MGMT Scores With New Album
by Bill DiFilippo
When MGMT released their first single off their second album “Congratulations,” celebrity blogger Perez Hilton had nothing good to say on his twitter.
“Listening to the new MGMT album. Not what I expected! They’ve completely changed their sound. Disappointed! Sounds very 60s/70s, Byrds-like,” tweeted Hilton. However, after listening to “Flash Delirium,” the aforementioned first single, I have to believe Hilton does not deserve to ever write about music again.
MGMT excites many fans, due to their talent.about music again.
MGMT broke onto the scene with 2007’s smash hit album “Oracular Spectacular.” The album, which Rolling Stone named one of the top 20 best albums of the last decade, propelled founding members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser into a level of popularity they never expected to achieve when they first started writing music as freshmen at Wesleyan University. MGMT continued to gain success as music’s best new band when their music was used in movies like Alice in Wonderland and 21. The moment MGMT won a Grammy for their song “Electric Feel,” the anticipation for their new album grew tremendously. Once the band was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2010 Grammys, MGMT suddenly because every teenager’s favorite band.
On April 13th, 2010, MGMT released “Congratulations” to the public, but the album was nothing like the electronic New Wave music they were famous for. In an interview with British magazine New Musical Magazine, Goldwasser stated, “There definitely isn’t a (hit single like) ‘Time to Pretend’ or a ‘Kids’ on the album. We’ve been talking about ways to make sure people hear the album as an album in order and not just figure out what are the best three tracks, download those and not listen to the rest of it.”
Among some Danville students, the album is nothing too special. Junior Matt Byerly says, “They remind me of a techno mix of the Beatles and the Ramones. It’s different from their last album. It’s not bad, but I prefer ‘Oracular Spectacular.’” Senior Jack Perez had similar thoughts. “It wasn’t bad,” says Perez, “but it’s not my type of music. They’re kind of like Radiohead, but not as good. I’ll give it a 2.5 or 3 out of 5.”
In my opinion, the album is almost as good as their debut. The album may stray away from their original roots as an electronic band, but it does a good job staying with things the band is good at. Songs like “Flash Delirium” are very similar to the stuff that made them famous, but it’s up-tempo, rock songs like “Brian Eno” that will have the band appeal to more different kinds of people. As Goldwasser said, the band didn’t want one hit single, but for people to appreciate the album as a whole. And if I say so myself, “Congratulations” does that perfectly.