p.m.