MGMT
“Congratulations”
Sony/Columbia
Wow these dudes really fucking BLEW IT HARD! I’m not even a fan and I know these guys screwed the pooch. People that liked their sugary sweet debut album have to be bummed on what’s happening here on “Congratulations”. I’m not really sure what this “new direction” is that MGMT are going for here, but this record smells to me like a desperate attempt at trying to be something this band isn’t. Not to mention something no one wants to hear. Nuked!
When the first MGMT record came out, I fought it hard… I didn’t wanna like it. But after hearing it everywhere from my neighborhood bar to Vons supermarket, I caved in and admitted that even though it wasn’t my thing it was very well done. I mean I’ll take my hat off to anyone who can write songs that people can’t get outta their heads, that’s a rarely well done art-form. The songs on MGMT’s first record are so well constructed that I witnessed several friends not even notice their kids were singing along about shooting heroin and fucking models. Again not my thing but I do admire these two dorks who went from obscure hippy virgins in a band to sleeping in a different models’ beds every night lotto winning rock stars. Impressive to say the least.
As a reacting to their second record, “Congratulations”, being leaked to the big bad internet…. you can now stream it in it’s entirety on MGMT’s website @ http://whoismgmt.com/. You probably won’t believe me but I actually listened to the entire thing. And I can safely say that this record CAN be judged by it’s cover. The audio part of this record sucks as hard, if not harder than the retarded image these losers picked to be their cover art. It’s unmemorable, it’s uncomfortable and this is gonna sound harsh… but I just don’t wanna hear this dork sing “I Found A Whistle” over some slow tempo pansy-ass keyboards sounds, sorry! Well not really, cuz I’m pretty sure no one wants to hear these homeboys do this either, including the hardest of the hardcore MGMT fans. Am I wrong?
These guys blew it by not sticking with somewhat of the same sound/formula as their first record. The first red flag for me that this record was going to be a hot steamy turd was when I heard they have gotten Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3 to produced it. Great idea getting the dude from Spacemen 3 that tours only with a Casio keyboard and a delay pedal. Wouldn’t wanna get the dude who wrote all the rad songs in Spacemen 3 and went on to make a stack of killer albums under the moniker of Spiritualized including “Ladies and Gentlemen We’re Floating In Space” which is considered one of the best records of the 90s.
You’re trying a little to hard here MGMT… and it’s really boring. If you guys wanted to switch things up and shock people you should have picked up some guitars and hired Mark Arm from Mudhoney to produce it. Now that might have been interesting. Oh well, you’re still right from that first record so I don’t feel too bad for you.
Stream the record and let me know what you guys think of it below in the comments.
Kisses,
Travis
