They Might Be Giants
Apollo 18

 

   You know you're getting something special when the very title of the album is an in-joke that requires substantial levels of geekiness to understand: the Apollo lunar program ended with the 17th mission, and so this is the hypothetical 18th mission. The nerdy freakiness continues with a song about palindromes featuring "fake backward singing," a tune about Pavlovian experiments and behavioral modification, and one of the most stunning displays of randomness available on record: Fingertips. The track listing below shows 19 songs, which is technically accurate, but doesn't reflect that Fingertips is actually 17 separate tracks, most of which are fewer than 30 seconds, and all of which are completely and jarringly different from each other. I love this album.

    Track listing:
  1. Dig My Grave
  2. I Palindrome I
  3. She's Actual Size
  4. My Evil Twin
  5. Mammal
  6. The Statue Got Me High
  7. Spider
  8. The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
  9. Dinner Bell
  10. Narrow Your Eyes
  11. Hall of Heads
  12. Which Describes How You're Feeling
  13. See The Constellation
  14. If I Wasn't Shy
  15. Turn Around
  16. Hypnotist of Ladies
  17. Fingertips
  18. Space Suit