"Time To Pretend" is one of my favorite side-one-track-one's this year. How can you deny the dreamy and youthful optimism of a line like: "I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life. / Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives" before continuing the emotional arc into nostalgia and then fatalism, all squeezed into 4 minutes of beautiful beats. It kicks off an album that continues to sprawl all over the place. It's atmospheric and psychedelic, yet glammy and danceable. While it seems experimental, it's built on the familiar. It touches on the Flaming Lips, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Yeasayer, and plenty of other cool bands you might already love. While this could turn out a complete and derivative mess, somehow they make it work as a cohesive album. I don't think the rest of the songs make as good singles, but also check out "Kids" and "Pieces Of What."
July 3, 2008
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (2007)
"Time To Pretend" is one of my favorite side-one-track-one's this year. How can you deny the dreamy and youthful optimism of a line like: "I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life. / Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives" before continuing the emotional arc into nostalgia and then fatalism, all squeezed into 4 minutes of beautiful beats. It kicks off an album that continues to sprawl all over the place. It's atmospheric and psychedelic, yet glammy and danceable. While it seems experimental, it's built on the familiar. It touches on the Flaming Lips, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Yeasayer, and plenty of other cool bands you might already love. While this could turn out a complete and derivative mess, somehow they make it work as a cohesive album. I don't think the rest of the songs make as good singles, but also check out "Kids" and "Pieces Of What."
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9 Comments:
Nice description, good use of adjectives...
but personally, I think "Electric Feel" & "Kids" could easily stand alone as singles.
Also, I know that this album went through various stages of release, with multiple "versions," but does it really qualify as a 2008?
Wow, I'm really impressed you were able to get through this entire album to review it. I tried, it was just sooo over-indulgent and glam-rocky than I usually like. Great review!
Oh... you haven't noticed? Many of us here at QuickCrit are shamelessly immense fans of the glam rock.
And speaking for myself only, "over-indulgent" = excellent, for the simple, solipsistic reason that it reminds me of, well, me.
Speaking of awesomely bad glam-rock, do you remember The Darkness? haha
I can't believe you just used the word solipsistic in a sentence! I forfeit the right to trash this CD further ::waves white flag:: ;)
Oh, I don't think glam rock is awesomely bad, just awesome.
The music video of theirs that I saw blows goats..
oh man. I hadn't seen it before, but you're right. Both videos make me wonder what the fuck they were thinking.
Ugh, "Time To Pretend" is so addictive. Kill me, kill me now. And the video is so ridiculously over -the-top I...can't...look...away!
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