Oracular Spectacular. Album Review

When MGMT was asked by their record label for a list of their dream producers, with low expectations they sarcastically replied: Prince, Nigel Godrich, Barrack Obama, and "not Sheryl Crow." Columbia returned with Dave Fridmann, the producer extraordinaire best known for his work with Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. In typical Fridmann fashion, Oracular Spectacular is a glamorous mega-production through and through. Drums are massively distorted and shimmering keyboards are articulately layered as he takes the reigns, leading the duo through his daisy chain of onboard compressors, delay units, and whatever other mysterious studio gizmos and gadgets he uses to get his trademark sound. Expectedly, the 14 karat polish enhances MGMT's blend of psychedelic and indie-electro to a shiny sonic gleam, resulting in some of the catchiest pop songs to come from NYC since the turn of the millennium. The tunes sound classic and new all at once, paying homage to Bowie, the Kinks, and the Stones, while updating traditional progressions with flashes of Royal Trux, Ween, and LCD Soundsystem. It's a wonderful mess of musical ideas, ranging from the dancy disco thump and Bee Gees falsetto of "Electric Feel" to the gritty acoustic-based "Pieces of What," to the grimy synth groove on the anthemic "Time to Pretend." With tongues planted firmly in cheeks, sardonic wit is as abundant as Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser spoof the stereotypical rock & roll lifestyle with lines like "Lets make some music, make some money, find some models for wives/I'll go to Paris take some heroin and fuck with the stars." Despite the ever-present irony, the songs never feel insincere and the record is inherently strong throughout, making it a solid start to their career. ~ Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guide

Album has compositions:

1. Time to Pretend
2. Weekend Wars
3. The Youth
4. Electric Feel
5. Kids
6. 4th Dimensional Transition
7. Pieces of What
8. Of Moons, Birds & Monsters
9. The Handshake
10. Future Reflections

You can download Oracular Spectacular here.

Biography

Finding an unlikely middle point between Suicide's hostile proto-electro punk art noise and the sardonic, studied, but ultimately pop-friendly sound of the Flaming Lips, MGMT started as electroclash musical terrorists but quickly transmogrified into an eclectic, brainy pop group with heavy psychedelic overtones. MGMT first formed in 2002, during Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden's freshman year as art students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. At first the band was known as the Management, and its shows consisted mostly of backing tapes, synthesizers, and prerecorded vocals playing as Goldwasser and Van Wyngarden engaged the audience in a manner somewhere between performance art and good old-fashioned punky hostility. By their senior year, things had toned down considerably on-stage and the duo was augmenting its live sound with backing musicians. Upon graduating, the duo released an electro-rock EP, Time to Pretend, on the tiny indie Cantora Records in 2005. Good reviews, especially for the title track, and extensive touring brought the duo to the attention of British producer Steve Lillywhite in his role as an A&R executive for Columbia Records, which signed the band for a major long-term deal in 2006. Regrouping in Brooklyn, the duo enlisted producer Dave Fridmann to create the entirely different-sounding Oracular Spectacular, a far more musically expansive album. MGMT were Of Montreal's opening act for their extensive 2007 tour, during which Van Wyngarden and Of Montreal leader Kevin Barnes began sketching out ideas for a new collaboration called Blikk Fang. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide