MGMT - MGMT (29/09/2013)
I honestly can't say enough good things about the transformation MGMT underwent after their debut album.
Oracular Spectacular was indeed a fantastic record, but was still at the mercy of most mainstream audiences with hit singles like Kids and Time to Pretend, and MGMT themselves also placed themselves in a position of servitude in a way.
Most critics and fans believed they probably would continue down the avenue of electro pop for the foreseeable future, and for a time they became the darlings of the house party playlist.
To hear MGMT tell it, they found a hard time connecting with their newfound fame, exacerbated by the fact that much of the music on Oracular Spectacular was now foreign to them by the time they'd completed their world domination of indie pop and rock. Enter Congratulations, an album which saw what was initially a duo expanded into a full blown band, and boy, did it show.
Congratulations was ambitious, fun, energetic, but didn't lose sight of itself and managed to be a wonderful little pill of psychedelic rock, proving that MGMT were capable of something bigger than the category they'd been assigned. I loved that record, and it really set me up with strong anticipation for their next release.
First things first, if you were somewhat disheartened by MGMT's stylistic shift on Congratulations, then turn away now and never look back. MGMT is a huge leap down the rabbit hole of psychedelic rock, experimental vocals, with not a electro pop dance floor magnet in sight. Influences like The Flaming Lips are made obvious, a group that MGMT has collaborated with before on one of the Lips' strangest releases, Embryonic.
While the influences are laid bare, MGMT is still full of their own personality and deliver some fantastically unique tracks like Your Life Is A Lie, while also dishing out spacious psych adventures like Mystery Disease and A Good Sadness.
The production, however, is a place where MGMT really falters. The compression that is heaped on these tracks often times threatens to throttle away the nuances and subtlety, and when dealing with the sweet little details that often sneak their way into many MGMT tracks, its disappointing to have a track so mashed together that, at times, its hard to pick out one instrument from another. That said, I really dig the fat drum recording that turns up on Alien Days.
MGMT is a musically sound record, it's got some of MGMT's best ideas on it, and its a great feeling to see them treading their own path and really carving out a image of their own, but they betray themselves with horribly compressed recordings, and it really affected how much I could enjoy the record.
Nick Kennedy
@nickkennedy
Oracular Spectacular was indeed a fantastic record, but was still at the mercy of most mainstream audiences with hit singles like Kids and Time to Pretend, and MGMT themselves also placed themselves in a position of servitude in a way.
Most critics and fans believed they probably would continue down the avenue of electro pop for the foreseeable future, and for a time they became the darlings of the house party playlist.
To hear MGMT tell it, they found a hard time connecting with their newfound fame, exacerbated by the fact that much of the music on Oracular Spectacular was now foreign to them by the time they'd completed their world domination of indie pop and rock. Enter Congratulations, an album which saw what was initially a duo expanded into a full blown band, and boy, did it show.
Congratulations was ambitious, fun, energetic, but didn't lose sight of itself and managed to be a wonderful little pill of psychedelic rock, proving that MGMT were capable of something bigger than the category they'd been assigned. I loved that record, and it really set me up with strong anticipation for their next release.
First things first, if you were somewhat disheartened by MGMT's stylistic shift on Congratulations, then turn away now and never look back. MGMT is a huge leap down the rabbit hole of psychedelic rock, experimental vocals, with not a electro pop dance floor magnet in sight. Influences like The Flaming Lips are made obvious, a group that MGMT has collaborated with before on one of the Lips' strangest releases, Embryonic.
While the influences are laid bare, MGMT is still full of their own personality and deliver some fantastically unique tracks like Your Life Is A Lie, while also dishing out spacious psych adventures like Mystery Disease and A Good Sadness.
The production, however, is a place where MGMT really falters. The compression that is heaped on these tracks often times threatens to throttle away the nuances and subtlety, and when dealing with the sweet little details that often sneak their way into many MGMT tracks, its disappointing to have a track so mashed together that, at times, its hard to pick out one instrument from another. That said, I really dig the fat drum recording that turns up on Alien Days.
MGMT is a musically sound record, it's got some of MGMT's best ideas on it, and its a great feeling to see them treading their own path and really carving out a image of their own, but they betray themselves with horribly compressed recordings, and it really affected how much I could enjoy the record.
Nick Kennedy
@nickkennedy