MGMT ‘Congratulations’ – Review

Mgmt’s first album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ began with ‘Time to Pretend’, a sort of rock n roll shopping list – super models, drugs, champagne, divorce and an untimely death. It may have been tongue in cheek but the band probably ticked more boxes in the last two years than they had intended, and in a way they became the type of people they were mocking. They open their new album with an equally declarative number, ‘It’s working’, a song about the despair of being famous and the downside of said drugs. ‘My Mind’s affected, it’s empty now -  I see the signs of ageing.’ MGMT have dropped the satire (Well nearly), they’ve dropped the synths (well nearly) and they’ve gone from post nu rave to pastoral psychedelia, with an emphasis on past.  We’re not in Kansas anymore…

Except that we kind of are. You see as much as broadsheet journos and the NME would like to convince us that MGMT have abandoned ship and ‘gone weird’, it doesn’t ring true – not to anyone that actually heard ‘Oracular Spectacular’ rather than just the singles.  Song number two on that album was called ‘Weekend Wars’ and featured lyrics about ‘Mental mystics twisted in a metal car’. So on that basis was anyone really expecting an album made up entirely of synth pop? To set the record straight ‘Congratulations’ is not a grand departure but rather a natural progression. And it is a true triumph.

Whilst there are only nine tracks each individual song is like ten songs in one. If you heard first single (except don’t call it a single) ‘Flash Delirium’ then you will know what to expect. There is no traditional course that the band follow, just as you think a song is going one way it will cut diagonally and take you in a completely new direction. Hence flute solos, a glam rock interlude and a psych rock freak out in just four minutes. There are rarely choruses and it’s unusual for a theme (either musical or lyrical) to hold Andrew’s attention for more than a verse. Whilst this adventurous streak is admirable and insures repeated listens are a must, it sometimes leads to incohesive and even directionless songs. A good example is the 12 minute odyssey ‘Siberian Breaks’ which seems to ramble on forever without ever really getting anywhere.

But since when has rock music had to have direction – how rock n roll is that? Besides whilst individual songs lack a beginning middle and end the album itself has a better structure. It begins with a trio of perfect pop songs albeit pop in the old-fashioned sense of the word – anyone wanting radio 1 hit’s should steer clear of this album. ‘Song For Dan Treacy’ is a highlight for it’s Zombies style harmonies and typically witty lyrics about the lost soul of British punk. The middle section of the album is the aforementioned ‘weird’ bit but then the album crashes back down to earth with ‘Brian Eno’, a song surprisingly enough about Brian Eno. ‘Congratulations’ does name check a lot of unusual people, like Dan Tracey and in track eight Lady gaga, or Lady Dada as she is refered to here. I don’t think the freaky instrumental is essential but it’s not a horrible diversion, and it’s as weak as the album gets.

Things are brought to a close with the title track, easily the song most reminiscent of old school MGMT – although it’s more ‘Pieces of What’ than ‘Time To Pretend’. The song sums up the bands difficult relationship with, if not quite fame, then popularity. ‘It’s hardly sink or swim when all is well if the ticket sells’. The band clearly felt some conflict between being popular and making the music that they wanted to make. They also feel the weight of expectation more keenly than most groups do And yet despite this they have made an album that is unflinching in its goals and pretty heartless about any fans that get lost on the journey. Like Arctic Monkeys did last year they have made a divisive album that will be misunderstood by the majority of fans that brought the first record, but loved by the few that do get it.

I can’t imagine that anyone would be disappointed with what this album is; it’s an ambitious, colourful and imaginative record that sounds more interesting than anything else out this year. It is however easy to see why people would be disappointed with what this is not. This is not a itunes friendly album and this is not going to translate to radio or the clubs very easily. MGMT have decided where their loyalties lie and it’s with the strange. Now it’s up to their fans to do the same.

9/10

MGMT ‘FLASH DELIRIUM’

MGMT have released the first taster for their new album ‘Congratulations’, a song called ‘Flash Delirium’. The album is one of my most anticipated of the year and this song is as good as I hoped it would be. It’s a weird, mini epic that features mind bending lyrics and several different sections (my favourite part is the glam rock bit about 1/3rd of the way through). The song is a free download from MGMT’s website or you can hear it below.

Congratulations MGMT

MGMT have announced first details of their second album, the follow-up to ‘Oracular Spectaclar’. The 9 track record (so much for double album) will be out on April 13th and it will be called….. ‘Congratulations’. Below is the tracklisting

1. It’s Working
2. Song for Dan Treacy
3. Someone’s Missing
4. Flash Delirium
5. I Found a Whistle
6. Siberian Breaks
7. Brian Eno
8. Lady Dada’s Nightmare
9. Congratulations

Siberian Breaks is apparently a 12 minute freakout that features 8 different songs in one whilst Lady Dada’s nightmare is an instrumental inspired by Lady Gaga. Things are going to get very weird. The stuff they have already played live is a bit more conventinal, displaying more of a surf rock sound fused with the modern psychedelia of their debut. I am extremely excited about this album, it could be mega. Below are live versions of a couple of the tracks.

Yeasayer ‘Odd Blood’ – Review

‘POP GOES THE BAND!’

Remember Mystery Jets first album? The weird one? ‘Making Dens’ was a pretty fine piece of work but the chances are you remember the band for their poptastic second album ‘Twenty One’. It was a change of direction, a pretty mainstream direction, but it worked wonders for the group. Yeasayer have attempted to make the same transition with their second album, ‘Odd Blood’, and the results are a little bit more mixed.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good album, at times it’s pretty brilliant and It’s also as weird as they come. But my first reaction was one of disappointment. Their debut ‘All Hour Cymbals’ did for Middle Eastern music what Vampire Weekend did for African music. That may be a bit of a simplification but the group essentially took the music and themes of world music and westernized them. It was a beautiful vocal based record with some eccentric tendencies, catchy melodies and an indie sensibility.

I was expecting ‘Odd Blood’ to be progression of the same idea, in the same way that ‘Contra’ progressed Vampire Weekend’s sound. Instead this album is a fairly radical departure for the band. The harmonies and vocal chants have largely be scrapped which is slightly sad, and the exotic instruments have also been replaced by exotic computers. As I say, this is still an eccentric album (the first track is one of the freakiest beginnings to any album I’ve ever heard) it’s just eccentric in a different way.

So Yeasyer have gone synth pop, kind of. ‘O.N.E’ and ‘Ambling Alp are bona-fide hits in the making, both counting among the catchiest songs I’ve heard in yonks. lyrically they have also moved on from bizarre tales of the future to songs about more down to earth themes, there is even a song called ‘Love Me Girl’. Well the guy is clearly in love with someone, on ‘I Remember’  he repeats ‘You’re stuck in my mind all the time.’ This track is another winner.

If the album was this consistent over ten tracks then I would say their move to synth pop has been a success. However, like the first album, there are a couple of duds on here. Nothing shockingly bad (although ‘The Children will certainly raise a few eyebrows), but ‘Strange Reunions’ feels a bit like filler and the album ends on a rather anti climactic note with ‘Grizekla’. Luckily the strong songs far outweigh the weak ones but it does mean that ‘Odd Blood’ is a very good album rather than a great one.

So Yeasayer have aimed for success and good on them, they certainly deserve it. This is a bold departure for the band and It’s going to win them more fans than it will loose them. ‘Odd Blood’ has some strange moments but it is surely destined for the radio, and thats just fine with me.

7.5/10

Albums to look forward to in 2010!

1. TBA – Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was working with the likes of Will I Am and Akon right before his death but the album had been in the works for many years before that. It was planned to be released ages ago but Jackson kept pushing it back, but now we may fnaly get to hear it in 2010. This is the most anticipated album of next year because everybody is interested to see what Jackson was up to in his final years of productivity and how he would sound in the 21st century, working with some of the coolest names around. Who knows in what form we will hear material, we just want to hear it as he would have wanted.

2. TBA – The Strokes

We have been waiting for the next Strokes album for so long there is an almost certainty that it won’t live up to expectations. That said, ‘Phrazes For The Young’ was unexpectedly good and hopefully the next Strokes album (If it comes next year) can be even better. The chances of them pulling of another Is This It, or even ‘Room On Fire’ may be slim but most people would be happy with something more thought out than ‘First Impressions of Earth’ which wasn’t as bad as some people remember but hardly set the world on fire.

3. TBA – The Drums

Easily the most anticipated debut of next year, The Drums ‘mini LP’ released a few months ago was a breath of fresh air and hopefully the album will build on that. It’s not been said whether fan favourites such as ‘Lets Go Surfin’ will appear on the record but new songs including ‘Forever and ever amen’ almost certainly will.

4. Astro Coast – Surfer Blood

A great new band who combine surf punk and weezer-esque anthems, this album is out in January and is already getting a lot of buzz. Set to include the awesome ‘Swim to Reach The End’.

5. TBA – LCD Soundsystem

The follow-up to the best dance album of the noughties can’t be as good as ‘Sound of Silver, can it? The cynic in me says no way but if anyone can do it then LCD Soundsystem can.

6. Congratulations – MGMT

They have previewed a few tracks from congratulations and they all sound like classic MGMT. The album may be a double, with one disc dedicated to pop and the other psychedelia, or that may have been a massive joke. Either way this is going to be a big, crazy event.

7. Contra – Vampire Weekend

Cousins didn’t really live up to my expectations, it sounded too similar to what I have heard from VW before. Hopefully this isn’t too representative of the album because it would be a shame if ‘Contra’ is just a retread for the band. I really look forward to finding out.

8. TBA – British Sea Power

‘Do You Like Rock Music’ was so much better than I could have hoped, and it’s true follow up is due next year. No hint yet on which direction the band are going in but I doubt we will see much of a departure from the art rockers.

9.  The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack

At the beginning of the year The Soft Pack seemed to be the most exciting band in indie. At the end of the year they still haven’t released their debut and bands like Girls and The Drums have stolen their thunder. But finally The Soft Pack will be releasing their LP in January and I can’t wait.

10. TBA – Arctic Monkeys

‘Humbug’ split fans down the middle but it seems that their next album will see Arctic Monkeys repeating it’s hard rock and long hair formula. They say they want to record it fast and keep it heavy so it’s perfectly possible that we will get to hear the album late next year.

11. Odd Blood – Yeasayer

Yeasayer are one of the most innovative bands of recent memory, their sound is a combination of vocal harmonies, world music, tribal chants and electronica. ‘Ambling Alp’ was the first taste from album number 2 and if the rest of the record is as good then ‘Odd Blood’ should be one to look out for in 2010.

12. Gershwin/Disney projects – Brian Wilson

The Beach Boys genius has got two projects lined up for 2010. He will be reworking the music of Gershwin in the traditional Brian Wilson style and then he will be having a go at the Disney classics. Both albums will be released on the Disney label next year and whilst they could be disasters, if anyone can pull it off then Brian Wilson can.

The Flaming Lips ‘Embryonic’ – Review

The Flaming Lips have always been one step out of sync with their contemporaries – one step ahead of the game in many respects, curiously old fashioned in another, and way out to the left in yet another. But to me they have always been a pop band at heart, a band with catchy melodies, breezy harmonies and a unique identity. Yet this pop heart has always been well hidden under layers of psychedelic glam and space rock lyrics, so commercial success hasn’t always accompanied the critical praise.

But since their last album (‘At War With The Mystics’) there has been an influx of bands labelled ‘Neo Psychedelic’, bands who are clearly indebted to The Flaming Lips, and in touch with their adventurous spirit. Bands like MGMT, Animal Collective and Star Death are all making great music, as well as achieving in the charts. Flaming Lips once again have everything to prove but suddenly have less obstacles in their way thanks to these younger groups.

Embryonic is the band’s twelfth album and their first double record, with 18 songs spread over two discs. But this is not really a sprawling double in the spirit of The White album. They don’t use the extra space to dive into a Jazz odyssey or commit acoustic suicide, it all feels very cohesive and very Flaming Lips. But that’s not to say there are no problems with the double disc format – in fact this album suffers from the same troubles that all double albums do. They could easily have fitted this onto one CD and it would have been a much better album for it.

To add to the great length this is also their craziest and most experimental album in a decade, no bad thing, but by the end of the record you feel exhausted and tired. MGMT made an accessible, modern psychedelic record that managed to be fun and intelligent. ‘Embryonic’ feels just as intelligent but lacks the joy of ‘Oracular Spectacular’ and the pop power of Flaming Lips better albums.

Nonetheless there is much to get into here, if you let the madness sink in. Highlights include opener ‘Convinced of the hex’ which makes them sound like a 21st century Jefferson Airplane and the bleak but beautiful ‘Evil’. Elsewhere there are guest appearances from the likes of MGMT (on the disappointing ‘Worm Mountain’) and Karen O (the brilliantly weird ‘I can be a frog’).

‘Embryonic’ is a sporadic, overlong, overwrought, overwhelming, yet madly fascinating album that re-establishes The Flaming Lips as one of the most interesting and eccentric bands of our generation. This is no easy listen, but if you invest your time in it, ‘Embryonic’ may well blow your mind.

8/10

TOP 25 ALBUMS of 2008

I’ve been doing top 50 albums and tracks every year since 2004, and have them stored away under lock and key somewhere! I may put them up, I may not – depends on if I can be bothered, doesn’t seem that important. But I think 2008′s is important because it’s still pretty fresh, so with no further babble here is the top 25 (I decided to condense it down) albums and tracks of 2008 as decided by moi.

ALBUMS

1. Day and Age – The Killers

2008 was the year some of 2004′s greatest hopes – Kaiser Chiefs, Keane, Bloc Party, The Zutons and Razorlight – came back with third albums that simply wouldn’t do. None fell flat on their faces (OK maybe Razorlight) but none have lived up to the promise of thier debuts and this showed in both reviews and chart performance. Bands that once had a shot of being the next big stadium group were reduced back to playing small venues, a stark reminder of the way our society love to build a band up only to knock them down.

One band stood out however, by coming out with not only their strongest album yet but one that sold well, was well received, produced a hit single and showed they are perhaps the real stadium band of the future. The group were The Killers and the album was ‘Day and Age’.

Rarely do a band come back with a third album as self assured, confident and versatile as ‘Day and Age’. The Killers were unafraid to try their hand at anything, whether it be the 80′s pop gleam of loosing touch, the overblown ELO-esque grandeur of Spaceman, the calypso tinged ‘I Can’t Stay’ or the melancholy howl of ‘Goodnight, travel well’. Over Ten tracks The Killers produced a spectacular pop album of all killer no filler, it really sounded like it could have easily produced 8 or 9 hits. At the same time it works as a coherent album, they swerve from genre to genre whilst at the same time managing to keep it  recognisably The Killers. It reminds me of Thriller, in the way it borrows from differnt styles and twists them into the shape it wants – and still comes out intact, as a solid 10 track piece of art.

‘Day and Age’ is top of my list because it sounds like a classic album, an album that 2009 will be remembered for, the album The Killers (one of the decade’s most consistent bands) will be remembered for. It’s also the one I keep coming back to.

2. Do You Like Rock Music – British Sea Power

British Sea Power’s third album is as wonderful as could have been hoped. Their debut has revealed itself over time to be perhaps the defining British, Indie debut of the decade and ‘Do you Like Rock Music’ is a magnificent leap forward. Arcade Fire and Godspeed you Black Emperor loom over the album, BSP wear their influences on their sleeve, but this is at the same time an eccentric British record in the grand tradition of Echo and The Bunnymen, Joy Division and David Bowie. Non traditional influences are less easy to spot but clearly there, from the verse of John Betjeman to the drunken hymns of The Wurzels. ‘Do you like Rock Music’ is a fantastic British record, and everyone should own a copy.

3. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

The perfect summer band, the perfect summer record. I was impressed when I heard the early Vampire Weekend demos and wasn’t let down when the debut album proper landed in early 2008. I seriously haven’t stopped listening to it since, it’s as fresh as the morning I brought it. Spiky and twisted pop music with African influences to set them apart from the crowd. Ultimately the strength is in the songs – ‘Oxford Comma’, ‘A-Punk’ and ‘I Stand Corrected’ for starters.

4. Oracular Spectacular – Mgmt

There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said about this great debut album from one of the more eccentric acts of 2008. Wild, eclectic and deranged are three ways of describing ‘Oracular Spectacular’ and whether you hear it on the dancefloor, on the radio or stereo system this album will find a way into your hearts.

5. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

An album of staggering beauty and simplicity, this is a loud hurrah for melody and harmony. The vocals are touching, the playing is rustic and steeped in Americana, folk and pop history. You can smell deep America just from listening too ‘Oliver James’. It’s not haunting as Bon Iver’s record is, but is wonderful in an equally earthy and essential way. Top Marks for a debut of extraordinary promise.

6. The Age Of The Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets
7. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
8. 21 – Mystery Jets
9. Only By The Night – Kings Of Leon
10. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver
11. Man In The Mirror – Rhymefest
12. All Hour Cymbals – Yeasayer
13. 808′s and Heartbreaks – Kanye West
14. Volume One – She and Him
15. Fantasy Black Channel – Late of the Pier
16. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
17. Death magnetic – Metallica
18. Perfect Symmetry – Keane
19. That Lucky Old Sun – Brian Wilson
20. Falling off Lavender Bridge – Lightspeed Champion
21. Intimacy – Bloc Party
22. Saturdays = Youth – M83
23. Reality Check – The Teenagers
24. Angles – Dan Le Sac Vs Scrobius Pip
25. Primary Transmission – Broadcaster

TRACKS

1. Time To Pretend – Mgmt
2. Two Doors Down – Mystery Jets
3. A-Punk – Vampire Weekend
4. Paper Planes – M.I.A
5. Kids – MGMT
6. White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
7. Crimewave – Crystal Castles
8. Geraldine – Glasvegas
9. Death – White lies
10. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon
11. Standing Next To Me – Last Shadow Puppets
12. The Bears are coming – Late of the Pier
13. No Lucifer – British Sea Power
14. Its My Own Cheating heart that makes me cry – Glasvegas
15. In This City – Iglu and Hartly
16. Electric Feel – MGMT
17. Ulysees – Franz Ferdinand
18. Ready For the Floor – Hot Chip
19. Spiralling – Keane
20. No Sex For Ben – The Rapture
21. DNVO – Justice
22. Age Of The Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets
23. How to Dance – Black kids
24. Human – The Killers
25. Always where I need to Be – The Kooks