January 9, 2008
Spectacular Spectacular
Want to escape our drab world and take a trip to another planet? Let MGMT take you there with Oracular Spectacular (on iTunes now, on CD January 22), a strange and wondrous visit to an unfamiliar landscape.
New York-based Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser meld their neo-alternative noise to electronic textures (think Erasure with oodles of feedback). It’s a joyful din MGMT (pronounced "management") makes out of synthetic squishes and gurgles, firm beats, and high boyish harmonies. “We got the vision,” they state on opener “Time to Pretend”: “Now let’s have some fun.”
Self-proclaimed performance-art provocateurs, their experiments are full of hedonistic pleasures, whether lyrical – as on “The Youth”: “Call to arms to live and love and sleep together” – or musical – as on “Electric Feel,” a humpty dance between The Jackson Five and The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You.” There’s a childlike sense of surprise in each of Oracular Spectacular’s ten concise, eccentric songs. Childhood – isn’t that a universe worth revisiting?
Oracular Spectacular is available now as a download and will be released on CD January 22 by Columbia Records.
The holidays are over. The new year is upon us. And all that’s left from celebrating is the excess weight around your middle. But don’t fret: Kylie Minogue is here ... more
If there’s anything we at Modern Tonic like to blow more than our own horn, it’s someone else’s. And there were so many albums that excited us in 2008, our best-of ... more
As the music biz further devolved into a 99-cent store, pop fiends had access to more great tunes in 2008 than we could possibly keep up with. Somehow we whittled it ... more
We wouldn’t be caught dead wearing mix-and-match Salvation Army rags or designer knock-offs. But throw a bunch of tunes we love in a Cuisinart, press purée and ... more
Post- Thanksgiving, it’s nice to have a little snack instead of a bloat-inducing meal. So enjoy the modest delicacies of these three EPs until it’s time, once again, ... more
In the age of the download, we often hear an artist before we see her. So imagine our surprise as we were grooving along to Alice Russell’s supremely soulful Pot of Gold ... more



Bookmark this article