The Spine (album)

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January–April 2004Kampo Studios, Manhattan
Skyline Studios, Manhattan
Collyer Brothers Studio, Brooklyn
Hello Studio, Brooklyn*Alternative rock

• indie rock
• art rock35:54Idlewild/Zoë (US)
  Cooking Vinyl (UK)
  Shock Records (AU)Pat Dillettx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

The Spine is the tenth studio album by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. The album was released on July 5, 2004 in the United Kingdom, and July 13 in the United States. The album was released alongside a companion EP, The Spine Surfs Alone. It was preceded by the Indestructible Object EP, which featured two tracks that appear on The Spine.

Promotion

Three music videos were produced for The Spine. The first, a Flash-animated video for "Experimental Film", was created in conjunction with The Brothers Chaps, and features characters from their animated series Homestar Runner. An animated music video for "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" appears on the DVD for Venue Songs. The video was directed by Aaron Sorenson and Courtney Booker of Laika.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The video was nominated for the Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Commercial" in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A music video for "Damn Good Times" was animated with previous band collaborator Divya Srinivasan.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Reception

The Spine received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for AllMusic, Heather Phares found that John and John had already exhausted the album's best content on the preceding EP, Indestructible Object. Phares concluded that the album contained a few engaging hooks, but was overall inconsistent.<ref name=AM /> Josh Modell of The AV Club berated the album's lack of "idiosyncrasies", and reported that The Spine was generally unsurprising.<ref name=AVC /> Contrarily, Patrick Schabe of PopMatters lauded the album for its uncharacteristically traditional rock arrangements.<ref name=PM />

External links

• The Spine on This Might Be A Wiki
• Template:Metacritic album