Home > Music > CD Review > MGMT, "Oracular Spectacular"

MGMT, "Oracular Spectacular"

Funky party pop from fast-rising Brooklyn duo

By Adam McKibbin, Special to Metromix

January 22, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Backstory: Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Vanwyngarden are twentysomething college buddies who met and began playing together at Wesleyan University. Their debut EP in 2005 led to an opening slot with Of Montreal (who took them on tour again in 2007) and a deal with Columbia Records.

Why you should care: Big-time producers love these guys! Steve Lillywhite (U2, Talking Heads) signed them, while Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Sleater-Kinney) helmed the boards for “Oracular Spectacular.”

Verdict: MGMT serve up escapist pop that feeds adoringly from the plates of proven party-starters like Beck and Scissor Sisters. They’re best in this up-tempo vein, as on the bouncy synth-pop gem “Kids” and the slinky dance floor funk of “Electric Feel.” The duo’s attention span drifts in a hurry, leading them into (among other things) spacey, Bowie-descended psych-pop. All of this plays right into Fridmann’s strengths, and he helps balance the epic with the quirky.

X-Factor: Based on experiential evidence he bravely collected himself, Vanwyngarden recommends that listeners save their acid trips for other albums, calling his own record “too chaotic.”

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