I really like both, but slightly prefer Mike because the writing got increasingly sharper while he was the host. The Joel-hosted episodes kept getting more & more consistent up until he left & Mike hit the ground running with the benefit of 5 years of "riff refinement" behind him. Had Joel stayed on, I'm sure the show…

Everything's normal & nobody's moping! / Let's take it for granted! The campus is open!

The host segment hit-to-miss ratio is fairly consistent throughout to me - Joel had some clunkers & Mike had some clunkers. I'm almost done watching the entire series & the only noticeable dip in quality is when Pearl, Bobo & Observer took over as "The Mads" for their run on Sci-Fi. I still dig most of the SOL…

agreed. i tried out the first few studio episodes when they were released & found the riffing surprisingly clunky & forced. i checked in a few years later once they started releasing their live riffs & was pleasantly surprised at how great they were. i hope they record some of the remaining live riffs before they call…

Nope, that was what prompted me to start buying their records, too. I had seen their Tiny Toons videos when I was too young to go out & buy rock records, but Spiraling Shape really sucked me in at the right age. I also got into Pavement thanks to the Brain Candy soundtrack! Thanks, Brain Candy soundtrack!

@avclub-884c4beddd8c98bb3b016bdfcc1bcdf8:disqus  - Lots of people enjoy TMBGs music for different reasons, so I can definitely see "Join Us" being a favorite for some fans, but it's just not what I want out of a TMBG album. I find most of the melodies mediocre & the quirky lyrics to be forced. There are a few tunes…

Agreed. I have the pink vinyl reissue with the bonus track "Ship in a Bottle" that was put out for last year's Record Store Day. It's incredible.

He thought it was too "poppy", apparently. It's on the Mobile Fidelity remaster, though, which is TOTALLY worth picking up if you love "Sea Change" - no compression, amazing dynamic range, etc.

the information is great, but it's a little over-stuffed. if they cut 2 or 3 tracks i think you'd have an excellent beck record.

Totally agreed - I was kind of astonished at how good "Nanobots" was when I first heard it. "Join Us" felt largely uninspired (sans "Cloisonne") & their output for the past decade has been pretty hit-or-miss (for every "I'm Impressed" or "Man It's So Loud in Here" we get a "Wicked Little Critta" or "Prevenge"), so it…

I'd have assumed it was Beast of Yucca Flats.

Moral Orel: The best show I can't convince anyone to watch.

Apparently John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees wrote the theme song. More importantly, Matt Mahaffey of the criminally-underrated 90's band Self (check out "Breakfast With Girls" or "Gizmodgery RIGHT NOW) wrote the score.

Ugh, yes. Season 8 was nothing but show-destroying garbage (save Florida Stanley). I enjoyed most of this season, but I guess those 10 or so minutes when the boom mic guy was onscreen really ruined it for some people. I didn't care for that plot development, either, but the show was supplying enough laughs & good…

P&R should be fine as long as they don't hire Paul Lieberstein as show-runner.

Actually, Moore asked Matt & Trey to do the short & they said no, so he had some small-time animation company whip it up for him. When Moore saw the original character designs the studio had done, he insisted they re-do everything & make it look like South Park (there was a blog post up years & years ago by one of the…

@avclub-58b5e1181aef482ae9d3f57afb3baa76:disqus  - Jim Mallon has the deleted theater & host segments on tape in the same "vault" he keeps the first 3 KTMA episodes. They showed the 2 deleted host segments (the Storm Shelter segment & the original ending segment) at a convention years ago & there's footage up on…

@avclub-df106893a4574bccb7bce1ff66e788b9:disqus - Most of the time they were working with "edited for TV" versions of the films they did, whether it be edited for content or time. I recall the dune buggy death from Mitchell being brought up at some point to one of the Brains & they pointed out that the copy they had…

"When you saw this for the first time you laughed so hard you spilled your bong water, didn't you, Mike?"

HODJKA!