Anyway, this is going to be a review, but I'm not going to assign a numerical score. Maybe I'm 'not ready' to do that yet. Maybe I work with numbers all day long in my job as a market research professional, and find the very idea of assessing my enjoyment of or the quality and cultural significance of an album (or any work of art - book, movie, TV show) via a number to be offensive. Think that's a cop out? Go fuck yourself. I will express my honest opinion of an album in the form that I so choose.
MGMT's sophomore record Congratulations is my favorite record of the year...so far (It's July. There are records from of Montreal, Deerhunter, Panda Bear, and Arcade Fire on the way. This race is far from over.)
I won't waste too much time discussing what other people think about this album, but Congratulations has seen its fair share of negative reactions. It's hard to reconcile that fact with the joy I experience from this record. This wasn't what people were expecting after Oracular Spectacular. That's the best I can come up with. I have encountered others who absolutely love this album, like I do, so I know I'm not crazy.
MGMT's debut record Oracular Spectacular was a cool slice of electro pop. At least the singles were - "Time to Pretend", "Electric Feel", "Kids". Congratulations, on the other hand, is a psychedelic freak out, and it doesn't contain a single song comparable to any of those hit singles.
What is common between the two MGMT records? They both sound lush, alive, filled with energy. If you look past the singles at some of the other songs off of Oracular, the leap between albums doesn't seem so large. They did weird stuff on that record too. But this time, that's all you get.
I will now proceed track-by-track...
