News
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
4 StarsOne of the best and most unexpectedly accomplished records Brooklyn has produced in ages.
Brooklyn looks like it’s the most fertile musical ground in the whole of America at the moment - in 2007 we saw the likes of Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors and about eight million others all emerge blinking from the various practise rooms and bars in Williamsburg into the outer world. MGMT (pronounced ‘Management’, natch) are the most recent - a pair of transplanted Brooklyn residents who sound like the missing link between Muse, !!!, Scissor Sisters and, er… everything inbetween. Really.
Most of debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’’s messy pop is layered with a healthy amount of fuzz and 70s-style psychedelia, which isn’t a suprise when you consider it was produced by Flaming Lips knob twiddler Dave Friedman. Openers ‘Time To Pretend’ and ‘Weekend Wars’ are particular highlights, the latter sounding like an LSD-assisted Rolling Stones and the former having the most braincrushingly brilliant keyboards this side of Holy Fuck.
The rest is a suprisingly joyful mish-mash of everything - ‘The Youth’ and ‘The Handshake’’s blissed-out post-prog drones and shimmers soulfully, ‘Electric Feel’ gives Nic Offer and his !!! buddies a run in the scuzzy punk-funk stakes, while the fantastic ‘Kids’ takes Mates Of State’s fairground organ pop and gives it a heaving makeover. Even the simple, croaking country-rock of ‘Pieces Of What’ doesn’t sound out of place on a record this diverse.
It’d be a shame if ‘Oracular Spectacular’’s all-over-the-place pop was lost under the stampede of other New York buzz bands vying for your attention now we’ve reached 2008 - it’s one of the best and most unexpectedly accomplished records the borough’s produced in ages.
Read More
MGMT: A Golden Age
With a new generation of listeners tuned into their next moves, MGMT are relishing the moment with an album - ‘Loss Of Life’ - that looks for the light amongst the world’s darkness.
22nd February 2024, 5:00pm
MGMT - Loss Of Life
4 Stars
They continue to plough their strange pop furrow with aplomb.
21st February 2024, 8:00am
MGMT join forces with Christine and the Queens for final LP preview ‘Dancing In Babylon’
It's the first ever duet on an MGMT album.
20th February 2024, 2:28pm
The Last Dinner Party are the cover stars of DIY’s February 2024 issue!
Our first issue of the new year also features Crawlers, IDLES, Yard Act, Remi Wolf and loads more.
29th January 2024, 4:00pm
Popular right now
Featuring Green Day, English Teacher, Everything Everything, Caity Baser and more!