Partly studio recordings and partly live recordings, Venue Songs is a compilation of work done during TMBG's 2004 tour where they wrote a unique song for every venue they toured at.

While I can't really say much about the thematic content of the album, I can talk about what it means to do something like this. TMBG has a relationship to modernity in which they point out the absurdity and excess of it all, and respond with excess in kind.

As a result, it makes sense that a lot of these tracks simply riff on the name of the venue. Charleston/The Music Farm is a great example of this phenomenon; yeah, it sure is weird to name a venue The Music Farm, ain't it. Perhaps this relationship is best exemplified in Albany, my favorite track on the album, which discusses the alienation one can feel from modern architecture that sometimes feels inhuman.

This album has immense range, going from stuff in the style of Yes (Dallas) to an almost stuffy sound (Leeds) and almost country (Charlottesville). It's a testament to the skill of TMBG in this era.

It's good. I shrug.