Latest Release
- FEB 23, 2024
- 10 Songs
- Man On the Moon: The End of Day (Expanded Version) · 2009
- Oracular Spectacular · 2007
- Electric Feel - SOTW · 2007
- Time to Pretend - SOTW · 2007
- Little Dark Age · 2017
- Pursuit of Happiness (feat. MGMT & Ratatat) [Extended Steve Aoki Remix] - Single · 2010
- Little Dark Age · 2017
- Little Dark Age · 2018
- Congratulations · 2010
- Weekend Wars - Single of the Week · 2007
Essential Albums
- Three years after their 2007 debut, MGMT subtly reinvent themselves. Congratulations still bursts with color, but the antic edges have been sanded down—well, save for the garage-rock freak-out of “Brian Eno,” a hyperactive tribute to the ambient icon. “It’s Working” crisply revamps Phil Spector’s wall of sound; “Song for Dan Treacy” plays nimble cat-and-mouse with ‘60s organ and falsetto vocals. “Congratulations” wraps up with a wry take on the perils of stardom—the spiritual flip side to their debut’s fanciful “Time to Pretend.”
- Who would’ve thought that two liberal-arts majors from Connecticut would reinvent psychedelic pop for the 21st century? Certainly not Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, who, before signing to Columbia Records as MGMT, had essentially been writing pop songs as a joke. Turns out, irony would be their most potent device on the duo’s 2007 debut album, Oracular Spectacular, in which they spike rock-star cliches and acid-induced paranoia with millennial angst and hipster snark. “This is our decision, to live fast and die young,” they declare on opener “Time to Pretend,” a mission statement locked to the pace of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and set ablaze in electro-glam-rock glory. Throughout the album’s top half, there’s a sense of holding on to this hedonistic fantasy—if only to poke fun at it—while also lamenting innocence lost. “The youth are starting to change,” VanWyngarden hypnotically echoes over the hazy, carnivalesque “The Youth,” before the two kick into the frisky, funk-fueled “Electric Feel” and buzzing indie club hit “Kids,” whose bristling beats intend to mask the poignancy of faded memories. By the second half, they shift into hallucinogenic philosophizing, triumphantly trotting into the cavernous psychedelia of “4th Dimensional Transition” and then drifting into a watery goo of bubbling synths on “The Handshake.” What brings it all together is the Midas touch of producer Dave Fridmann, who lets all the synth squeals, bass thumps, and guitar lines pop as he douses it all in thick distortion. In doing so, he plays right into MGMT’s aim to never be taken too seriously—the secret to one of the decade’s most fun and influential indie records.
Albums
- 2024
Artist Playlists
- Keeping psychedelia alive and well in the new millennium.
Live Albums
Compilations
More To Hear
- Annie's selections for a man reconciling with his father.
- Matt sits down with Andrew VanWyngarden to discuss their new LP.
- New music from Calvin Harris, 2 Chainz, MGMT, and Kendrick Lamar.
About MGMT
MGMT didn’t plan to be taken seriously at first, but it still managed to reinvent psychedelia for the 21st century. As puckish art students at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser joined forces in 2002 as The Management, writing and performing playful synth-rock punctuated with sardonic barbs. Still, there was some serious bite to the hooks and sense of melody that would soon be transformed into the thrilling electro-psych-pop anthems of the 2007 debut as MGMT, Oracular Spectacular. With the help of producer Dave Fridmann, the pair crafted one of the decade’s most influential indie records, full of frisky dance beats soaked in woozy synths and fuzzy distortion, and lyrics that overturn rock cliches and idyllic visions of youth. “Time to Pretend,” “Electric Feel,” and “Kids” became instant club hits. But instead of churning out more alt-dance bangers, MGMT began leaning heavily into its more esoteric influences, name-checking Brian Eno and Television Personalities’ Dan Treacy on Congratulations and crafting twisted psych-rock freakouts meant to stimulate the brain more than the body. “On our second and third records, we kind of turned inwards, and got a little paranoid, a little dark, maybe even cynical sometimes,” VanWyngarden confessed to Apple Music. But the journey would eventually come full circle, as MGMT returned to levity with 2018’s Little Dark Age, a set of brighter, New Wave-tinted grooves filtered through warped whimsy and wit. While the breakout title track flirted with playful goth stomping, deep cuts like “When You Die” and “Me and Michael” pointed to MGMT's growing interest in Britpop and power ballads. This thirst for pop grandeur came into focus on the band's 2024 LP Loss Of Life, the first since ending its major-label contract and returning to the indie hustle, though sacrificing none of its aural finesse. Singles “Mother Nature” and the Christine and the Queens-featuring “Dancing In Babylon” swing for ‘80s torch-song glory, injecting enough left-field beats and woozy synthesizers to keep fans grounded in the realm of eccentric faves. All of this proves that no matter where its path may lead, MGMT will always have the last laugh.
- ORIGIN
- Middletown, Connecticut, United States
- FORMED
- December 2002
- GENRE
- Alternative