Oh hell yes. Pitchfork is reporting on an upcoming They Might Be Giants tribute album featuring acts like the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and Frank Black.

But what's really got me bouncing off the walls is the news that one of my current favorite bands is considering a cover of my all-time favorite TMBG song, "Birdhouse In Your Soul". For those unfamiliar, BHIYS is an epic and uplifting existential rumination sung from the point of view of a canary-shaped nightlite. It's also a phenomenal pop song. Here's hoping everyone's favorite Jersey pharmaceutical clerks/rock gods have the good sense to keep their version true to the energetic original. Nothing's more disappointing than having a good band half-ass a cover by giving it the "sensitive" treatment with a few acoustic guitars and twenty minutes of studio time.

I'm pretty excited about the rest of the album, too. I can't think of another act band as perfectly suited to the tribute treatment as TMBG. It'd be silly to deny that the two Johns are great songwriters; unfortunately, the sad truth is that much of their best work is locked away behind their nasally voices and synthesizers-can-do-everything approach to production. TMBG eventually assembled a real band for John Henry, and while I love tracks like "Subliminal" and "AKA Driver", ever since the musicianship improved they've only rarely attained the combination of abstract cleverness and precise pop construction that characterized earlier songs like "Ana Ng". Having others revisit that earlier material might help these guys get the credit they deserve.