MGMTOracular Spectacular
(01.2008, Sony)
Verdict: Background dance party music
My initial reaction to Oracular Spectacular was astoundingly positive. They have a funky fresh sound that is both danceable and creative. Then, I started familiarizing myself with the lyrics and getting more familiar with the full album rather than the few stand out tracks that I had been repeating, and realized that the entire album feels like one giant joke. You know, songs you and your friends would make up on the fly in your apartment on a boring Friday evening. Not the full album, but a definite large portion of it seems to have this sort of half joking air about it. Especially "Electric Feel," and "Weekend Wars." Seriously, is it possible that these songs were written without jest? If they are supposed to be funny, they aren't funny enough, and come across as incredibly ridiculous. Those tracks in particular (which happen to be the two tracks they have music videos for) have provided serious hang ups for me with this album which have magnified to the point that I have a bad taste overall in my mouth from this album, which is a shame since they really have captured a great sounds and made a few very enjoyable tracks. If not for being overshadowed with the slivers of ultimate lameness that have made me take them less seriously as a band, I would probably actually want to listen to this one. The only real accomplishment MGMT have made with Oracular Spectacular is an interactive music video that you can manipulate while watching.
-Sassigrass
Download MGMT's interactive music video here, or just watch this youtube of someone playing it.
1 comment:
Funny I watched their video "Time to Pretend" and wondered what was up with the sort of Beatles meet Smashing Pumpkins meet I don't know who in the hell. Does music that self-consciously outs itself (there is a line in that song, we just want to have models for wives...and have fun.) as crassly commercial any better than, say, music that doesn't, but obviously is?
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