The prolific and quirky John Linnell of They Might Be Giants has come up with 16 pop songs-one each for 16 different states of the U.S., but not literally, of course. Here you"ll find songs about Iowa being a witch and Oregon being bad ("Oregon is bad / Stop it if you can"), coupled with every musical genre you can think of-bossa nova, carnival music, polka, you name it. Linnell"s craggy twang wraps around the surreal lyrics with a brainy, tongue-in-cheek earnestness that will, no doubt, delight TMBG fans. Linnell, an equivocating sort, gives the rest of us a little slack. In "The Songs of the Fifty States," an overture of sorts, he sings, "I"m not going to say they"re great, I ain"t gonna say they ain"t." Pipe organs and accordions flesh out most of these songs, contributing immensely to their old-timey wackiness and giving the impression that these pieces could have been written for a 1940s-era musical comedy. --Wally Shoup