Prior to Of Montreal’s spectacle last Friday night, we saw MGMT, who are five young men from New York seriously in need of a comb. However, their show did not disappoint and it was, for me, the highlight of the evening. The music on MGMT’s 2007 debut LP, Oracular Spectacular, brought to us by band founders Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, is commonly compared to Muse and Pink Floyd, not to mention their current tourmates Of Montreal. The comparisons to these great bands are both flattering and apt. Nonetheless, something about them reminds me of Wolf Parade. Not so much their sound, although they do have the big guitars and synths and wide range of vocals, but just something about the creativity and focus of the band playing together. I can’t express this as well as I would like, but I immediately felt it when the band started their first song and I haven’t been able to shake it even upon repeated listens to Oracular Spectacular and their Time to Pretend EP. Both discs are excellent, but the differences between a small and major label are evident when comparing the tracks on the LP with the same on the EP.

I am grateful to Of Montreal for having MGMT on tour with them, because otherwise I might not have heard of this band or their great album which may appear on my best of for 2007. Check out these tracks from Oracular Spectacular:

MGMT: the youth from Oracular Spectacular [buy]
MGMT: pieces of what from Oracular Spectacular [buy]
MGMT: kids from Time to Pretend EP [buy]

myspace | cantorra records
buy: Time to Pretend EP | Oracular Spectacular LP

Filed under: album review, concert, favorites of 2007, Avalon, MGMT, Oracular Spectacular

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