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MGMT
Oracular Spectacular
Oracular Spectacular review |
Year: 2009 |
BIO
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MGMT (abbreviated from management) is a young Brooklyn group playing genre-bending psychedelic music. Initially it was a duet of Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser who launched this project in 2002 when they were students. When the guys met there was no intention expressed to become professional musicians. Nevertheless, both were beckoned by the idea of experimenting with music. This activity was spontaneously planned and held in different places without clearly set goals or schedules. The only instruments Ben and Andrew used at that time were their laptops to combine and modify their favorite cuts of selected songs by the chosen performers. Therefore the first pieces of their own music were purely electronic. Strange were the debut live performances by this duet. They were playing nothing, but singing in odd voices odd lyrics to undistinguished sounds. The music was provided by the computers, tape recorders and other devices to a great surprise of the audience. These genre exploration seemed real music tortures and humiliation to some of the spectators which put no question about gaining any popularity or amassing supporters.
A new step in the MGMT history began with their short streak of club performances involving a real drummer. The program was not set before the tour, but compiled of new songs for each separate gig. There were no crowds at their concerts, nor did the guys receive warm support. However, the purpose of this effort was different from finding loyal fans base. MGMT were hardly playing with styles and genres to work out something that they preferred to everything else. In the end, they narrowed their music to an incomparable mixture of indie, synth-pop and psychedelic performed with a touch of irony. With their hard to get and out of mainstream music, MGMT were lucky to find an independent label Cantora Records to produce their debut EP Time to Pretend. After finishing their university, the guys went touring to promote their release as a supporting act for the indie band Of Montreal.
On finishing the tour, the members of MGMT had to decide what to do next. First, they tried to find a professional occupation different from music, but after a half year of lame attempts they reunited as MGTM with the purpose to record a full format album. Even before the official release, the album Oracular Spectacular was downloaded 20,000 times, which showcased the whole potential of the promising band. The single Time to Pretend was well promoted by the leading LA KPOQ station. The album itself preserved the psychedelic essence of the first MGMT experiments, yet the musicians gave up the synthesized sound and recorded all the instruments live. The music by MGMT attracted the audience by the funny attitude of the musicians, reflected in their humorous lyrics, unnatural voices and deliberately simplified electronic effects. Oracular Spectacular performed well in charts of many countries, gaining particular acknowledgment in the UK, Australia and Ireland. The Rolling Stone magazine included the band into the ten most impressive acts of 2008. MGMT spent the large part of their promotional tour with Of Montreal again. As a concert group, the duet of the founders was enlarged to a quintet including a drummer, guitarist and bassist. In 2008 the group was actively participating in the British TV shows and opened the concert of Radiohead in Manchester. In November 2008, they went touring the UK as a headliner.
