MGMT - Congratulations

_____MGMT were probably, without a doubt, one of the biggest bands of 2008. Their Oxegen set is still talked about, they started that headband craze basically all on their own, and their album Oracular Spectacular was just that. So their little break away from the fields, and even possible stadiums, full of screaming fans for the most part of last year was more than deserved. But wisely, they didn’t keep the masses waiting too long, as the majority of the musical consumer base are very much like that animal, what’s it called again… Oh yeah, the goldfishsheepparrot: they’ll love you if everyone else likes you, they are incapable of having any opinion other than those they were told to hold by MTV, and, the danger which MGMT ran, they’ll forget about you in approximately 12.75 seconds after you stop releasing songs for them to be told whether are good or not.
___But luckily, for the most part, people can still just about remember something about a couple of atrociously catchy songs. Think one of them was in Skins too… That meant that quite a fair few eyes were on the these lads, eagerly awaiting what they held in store for us with follow-up album Congratulations. So many in fact, that it was inevitable that it would get leaked eventually, and surprise surprise, I have it on my iTunes even though it’s not out yet! Technology’s mad innit?
___It’s worth noting that the band have stressed repeatedly that this album wouldn’t be like Oracular Spectacular. There’d be no trippy synth riffs, no headbands, and no, erm, singles… I do sort of get where they were coming from, they didn’t want everyone hyping the album up to such dizzying heights as the previous one, as that’d be pretty tough to top. Totally understandable like. Only nobody understood it and for the previous few months the entire internet has been crying out one resounding message to the New York boys: MORE DIS PLZ


MGMT - Electric Feel
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_____And it wasn’t just those who can’t spell and write in caps that longed for more feel good summer smashes, no, I don’t think anyone would have criticised MGMT had they come out with Oracular Spectacular Mk.2. But they didn’t. I would say fair play to them for not bowing to public pressure and releasing the sort of songs that they are bound to be sick of playing by now, but, after listening to Congratulations, I really wished they had done. Because I reckon there’s a good chance that the band will look back on this second album in a couple of years time and think “shit, that was like the worst decision ever”.
___Because it really was. No matter what way you look at it. It just wasn’t smart. As economic producers, they’ve acted irrationally in not producing what was demanded. As talented musicians, they’ve acted curiously in making really bad music. And as intelligent human beings, they’ve acted 100% ridiculously in not only going ahead and releasing the album, but publicly admitting themselves that there wouldn’t be any Time To Pretend’s, Kids’, or basically any decent songs on the album. I just don’t get it…

_____I even think they might have been a bit harsh on themselves, as, while I’m not saying it’s good, cause it’s not, but there are some glimpses of ok-ish songs on there. But by god do you have to wade through some thick as shit musical manure to find it.
___The album opens on what is quite possibly the most mediocre of notes in the history of the world. It’s Working, I think it’s called, as if there’s one thing that I noticed about it, it was that it’s gracefully forgettable. Lady Dada’s Nightmare is far worse than a nightmare, there are absolutely no positives whatsoever to take from I Found A Whistle, and I haven’t a clue how bad Siberian Breaks is, because every time I sit down to tackle it’s ominous twelve minute bulk, at around 30-45 seconds into it, it makes me realize that my time on this earth is not infinite, and every moment I spend not listening to Suffragette Suffragette is a moment wasted.
_____Some moments, however, are more wasted than others, and while this album is, on the whole, just one prolonged wasting of consecutive moments, some parts weren’t quite as painful as others. Song For Dan Treacy did slightly raise false hopes that this album might have more to offer than it’s preceding opening track implied, Flash Delerium could just about pass for a half-decent B-side to Future Reflections or something, and Someone’s Missing is definitely one of the more bearable tracks on the record, although that is aided by the fact that it’s one of the shortest.



_____There’s strong rumours that MGMT will return to the festival scene once again this summer, and I’ve no doubt that they will pack out the tents once again. However, there’s a fairly could chance that if the band don’t play all the hits at least twice, that Congratulations will have the masses pouring out of these tents and flooding to the main stage to see Arcade Fire in the most miraculous displays of musical righteousness that we have all waited too long to behold.

Ph4il