| MGMT | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 17, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | February 2012 – March 2013 | |||
| Studio | Tarbox Road (Cassadaga, New York) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:10 [2] | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer |
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| MGMT chronology | ||||
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| Singles from MGMT | ||||
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MGMT is the third studio album by American rock band MGMT. It was released on September 17, 2013 by Columbia Records; however, the band started streaming the album on September 9, 2013.
On September 27, 2010, an interview article in Spin quoted MGMT as saying that they would have less freedom on this album, claiming that Columbia Records was not happy with the reception of the band's second album Congratulations . MGMT later denied these statements in an email to Pitchfork , who cited the article on their own site as a side note to a different story, stating that they were not "even close to starting the process of making a new album," that "label-relations are currently quite friendly," and finally telling readers "Don't believe everything that you read (even on Pitchfork.com)." [3]
In an interview with American Songwriter published on November 8, 2010, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser said their third album will be self-titled, and that "usually if we say something and it gets published, we stick to it. That's what happened with Congratulations." Regarding the content of the album, Goldwasser said "Something that'd be fun to do is have a decent number of songs on the album that can easily be extended or have sections that could turn into a really trance-y, repetitive thing live." [4]
When in Argentina to perform on January 22, 2011, [5] [6] they told Rocktails they have worked on some sounds but that there are no clear ideas yet. [7]
On February 28, 2011, they told Coup de Main magazine that they will be on tour until April, when they will begin work on demos for the third album. [8] On January 26, 2012 MGMT confirmed in an interview with Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers in the inaugural issue of Intercourse Magazine that they had started work on the album. VanWyngarden stated that he has written five songs, inspired by R.E.M. [9] On February 27, the band began recording the album at Tarbox Road Studios with producer Dave Fridmann. [10]
On March 1, Andrew VanWyngarden revealed in an interview that they will perform new songs on their upcoming shows in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Puerto Rico. [11] On March 30, the band premiered a new song, "Alien Days", at a show in Bogotá, Colombia. [12] at the Festival Estereo Picnic. The song was also played at the following shows in Latin America. On August 3, Andrew VanWyngarden told "The Morning Call" that their new album was "too good not to talk about". He said he was enjoying it, it sounds close to Congratulations, and they're "making good songs". [13]
On January 29, 2013, the band told Rolling Stone that they "are not trying to make music that everyone understands the first time they hear it." They also confirmed that a song entitled "Mystery Disease" and a cover of Faine Jade's 1968 track "Introspection" will be included on the album. [14] On March 4, 2013 MGMT released information about their 2013 tour that started on April 26 and ended on May 18. [15] On March 6, 2013 MGMT's producer Dave Fridmann stated on his website that the album was about to be finished. [16]
On June 9, the band confirmed on their official Twitter account that they were going to finish the album cover later that day. [17] On June 10, Dave Fridmann updated his website with the news that the album could be out sometime in August. [18] On June 25, MGMT revealed via their website that the album is due for release on September 17, 2013. [19] The band confirmed via Twitter that their new video for "Your Life Is a Lie" will come out on August 5, and it's accompanied with an interactive kaleidoscopic video embedded on their official website. [20] MGMT released their full album "MGMT" prematurely via Twitter on September 9 saying they had a "surprise". Days before its official release, the pre-release of the album was made in the service Rdio on September 9, 2013. [21]
Photographer and film director Danny Clinch [22] was hired by Columbia Records to photograph the band for publicity photos and the album's packaging artwork. [23] The cover artwork features VanWyngarden and Goldwasser and a lawnmower on the lawn in front of Stylz Unlimited, a hair salon and clothing consignment store in Dunkirk, New York. [24] [25] The store is a short distance from Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York, where the album was recorded. Art direction and design for the packaging was completed by graphic designer Alejandro Cardenas. [22]
On March 22, 2013 the Record Store Day release was confirmed to be a cassette tape containing the studio version of "Alien Days" and was made available on April 20. [26] Its video was released on October 31, 2013, and was directed by indie director Sam Fleischner. The first video released from the album was for the track "Your Life Is a Lie", which was directed by Tom Kuntz, and was released on August 6, 2013.
The album features a variety of unique visual elements to accompany and illuminate the music via "The Optimizer", which provides listeners a simultaneously aural and optical listening experience featuring video and CGI work, and is available as part of an enhanced album package on all commercial formats.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 62/100 [27] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [28] |
| Alternative Press |  [29] |
| The A.V. Club | D [30] |
| The Guardian | [31] |
| The Independent | [32] |
| NME | [33] |
| Pitchfork | 6.2/10 [34] |
| Q | [35] |
| Rolling Stone | [36] |
| Spin | 4/10 [37] |
According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the album received an average critic review score of 62/100, based on 37 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. [27] Mike Usinger of Alternative Press said of the album, "Beyond weird? Yes, but in the best, most deliciously mind-bending of ways." [29] Tom Pinnock of NME gave the album an 8/10, saying, "MGMT might be a comfortable journey at times, but it's also a transcendental one you've never been on before. Forget the shareholders – it's time for us to give MGMT a proper chance, on their own terms." [33] Spin , however, called it a "confused, confusing album," and that it will "leave you as confused as they seem to be." Chris Bosman of Consequence of Sound gave the album a negative score, saying, "The record's thick textures feel like canvases that have been painted over too many times, and its genre excursions have had the life practiced out of them. A looser take on MGMT would likely have been a rousing success. [38] Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "Something's always looming and buzzing — or burbling, or clattering, or tapping, or ratcheting, or blipping, or quavering — near the foreground throughout MGMT's third album, MGMT. It makes the album both testing and, eventually, rewarding." [39] Luke O'Neil of The Boston Globe said, "Occasionally the band's vision pays off here." [40] Kevin Liedel of Slant Magazine said, "The swampy, claustrophobic MGMT is never as interesting or smart as the crowd-pleasing sing-alongs on Oracular Spectacular ." [41]
All lyrics are written by Andrew VanWyngarden; all music is composed by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser except where listed
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Alien Days" | 5:09 | |
| 2. | "Cool Song No. 2" | 4:01 | |
| 3. | "Mystery Disease" |
| 4:08 |
| 4. | "Introspection" |
| 4:22 |
| 5. | "Your Life Is a Lie" | 2:06 | |
| 6. | "A Good Sadness" | 4:48 | |
| 7. | "Astro-Mancy" | 5:11 | |
| 8. | "I Love You Too, Death" | 5:50 | |
| 9. | "Plenty of Girls in the Sea" | 3:04 | |
| 10. | "An Orphan of Fortune" | 5:31 | |
| Total length: | 44:10 | ||
MGMT
Production
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [44] | 31 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [45] | 29 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [46] | 28 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [47] | 29 |
| French Albums (SNEP) [48] | 26 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [49] | 44 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) [50] | 29 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) [51] | 79 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [52] | 65 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [53] | 15 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [54] | 45 |
| US Billboard 200 [55] | 14 |
| US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [56] | 2 |
Embryonic is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was released to generally positive reviews and became their most successful album in the US, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard 200.
MGMT is an American rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by singers and multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of drummer Will Berman, bassist Simon O’Connor, and guitarist and keyboardist James Richardson.
Oracular Spectacular is the debut studio album by the American band MGMT, released on October 2, 2007, by RED Ink and physically on January 22, 2008, by Columbia. It was produced by Dave Fridmann and is the band's first release of new content, being recorded from March to April 2007. Promotion for the album started as early as June 2007, when the song "Weekend Wars" was given away in summer issues of free monthly magazine Nöjesguiden in Stockholm, Sweden. Matching CDs could be picked up for free in all stores in three different shopping malls around Stockholm from June 26 to July 31. The album was also promoted with three singles: "Time to Pretend", "Electric Feel" and "Kids". Both "Time to Pretend" and "Kids" were re-recorded for the album; they were originally included on the band's previous release Time to Pretend (2005), with the opening track serving as a "mission statement" and the theme continuing through the album's subsequent tracks.
Andrew Wells VanWyngarden is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band MGMT, praised for "an uncanny knack for producing pop music that sounds as if it were filtered through a kaleidoscope." One of his songs, "Kids", received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, while the duo was nominated in the Best New Artist category.
The discography of indie rock band MGMT consists of five studio albums, one compilation album, one demo album, four extended plays, eleven singles and fourteen music videos. Originally known under the name The Management, the group was founded in 2002 by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser during their freshman year as art students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After graduating and changing the band's name to MGMT, they released an EP titled Time to Pretend in 2005 through the independent record label Cantora Records; music videos were recorded for two of the EP's songs, "Boogie Down" and "Destrokk". The critical success of the EP and extensive touring brought the group to the attention of Columbia Records, which signed them in 2006.
Congratulations is the second studio album by American rock band MGMT. It was initially made available for free streaming through the band's website on March 20, 2010, prior to its official release on April 13 through Columbia Records. The album marks a departure from the synth-pop style that brought MGMT acclaim on their debut, Oracular Spectacular, released three years prior, and features a more psychedelic, progressive and guitar-driven sound.
"Flash Delirium" is a song released by the American psychedelic rock band MGMT on their second album Congratulations. It was the first single to be released from the album and was originally referred to as a "taster" before the band abandoned their original plan to not release any singles from Congratulations in order to solidify its existence as a singular body of work. A free digital download of the song was given away on the band's official website. "Flash Delirium" was made available as a digital download from iTunes on March 24, 2010.
"Siberian Breaks" is a song by the American rock band MGMT, released as the second single from their second studio album Congratulations (2010) as an exclusive release part of Record Store Day on April 17, 2010. It is the longest track on the album and MGMT's second longest song to date, clocking in a minute and a half behind "Metanoia." Andrew VanWyngarden has said that Siberian Breaks is his favorite song on the album.
"It's Working" is the third single released from the album Congratulations by MGMT. The album covers were made by So Me.
"Congratulations" is a song by the American rock band MGMT, released as the fourth and final single and the title track from their second studio album Congratulations (2010) on November 26, 2010. The single was released as a limited edition 7" vinyl record with a special 20-page illustrated booklet. On November 2, 2010, Record Store Day announced the limited edition 7" of the single as one of their Black Friday exclusives, containing the Erol Alkan rework of the song. A music video for the song was released on August 25, 2010. "Congratulations" was released to radio on September 28, 2010.
Benjamin Nicholas Hunter Goldwasser is an American songwriter and musician in the psychedelic rock band MGMT, for which he primarily plays keyboards and sings. In 2009, his song "Electric Feel", remixed by Justice, won a Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. In 2010, his band was nominated for a Grammy as Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Late Night Tales: MGMT is a mix album compiled by the band MGMT's members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser and released on October 3, 2011. The album is the 25th in the Late Night Tales series.
"Alien Days" is the first single released from MGMT, the third album by MGMT, which was released as a cassette single on April 20, 2013. VanWyngarden explains the song as the feeling when "a parasitic alien is in your head, controlling things". The music video of this song was filmed by indie director Sam Fleischner, which was the second video released for the promotion of the album.
Hot Thoughts is the ninth studio album by American rock band Spoon. It was released on March 17, 2017, through Matador Records. It is also the first Spoon album since 2002's Kill the Moonlight to not feature multi-instrumentalist Eric Harvey, who quietly left the band after finishing a world tour in support of 2014's They Want My Soul.
Little Dark Age is the fourth studio album by the American rock band MGMT, released on February 9, 2018, through Columbia Records. It is the band's first album of new material in nearly five years, after the release of their eponymous third studio album in September 2013.
Every Country's Sun is the ninth studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. It was released on 1 September 2017 by Rock Action Records in the United Kingdom and Europe, Temporary Residence Limited in the United States, and Spunk Records in Australia.
"Little Dark Age" is a song by American rock band MGMT. It was released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Little Dark Age, on October 17, 2017, through Columbia Records. In an interview with Newsweek, Andrew VanWyngarden, the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band stated that 1980s Soviet synth-pop was influential to the song.
"Me and Michael" is a song by American rock band MGMT. It is the fourth single taken from the band's fourth studio album Little Dark Age. It was released worldwide on February 7, 2018 through Columbia.
Marauder is the sixth studio album by American rock band Interpol. It was released on August 24, 2018, by Matador Records. The album was produced by Dave Fridmann and recorded at his studio, Tarbox Road, in Cassadaga, New York from December 6, 2017 through April 18, 2018.
Loss of Life is the fifth studio album by the American rock band MGMT. It was released on February 23, 2024, making it their label debut on Mom + Pop, and their first studio album in six years since 2018's Little Dark Age. It features a guest appearance by French singer Christine and the Queens, making it the first feature on an MGMT album.
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