Send "Mgmt " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 MGMT happens to be one of those young bands that play music for the hell of it and ultimately write a few songs that end up being monster hits. With the release of Oracular Spectacular, everyone knew that Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden weren't your normal kids. But aside from their drug-induced electronic jams they had a fluent and enjoyable experimental side that went overlooked. While their singles brought them fame, it was obvious that everything on Oracular Spectacular aside from their three huge hits was along the lines of their true craft. When Congratulations was announced, they made it clear that if you were expecting "Kids Pt.2" you would be let down, yet people failed to take their advice. Things got even weirder when they stated that there would be no singles on the new album, again straying further from their path to stardom. The icing on the proverbial cake was that there would be a 12-minute epic on Congratulations. If that isn't enough to stray away their fair-weather fans, I'm not sure what will. But with that drive and energy, the band did what they set out to do. Call it cliche, call them fake, call Congratulations a joke, but the band created something that was true to who they are and you have to give them respect for that. If there was a word to compare Congratulations to Oracular Spectacular, it would be "opposite". Take everything you remember about the last album and throw it out the window, run it over with your car once, and throw it in reverse to make sure it's done for. All of the effort that was driven into the singles of the last album left everything else to be lackluster. While the singles were great and left a mark on pop culture, the other side of the band needed to be drawn out and given a chance to come to life. Lucky for us who enjoy music outside of catchy hooks and jingles, we got what we wanted - a fucked up and weird album that touches on so many different sounds that "ridiculous" would be an understatement. The boys put down the synthesizer and picked up other instruments and made some of their best music ever....full text |
| Culturebully |
| Imagine yourself in the place of MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser. Following the amazing success of your band’s Oracular Spectacular, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide, you finalize production on your new album, and in preparation for its release you (the royal “you”) make a song available to fans as a free download. But rather than it being lavished in praise, as many were likely expecting, “Flash Delirium” is almost universally snubbed. Do you: a) Go on about your business, b) Take the feedback into consideration, ultimately dismissing it as it goes against your “artistic vision,” or c) Apologize? Regardless of what you might do, Goldwasser went with the latter, explaining the band’s new direction in a recent interview, and concluding with an apology. But is an apology really necessary? There’s no disputing the generation-defining grandiose of “Time To Pretend,” the unforgettable simplicity of “Kids,” or the stylish fluidity of “Electric Feel,” but that’s not exactly what MGMT are “going for” with Congratulations. Sure, the new release is a huge stylistic departure, but an “I’m Sorry”? Really? As Goldwasser would go on to explain to Spinner, Congratulations is something of a reactionary statement dismissing the rapid rise to fame that the band has experienced. “We’re trying to come to grips with that world. It’s not our world. We don’t feel comfortable in it. But we didn’t want to make that typical second album either, about fame. So we’re definitely observing it, as opposed to revelling in it.” And in discussing the release with NME, Goldwasser explained how the band views the release in contrast to their past successes, “There definitely isn’t a ‘Time To Pretend’ or a ‘Kids’ on the album.” He continued, “We’d rather people hear the whole album as an album and see what tracks jump out rather than the ones that get played on the radio—if anything gets played on the radio!” So rather than coasting off of what now seems destined to be MGMT’s most commercially successful record the band is following a different direction and making music that feels true to the moment. Again, can it really be so bad that an apology is in order? “It’s Working” leads off Congratulations as a fairly lighthearted track with a understated post-punk bass line. “Song For Dan Treacy” follows as a mod-rock throwback infused with an electric organ and a series of effects. “Someone’s Missing” quietly introduces itself through Andrew Van Wyngarden’s echo-heavy vocals, but just as soon as it begins to pick up speed a gentle funk fades the track out. The ire-raising “Flash Delirium” and “I Found A Whistle” round out the first half of Congratulations, though each honestly fails at revealing much more than par-for-the-course psych-rock....full text |
| Spin |
| The closing and title track of MGMT's second album could be a career coda -- a tender acoustic elegy with ornate keyboard sprinkles, and frontman Andrew VanWyngarden playing an arch dandy resigned to a life of half-assed guilt assuaged only by the ministrations of phonies and lackeys. He admits to being "dead in the water," a blasé narcissist who'd "rather dissolve than have you ignore me." Since before most of us little Ziggy Stardusts were crawling on our knees toward it, the rock-star dream machine has been sold as a seductive caution -- charismatic naïf seizes public's imagination with undeniable anthem, gorges on fame's spoils, crashes tawdrily. Each new generation throws its version of the mythic party, then we sift through the rehab refuse for life lessons, fashion tips, and tabloid nosh. So what of VanWyngarden and his partner Ben Goldwasser? They shuffled the narrative with 2007's effortlessly melodic Oracular Spectacular, in which the impish Wesleyan lads ironically yet plaintively lamented how they were "fated to pretend" to be rock stars, only able to fantasize about the models, the cars, the moving to Paris, the gagging on your own spew. For these two aimless issues of the educated classes, stardom was an absurdity -- it wasn't gonna happen, and even if it did, it'd just make them miss their moms....full text |
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