MGMT could care less about your expectations.
Sure, the psychedelic poptronica of their Oracular Spectacular debut set a new benchmark for 21st century pop music. Its slow-burning success was never calculated, though. In fact, Spectacular‘s gradual omnipresence could best be described as a happy accident (Amanda Walk’s legwork notwithstanding). Congratulations, the ridonkulously anticipated follow-up due Tuesday (streaming now via their site), is bound to confound expectations. Still, anyone familiar with MGMT’s early days will hardly be surprised.
“We would write a new song for each show and our shows would be 15 minutes long,” says MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden.
The jury’s still out on whether their fame will exceed that. VanWyngarden and partner-in-musical-crime Ben Goldwasser would apparently prefer to remain restless sonic explorers than slaves to their accidentally winning formula. The decision to bring a relatively obscure producer on board for Congratulations is evidence. Whereas Spectacular was overseen by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips/Sleater-Kinney), Congratulations was helmed by one-time Spacemen 3 member Pete “Sonic Boom” Kemper.
Yeah, I had to Google him too.
There’s no question Spectacular‘s songs are strong, but one might argue it’s the production that makes them truly sing. Kemper’s vision certainly isn’t unlistenable (far from it), it’s just different. Vastly different in places, and not-so-vastly different in others. The signature synths that made Spectacular such an aural pleasure are definitely noticeably missing. Also, Congratulations’ drums are both more acoustic and less prominent in the mix. Danceability suffers some as a result (at least until remixers get kits).
For better or worse, several tracks remind me of Ween.
Plenty of fans will inevitably disown Congratulations, but Spectacular simply wouldn’t have been possible in the first place without MGMT’s perpetually adventurous spirit.
MGMT’s Red Rocks debut on June 11 should be epic irregardless. Those road tripping to California this weekend can catch them Friday at Coachella.
You can stream the entire new album at http://whoismgmt.com
WEB SHERIFF
Who You Gonna Call
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
Fax 44-(0)208 323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com
http://www.websheriff.com
Hi George,
On behalf of Columbia Records and MGMT many thanks for plugging “Congratulations” on your site (street date 13th April) … .. thanks, also, on behalf of the label, management and artist for not posting any pirate links to unreleased (studio) material and, if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, then a full length version of “Flash Delirium” is available for fans and bloggers to link to / post / host etc at http://www.whoismgmt.com/ … .. for further details of the new album, on-line promotions, videos and 2010 shows, check-out the official site, as well as the artist’s MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/mgmt and YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/mgmtmusic … .. and keep an eye on these official sources for details of further news, preview material and on-line promotions.
Also and as a goodwill gesture to fans and bloggers, an exclusive preview stream of the full album is currently available via the band’s website at http://www.whoismgmt.com … .. this is for hyper-linking ONLY and for streaming by fans directly off the band’s official website, so please reciprocate this goodwill gesture by NOT ripping or embedding these files.
Thanks again for your plug.
Regards,
WEB SHERIFF