Extreme Listening Mode!

I don’t cook a lot, but one of the things I know is to be careful how many ingredients you put in. Not enough and it’s too bland; too many and it can be a bit of a mess. The key to a great meal is to get it just right. It’s a rare talent. it’s why we let celebrity chefs on TV rather than treating them the way we treat the guy who flips the burgers in McDonalds.

Musically, MGMT have gone for a lot of ingredients. Indeed, sometimes on ‘Oracular Spectacular’ it’s a case of spot-the-influence as they go hurtling past. There’s a pinch of Flaming Lips, a lot of Bowie, some Scissors Sisters-sounding disco, a soupcon of the Beatles more far out Eastern experimentation, a knob of early Roxy Music and even a dash of Grandaddy’s more widdly sonic inclinations. All topped off with a lightly-baked crust of Jagger-inflected vocals. And some of it is very, very good. When they get it right, it’s delicious. When they get it wrong, it’s jam. And in music, jam is much more fun for the musicians than the kids. Think of those godawful fuckabouts at the start of Jools Holland.

Opener ‘Time to Pretend’ is surely one of the singles of the year, if anyone cares about such things anymore. It’s just brilliant; a multi-coloured kaleidoscope of a thing, going all over the place and still staying in shape. A great lyric too, reflecting on the pitfalls of stardom but the inevitability of wanting it. And in ‘let’s get some heroin and fuck with the stars’ they have a slogan for a t-shirt I’d buy. Similarly, ‘Electric Feel’ is a pulsing bit of noughties disco, ‘Kids’ is just a great song to get down to and ‘Weekend Wars’ cleverly sends up weekend drug warriors. After that, a lot of the tracks rush by in much of a muchness. On some, like ‘Pieces of What’, there’s just too much going on for your head to take it all in. Some of the songs, while never lapsing into unlistenable, are just too jumbled to sit together as great songs. The second half of the album also sounds samey, which the first does not. The exception to this is ‘The Handshake’ a creepy little Disney tune twisted just that one part left of the dial. Very reminiscent of Grandaddy’s ‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot’ it’s the last hurrah of an album full of great songs, but not a great album. And let’s face it, MGMT won’t be the last band to topload their debut.

But that’s a point to be remembered – it is their debut, and one they can be proud of. There is a lot going on with this band, and a lot of potential on display. You emerge after an enjoyable listening experience thinking that their next one might well be THE one. Definitely a band to keep an eye on, if not quite Michelin starred just yet.

Filed under: Album Review, New Albums Tagged: | Dance, David Bowie, Disco, Electronica, Grandaddy, MGMT, Oracular Spectacular, Scissor Sisters