Soak Up "Congratulations" with MGMT

I confess to shying away from listening to Congratulations, MGMT's follow-up to the surprise hit debut Oracular Spectacular, for two reasons. First, I never got into said debut. Second goes out to pretentiously not wanting to listen to 'mainstream-indie' music. My mistake.

MGMT basically had two choices when it was time to approach LP2. They could continue making radio-friendly songs that everyone wanted to hear despite the fact that they didn't really believe in them, or they could go off in a totally different direction. Either way, their fanbase was destined to be split. It's true of pretty much all groups that have achieved similar debut success. They tank if they carbon copy the first one. They tank with fans of the debut if they go off in a different direction.

Lucky for me and fans of well-crafted art rock, MGMT decided to go against the grain. Congratulations amazingly produced (which is why they don't translate well live), lyrically interesting, sonically coherent and overall a great package - much better than the topical pop Oracular gave us. Unfortunately, the general consumer doesn't have enough patience for an LP like this, or a beautiful track like Siberian Breaks, the 12 minute long album centerpiece. Those people will be hopefully be appeased (seriously!) by poppier tracks like Brian Eno and Song for Dan Treacy, but even at that, they don't really match the danceability of their previous hits. I don't mind this at all. But then again, I love it when 'loud' artists do softer tracks (ex. Arctic Monkeys' 505; Young Rival's The Ocean, Soft Pack's Mexico, Tokyo Police Club's Swedes in Stockholm).

There's plenty more to say, but I'll end it here:

It seems like there will always be a part of their fanbase that will never be thrilled in the least by this gem of a recording and in turn lost, but that's the price MGMT (probably happily) pays for musically taking the direction they'd like to.

"All is well if the ticket sells."

VIDEO: MGMT - "Flash Delirium" + Crit

I admit that I'm really not that much of an MGMT fan, but their video for Flash Delirium is fascinating.

This band is a textbook example of the indie-rock rise to success.

Here's my analysis of the clip I wrote earlier today. A bit of knowledge about MGMT's history is necessary though, and there are a couple of holes in the theory.

Their sophomore LP leaked and is streaming now, physical discs will be out April 13th.

Onto the analysis:

Okay, I got the fact that they’re hiding the ‘Electric Feel’, despite that it is an inherent part of them (their discography). They’ve said they thought the first album was painfully ironic or some bit, so that makes sense. The big house/pomp shit is most likely a symbol of their financial success and how they’re uncomfortable with it - might even be a poke at the decline of ‘big label culture’, especially since they’re signed to Columbia.

So when things get a little kooky at the house (ventriloquists are a symbol of subculture here), Andrew continues to essentially block out their past - looks like it was his idea to do so (his neck is covered up much better than Ben’s at the beginning). However, Ben gets all comfy again, as the band itself is kinda strange and subcultural success is in the group’s roots. The label then rips the first album out of him and he collapses. (??) Then the eel (Electric Feel) goes into the iron lung (necessary for singin’ songs & whatnot), turns into a person (?) during a literal flash delirium and the video ends - symbolic of Congratulations undetermined success.

Also, if you have a look at the lyrics after reading this, they make perfect sense.

MGMT Reveals Art

Continuing with the MGMT coverage, here's the art for their sophomore release Congratulations. Erm, ok.

The preorder comes with some very strange incentives.

MGMT Confirms Details for Sophomore Album

It's only been a short time since MGMT announced they wouldn't be releasing singles for their sophomore LP Congratulations, but they've already confirmed further details.

The nine-song album is slated for April 13th. Promising a track listing that flows with "sonic and thematic coherence", the duo insists that Congratulations will "definitely shock people and that they "dropped any sort of irony that was on the first record."

Track Listing:

01 - It’s Working

02 - Song for Dan Treacy

03 - Someone’s Missing

04 - Flash Delirium

05 - I Found a Whistle

06 - Siberian Breaks

07 - Brian Eno

08 - Lady Dada’s Nightmare

09 - Congratulations

MGMT Says 'No Singles for Sophomore LP'

Although MGMT's singles (Kids, Time to Pretend) have enjoyed an overwhelming amount of success, the group has decided that their sophomore Spring release Congratulations will have no pre-released tracks.

"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!" The band said in a recent NME interview.

Not putting out singles would minimize the number of illegal downloads (and pretentious singles-ain't-cool listeners), potentially saving labels and bands a bit more money. Could this be the future of releasing material?

Beck Covers Velvet Underground

Beck's image has had quite a busy summer. His website is totally redone, and with it, comes The Record Club, which is basically Beck getting some friends-in-bands together to cover entire albums. First up, the culture classic Velvet Underground and Nico.

The covers have been posted all over,
you can pick and choose your favorites on
hypem.

Next week's Record Club guest artists include Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Wolfmother and Little Joy! A great lineup. Keep watch at beck.com/record_club