MGMT Hit Their Sophomore Slump With Congratulations

Congratulations- MGMT

Track List:

1. It’s Working
2. Song For Dan Treacy
3. Someone’s Missing
4. Flash Delirium
5. I Found a Whistle
6. Siberian Breaks
7. Brian Eno
8. Lady Dada’s Nightmare
9. Congratulations

Riding off of their success from their first album, Oracular Spectacular, MGMT went back into the studio to record their second LP. One of two things were going to happen with the band; either they would build off their previous success by writing more powerful and emotional songs, or completely disregard what made them successful. They chose the second option. For some bands completely re-inventing your style can be a good thing, unfortunately it didn’t work for MGMT, especially since this is only their second full album. I can honestly say I’m really disappointed with what they threw together for this CD.

A few months back MGMT released their first single, Flash Delirium, as a free online download. It got so much backlash from fans of MGMT that Andrew VanWyngarden actually apologized in an interview about the song. Honestly he should have just apologized for the entire album because it is mostly crap. It’s almost like they are trying to hard to be artistic but end up making a very poor attempt at writing abstract songs. I can’t belive that throughout the whole process of making this CD no one said to them “Hey, this record isn’t just ‘misunderstood’ it’s actually just a piece of shit.” I do believe that Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser posses the qualities to write great songs, they proved that with OS, but they crammed way too many ideas into such a short album.

The beginning of the first song on the record sounds like we just caught up with MGMT in the middle of one of their jam sessions. The intro sounded like it lacked a lot of structure and sense. Some musicians can take that lack of structure and rebuild it into something that pleases their audience while still showing their creativity, however MGMT failed to do that. Everything sounds like it was just thrown together with no rhyme or reason, just a bunch of riffs randomly placed in random songs.

Flash Delirium is a prime example of what I’m talking about. The song opens up with a short middle eastern scale on the keyboard then VanWyngarden almost talks over a drum machine “Mild apprehension/ Blank dreams of the coming fun/ distort the odds of a turnaround/ gut screams next to none.” What the fuck does that mean? Once again it sounds like another attempt at being creative and just coming out as stupid. The song does sort of redeem itself with a great a decent build up to the finish, but overall it doesn’t really seem like it is material for a single.

Overall the album sounds unorganized, chaotic, and hectic, and not in a good way. I know that they are branching out and trying to be unique and I respect that completely. It’s not the fact that they broke away from their style that I don’t like, it’s the fac that they did an awful job at it that really bugs me. MGMT is a great band and they have a lot of talent in them. I’m going to chalk this album off as just a creative experiment, nothing more nothing less. Also, I’m going to give the album a few more listens from start to finish to see how it sits, but honestly I don’t think my initial reaction is going to change much. The one thing I can say that truly sums up my feelings about Congratulations is, better luck next time guys.

I give Congratulations a 2 out of 10

Gorillaz Flex Their Hip-Hop Muscles With “Plastic Beach”

Plastic Beach- The Gorillaz

Track List:

1. Orchestral Intro
2. Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach
3. White Flag
4. Rhinestone Eyes
5. Stylo
6. Superfast Jellyfish
7. Empire Ants
8. Glitter Freeze
9. Some Kind Of Nature
10. On Melancholy Hill
11. Broken
12. Sweepstakes
13. Plastic Beach
14. To Binge
15. Cloud of Unkowing
16. Pirate Jet

Snoop Dog, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, and Mos Def. What do all of these people have in common? They all are guests on the new Gorrilaz record Plastic Beach. The new album moves away from the Gorillaz conventional electronic fusion of rock and rap and focuses more on a slow hip-hop jam. The whole CD has a very nice flow and is very easy to listen to. In the same vein as their last album, the Gorillaz (or should I say Damon Albarn who is the co-creator of the the band) have provided us with a nice commentary on our world. On the second track, “Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach” Snoop Dog shows us his more peace loving side by spitting the lyrics “The revolution will be televised/And the pollution from the ocean/Now with devotion/Push peace and keep it in motion.”

One track that really shows the Gorillaz’s new sound is their first single off the album entitiled “Stylo.” Bobby Womack and Mos Def are both guest artists on the song which makes the song very dynamic. The song has a slow and easy R&B beat to it that you can’t help but tap your foot to. The way Mos Def integrates his rap between Bobby Womack’s verses gives the song such an original quality. Just when I thought I coudn’t like this song anymore I discovered the music video. I’m not exactly sure how he does it, but Damon Albarn can seem to get just about anybody to contribute to his little project; and for the “Stylo” music video Bruce Willis lent his talents.

There are some complaints I have about the new CD. On their first two albums The Gorillaz seemed to be providing a lot of their own vocals without the help of outside artists, however on Plastic Beach it seems that the whole record is dominated by guest artists. While I think their selection of artists could not have been better, I really would have loved to hear them contribute more to their own songs. Another big problem I had with the album is the ending. Their last CD, Demon Days, had one of the best finales to a record that I have ever heard. However, on this CD it seems that they left us listeners hanging. There was really no closure brought to the album and when I listened to it all the way through, I had to double check to make sure the record had actually ended. The album had such a great opener that I was sure the closer was going to blow the finale of Demon Days out of the water, but sadly I was wrong.

Here is the finale to Plastic Beach. Leave a comment letting me know how you like (or don’t like) it

Despite all of that, I still cannot dislike this album. For what it lacks in the finale it makes up for in actual music. The bass lines fit every song perfectly. The guest artists to a great job at adding their peices to the songs. The entire mood of the record is very laid-back and chill, something I think that we all should learn how to do. I would definitley reccomend this record to any music fan since it does incorporate a lot of different genres. I give Plastic Beach by the Gorillaz a 7 out 10.