Congratulation to MGMT for their upcoming album

XPost: I've listened to it four times now.

Ok. Here are a few for starters. Its psychedelia is unpsychedelic. Instead it is twee, mannered, goofy and aimless. To the extent that it makes a Flight Of The Conchords LSD music parody sound like The Calico Wall by comparison.

thank you doran! see, this is what i'm looking for. that is an interesting observation! you know how to make them, you win!

chandler dude above him, you are the loser today!

Good grief.

exactly!

i agree about the psychedelia thing. i think it's interesting for a band go for psychedelia and miss the target so completely. that is one of the reasons i like these jokers.

it reminds me of when pearl jam did "art" on Vitalogy.

Seriously johnnyo, fuck off. K?

I mean, no need to insult me for not indulging in your little game.

music tagged psychedelic is rarely actually psychedelic, in my experience. most of the time it just denotes use of phasers and late 60's vibes.

yeah, i imagine these dudes sitting in their dashkekis and telling the producer they want more reverb.

But I don't even hear that much dedication in the record! My biggest problem after that one listen is that it seemed pretty dull and lifeless. I loved the debut because it was fun and packed with so much joy. This time around things just feel a lot more flat.

I'm sure that doesn't count as "valid" criticism though.

that is totally valid, thank you dude!
i am also pretty surprised that this thing is a downer the WHOLE WAY THROUGH.
i think we're gonna get one of these downer "leave me alone" records out of Lady Gaga soon too. what are the vegas odds on lady gaga's next album being a "dark examination" of something?

Wow I think you just helped me nail my main criticism, I don't want a "downer" record from MGMT. That's about the complete opposite of what I look for in them! Lady GaGa already has some pretty dark elements in her music, particularly some of the non-singles on the her mini-album.

yeah i don't think anyone wanted a downer record from these dudes.
but now we know what one would sound like.

*clears throat*

it's like listening to people decide whether or not they want to have fun.

― johnnyo, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 11:33 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

that's a pretty perfect summation of this record, i guess.
at times you think they're gonna go for it, and then...

too bad cuz that cover is the funnest thing i've ever seen. it looks like a folder i had in 3rd grade.

the only rationale for not liking this album i've read on this thread is "it doesn't have the hit singlz".

i already explained myself you fucking retard

thin-sounding, derivative, twee, joyless, sexless, rhythmless, hookless "retro pastiche" that really "highlights their influences"

― call all destroyer, Monday, March 22, 2010 3:50 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that was your summation of the people on this thread xp

guys, this is a thread about MGMT

guys we were just starting to get somewhere.

i would like my encouraging pat on the head please

*pats head*

*beams*

I'm looking forward to this. can't be bothered to find a leak. always annoyed how so much album discussion happens on this board BEFORE an album is widely available

the band themselves are streaming it, dude!

link is upthread somewhere

eh I hate streaming shit at work

but for the sake of this thread, I will do it

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc340/funnyroadsigns/cake/gaffecake.jpg

That song about The Whistle sounds OK.

Ok I'm giving the whole thing a second chance.

1. It's Working - This actually sounds decent and makes for a good opener. A few nods to psychedelia... oh hey a harpsichord! Will we get eastern instruments too? Mmm... seems not. It got a tad annoying towards the end and even tho the chorus got drilled add nauseum, when it was all over I couldn't remember anything about it.
2. Song for Dan Treacy - I'll be honest, I've no idea who Dan Treacy is but I thought this sounded like a throwaway Of Montreal song. Got a bit better towards the end as it started to accumulate energy but it's been a confusing listen so far.
3. Someone's Missing - Hey there's the eastern instruments! The bassline helps shape an otherwise amorphous piece. Ends up being too short and uninspired. First revelation that they didn't gave a fuck when recording this and I'm starting to wonder why should I.
4. Flash Delirium - Nice mood but as the song progresses it starts to sound like a bunch of half assed ideas that dont fit one another, I'm starting to sense a trend in here. The ending was terrible, MGMT should never resort to screaming.
5. I Found a Whistle - Probably the most anthemic thing on the album so far. I thought it was good the first time I heard it but this time it felt like annoying hippie drivel to my ears. The psych influence starts to grate.
6. Siberian Breaks - Best song on the record. Lovely synths here and there. Seems to channel Flaming Lips somewhere round the middle. I like many of the individual ideas in here but don't think it works that well as a whole. Good but not enough too keep me interested through the whole 12 minutes. I don't see returning to it very often.
7. Brian Eno - Sounds to me like some sort of terrible rockabilly band trying to hommage space age pop. Didn't paid attention to the lyrics but song is incredibly annoying. I suppose this is what johnnyo refers to as the humor in this record.
8. Lady Dada's Nightmare - Meandering synth pads, not too much of a song.
9. Congratulations - Somehow reminds me of VU's Loaded for the first minutes and I like that, as it progresses, though, it starts to sound as detached and uninterested as the claps that end the record.

If I have to be positive the best thing I could say about this record is that it has a great album cover and the production is a step up from the blown-up sound from Oracular. As for the music, they need to rein it in a little bit... I'd like to isolate a few moments and ideas that could've made a decent piece and throwaway the most part of it.

12-minute thing in middle? may have to hear this

The interview makes them sound like cunts. Stupid cunts at that.

Maybe they HAVE been smoking too much of Sonic's chronic.

this album reminds me of 3-way era lilys.

hedgehogs have the best weed

lol this thread

looking forward to rereading this thread w/ johnnyo 3 yrs from now when hes zinging & posting about dance bobbins

this isn't terrible or anything but it is lacking in the monster hook department

The more I listen to this the more I like it. Lots of little hooks that over time get more and more interesting. LOVE LOVE LOVE the title song. Great slow jam. The first couple of songs I now detect a really strong Tromp Le Monde-era Pixies influence, especially the first song. "I've Got A Whistle" is pretty rad.

And I really like "Lady Dada" a whole lot. It's kind of like a Bruce Haack version of "White Christmas" getting derailed and lost in soft noise.

Still think "Brian Eno" is a bit annoying.

The new video scares me tho. Not good.

What other recent band (Fallout Boy? Panic at the Disco?) did this, where they essentially cut a light and loopy sixties psychedelia album?

This is decent on first listen -- I'm not really sure the world needed another one of these albums, but that's quite alright.

wow, the new video makes me want to take back the nice things i said about the album.

So does this thing have a bit of a Spacemen/Spectrum vibe to it then?

not at all - whatever Sonic Boom influence is on this record is nigh undetectable to my ears

well that sucks.

yeah I was kinda disappointed on that score too

I downloaded this expecting to hate it but I'm finding myself wanting to go back to it a lot. The vocals remind me a lot of the guy from Wire especially on the second track and about 3 minutes into Siberian Breaks. I already like it a lot more than the first album, me being in the 'it only had three good songs' camp.

I bet the writers at the NME are having a hard time right now trying to decide if they should give this a rating of 5 or 10.

Still think "Brian Eno" is a bit annoying.

― Adam Bruneau, Wednesday, March 31, 2010 1:33 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark

I totally agree with this, there's something that really annoys me about the way he sings Brian Eno.

Sonic Boom is in a huge I-collect-Nazi-memorabilia phase at present. To the point where he's actually wearing shit out that could ruffle some serious feathers among folk who don't take kindly to that sort of thing. I kind of hope this MGMT album shifts in huge numbers and the Brit tabloids get all indignant and do some kind of expose on him. Preferably with a Hitler stache 'shopped on at some point.

eh kinda not worried about Sonic being a Nazi

"drug addled shithead" is a more pressing concern