The Else
Studio album by They Might Be Giants
Released	May 15, 2007
Recorded	2006–2007 in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	38:12
Label	Idlewild, Zoë Records
Producer	The Dust Brothers Pat Dillett They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants chronology
Venue Songs DVD/CD (2005) The Else (2007) Here Come the 123s (2008)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(73/100) [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	B [3]
IGN	(8.5/10) [4]
The Music Box	[5]
Now	[1]
Pitchfork Media	(5.3/10) [6]
PopMatters	[7]
Robert Christgau	[8]
Spin	(6/10) [1]
Stylus	B+ [9]

The Else is the twelfth studio album by rock group They Might Be Giants, released by Idlewild Records in 2007. The album was produced in part by the Dust Brothers, along with Pat Dillett and the band.

The Else was first available for download through the iTunes Store on May 15, 2007. The CD version was released in stores on July 10, 2007, with initial runs accompanied by a full-length bonus disc of rare material, Cast Your Pod to the Wind (the title being a parody of Peanuts jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi’s 1962 hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind").^[10] On September 11, 2007, the band released a gatefold vinyl LP of the album. Cast Your Pod was made available separately on iTunes in July 2009.

"Contrecoup" was originally written and recorded in 2005 as part of a challenge issued on the Next Big Thing in which lexicographer Erin McKean implored John Linnell to use the words "contrecoup", "craniosophic", and "limerent" in a song so that the words could be added to or remain in the dictionary.^[11]

A video, created by Mizushima Hine, for "With the Dark" was released on the band's YouTube page on June 7, 2007. Two additional videos, for "The Shadow Government" and "I'm Impressed", were also later released. A full-length video for "The Mesopotamians" was released on Stereogum.com on October 2.

"Careful What You Pack" was originally written for the soundtrack of 2009 film Coraline, but it was not used in the film.^[12]

Track listing

Cast Your Pod to the Wind (bonus disc)

Personnel

They Might Be Giants

• John Flansburgh – songwriting, vocals, guitars, programming
• John Linnell – songwriting, vocals, keyboards, programming

Backing band

• Marty Beller – drums
• Dan Miller – guitar; piano on "Careful What You Pack"
• Danny Weinkauf – bass guitar

Additional musicians

• Mauro Refosco – percussion (track 9)
• Justin Meldal-Johnsen – acoustic bass guitar (9)
• Dan Levine – trombone (9, 10)
• Stan Harrison – saxophone (9, 10)
• Jim O'Connor – trumpet (9, 10)
• Lyle Workman – guitar (6, 9)
• Sharon Jones – vocals (10)

Production

• They Might Be Giants – producers (except 3, 6, 9, 10, 12)
• Patrick Dillett – producer (except 3, 6, 9, 10, 12), engineer
• The Dust Brothers – producers (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12)
• UE Nastasi – mastering
• Yuki Takahashi – engineer
• Greg Thompson – engineer
• Jon Altschuler – engineer
• Marcel Dzama – artwork, costumes, photography

Reception

The album reached #9 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums chart.^[13]