Congratulation to MGMT for their upcoming album

yea congratulations is a sick record, hope it gets another chance as time goes on

not optimistic about new record though, getting slammed/poo-pooed/ignored for going out on a limb and making a weird(er) album after a pop smash seems to do a number on a band's head... (blue album to pinkerton to green album, mellon collie to adore to machina). they'll either over or under compensate

it sounds like these guys are desperate to be weird. which sucks because they can actually write some great pop songs but they don't do the weird thing very well imo.

^ this

I'm fine with weird/outsider stuff when it doesn't sound labored.

i love congratulations, but this song sounds very dull

it's like they want to be ariel pink but are going about it backwards. they should write a whole bunch of great catchy songs but perform and record them in a weird amateur bedroom kind of way instead of writing weak meandering songs and then doing these big slick productions around them.

bleah, this song is horrid. did the last album sound like this, like doilied-up indie psych?

wk otm

www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=96168#unread

oh you made a new thread: MGMT (s/t 2013)

i don't agree with this "trying to be weird" narrative. congratulations had eccentric elements, but the hooks were there; songs like "song for dan treacy" "someone's missing" and the title track are total earworms. i think one of the things people responded to in oracular spectacular was this sort of groovy wiccan undercurrent, which was way more 60s than most 2000s indie, and i think they just are continuing to refine that san francisco sound. i mean "i found a whistle that works like a charm/ and when my noose is tied i can blow it/ and fall right into your arms / fifteen centuries of dissolution and grief/ and return a yellow trickster and a thief." classic psychadelic Odin reference, the god of the hanged. the album reminds me of new hope pennsylvania.

people talk about this album like it's jandek or something but in actuality it is a total joy. i hope they get "weirder" with each new release. also, this isn't noted very often, but the production on congratulations is way better than on oracular spectacular, which sounds really bright and metallic for some reason. i want to hear it remastered.

I think people are talking about the new song, not Congratulations. You think the new song has hooks? I never got into congrats, but my favorite songs on oracular are The Handshake and Weekend Wars which are both somewhat adventurous but still great pop songs.

I mean I guess The Handshake hinted that they were going to screw the label over and spend their advance on acid, but this is not the way to go about it. You can make an uncommercial "fuck you" album that's still great, but somehow I don't think this new one is going to be their Dopesmoker.

maybe not "hooks" on that one, but it seems pretty straightforward melodically and not at all "out there". what it reminds me of most is yoshimi-era flaming lips. idk, it is like camp psychadelia and it sounds really into what it is, if that makes sense.

i just think their music is fun, and their second album moreso than the first one, much as i love "Kids." this song seems like it is in a similar vein to congratulations.

is this album widely considered a masterpiece yet?

this is the best album of the 2000s. that's an exaggeration, but seriously. I'm going to continue to flog this particular horse until it magically comes back to life.

which of the three?

congratulations is light years better than either oracular spectacular or the new, self-titled one.

never got into them. is it different from oracular?

ya. congrats rules. wouldn't say top 20 tho even of the decade
top 50 tho

it's pretty different than oracular. the song structures are generally looser and there are more surprises. but the main thing that's brilliant about it is the way the band plays with the album's inevitable failure in the wake of oracular spectacular, a fluke hit they would never again live up to. i mean, there are few moments in music journalism more memorable to me than mgmt essentially bracing the new york times for disappointment when they were profiled as part of the promotion for the album. similar sentiments abound in the album: "the hot dog is getting cold / you'll never be as good as the rolling stones." "dead in the water / it's not a paid vacation/... yet all is well if the ticket sells." on one level, this kind of thing is just funny, a way of trolling the whole media cycle they were caught up in. but there are also anxieties about artistic belatedness on display that seem more pointed and serious. "we'll always be a step behind him, he's brian eno."

i guess mgmt had already explored their fatigue at the idea of being pop stars in "time to pretend". "congratulations" takes this further, and in more personal directions. i mean, the closing track -- which is the source of the album's title -- is basically a fuck-you to themselves. they are not convinced that their music has any real value. and yet, they clearly have a ton of fun with the wiccan-psychadelia stuff, like "i found a whistle" which would have blown people away if it had been written in 1968. so that's the other twist. there is a way in which the band's stated ambivalence about their work is liberating and i think, for them, that's the whole point of making fun of the whole idea of the pressure of a sophomore album.... to get some distance from the whole thing. and it works! there are moments that seem pure and fun. but also as a listener i can't shake the uneasiness these guys clearly feel about their whole career. all of this stuff is compelling to me.

tl;dr this is the definitive album of the era of clickbait journalism because on a literal, lyrical level it is consumed with anxieties about its reception.

Congratulation to MGMT

@treezy

i'll give it a listen. cheers for the introductory

"I Found a Whistle" is def one of their best tracks. "Something's Missing" was another highlight from that record. Love love love the Jackson 5-style outro hook.

congratulations to treeship

treeship otm this is a forgotten masterpiece and idk why

i understand the circumstances i guess. first album crossed over, indie world turned on them and didn't pay attention to this record, and none of the songs were hits.

this album is totally top 10 cover art for me

maybe one day i'll listen to it

new single. sounds better than anything on the 2013 s/t. bumping this thread because Congratulations is a criminally underrated record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtL5oMyBHPs

i love all their records Congratulations is probably my favorite.

but this song is a little boring

I found the s/t really dull & badly produced... this is at least nice on the ears, warm synths... but I feel that they really were poisoned by the harsh rejection of Congratulations. Such a shame, that record is so so fucking great.

yeah "Something's Missing" is all time imo. sort of existing in a glorious psychedelic nexus between Jackson 5 and Pink Floyd. the build up and that final chorus is so beautiful, and the A/B structure of the thing is so perfect.

"I Found a Whistle" has that utopian pop thing going for it but w really cool production and backwards sounds and stuff. a lot of this record feels very "Clouds Taste Metallic". maybe hearkening back to the space gospel of "They Punctured My Yolk". i think they hit this feeling in the first album with "The Youth" (probably my 2nd favorite track from that album after "Weekend Warriors").

the title track is so perfect. it has that sweeping-the-floor feel to it. it is the sound of a champagne bottle popping, hittin' the dusty trail. spare acoustic guitar and drums, with little rainshowers of synths, like tiny digital fireworks. it is so pleasing to listen to. this really scratches that Roxy Music itch, of truly futuristic pop.

yeah otm, especially about the title track "sweeping the floor" feel. it's such a beautiful song, an instant classic in a way. all about that descending bass line.

my favorite has always been "Song for Dan Treacy." completely manic and catchy and just fucking fun, those Scooby Doo synths on the chorus. & the thing jolts from section to section and actually gets better. "It's Working" is a great opener, too. "Siberian Breaks" - again, brilliant, and something they'll probably never attempt again because they got slapped for it in 2010.

Best album of 2010

"It's Working" is a great opener, too

yes <3 the harpsichord, the slowed down "Be My Baby" bit, dream pop production, all of it. so good!

my favorite has always been "Song for Dan Treacy."

"he made his mind up" is such a killer hook! im amazed at their ability to write these weird kind of askew and wandering melodies that end up actually being super catchy. good lyrics too. i love this band, Treeship OTM

Alien Days from the s/t is as good as anything from Congratulations but otherwise it was really dire

these days I think I would take Congratulations over any Flaming Lips album

I'm so happy the tide seems to be turning on the reputation of this album.

lol connan mockasin in that video tho

this is the best album of the 2000s. that's an exaggeration, but seriously. I'm going to continue to flog this particular horse until it magically comes back to life.

― Treeship, Friday, March 21, 2014 1:43 AM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my life has meaning now

Ah I had totally forgotten this band ! Never listened to Congratulations. I might give it try.

Ah I had totally forgotten this band ! Never listened to Congratulations. I might give it try.

new song

MGMT have shared a new song called “When You Die.” Take a listen below, and also check out its corresponding psychedelic music video. MGMT recently shared the visual for their new song “Little Dark Age,” the title track off their forthcoming fourth record. The album is due out in February according to the New Yorker; while its release date and tracklist have yet to be announced, the group have been performing new tracks from the record while on tour. Little Dark Age is the follow-up to the band’s 2013 self-titled LP. Read Pitchfork’s 2013 interview with MGMT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmozGmGoJuw

hmmm i like this song! came up on my release radar and was into it before i even checked to see who it was

there's a brief interview in the new Rolling Stone. describes Congratulations as a "disappointing experimental album" that alienated "fans, critics, and even their record label." apparently they handed the new album in to Columbia last April, and were told it wouldn't come out until this month. they have one more record left on their contract & are eager to not be on a major label. made me kinda sad. the piece says the record is their most poppy since Oracular Spectacular, praise that I don't know how to take. makes me equally excited and nervous. from the end of the piece:

"I would love to just go straight from fucking around in my attic to putting something on YouTube," says VanWyngarden. Goldwasser has an even bolder vision: "Maybe instead of putting out an album, we'll put out an immersive art installation where you go into a house and each room is a different musical landscape. We can enter the David Byrne era of our career."

new album is pretty good not my favorite but it will grow on me for sure. feels a lot like the first album at times. lots of 80s style synth pop here w the standard Pink Floyd Lite subject matter. a few tracks remind me of "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night" or something. like the song about looking at your phone is actually really cool. "Me and Michael" is better than "Kids" and probably gonna make them a lot of licensing dough. the song seriously rules. lyrics, chorus, all of it, feels like a lost 80s classic.

"When You're Small" bringing heavy "The Wall" vibes

First listen “James” is the one I like the best. Also like the goth vibes in some of these but they usually mess up the landing for me. They have a great idea somewhere inside the songs and sometimes the section transitions are a bit awkward.