{"id":41135,"date":"2008-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/oracular-spectacular\/"},"modified":"2008-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-02T00:00:00","slug":"oracular-spectacular","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/oracular-spectacular\/","title":{"rendered":"Oracular Spectacular"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might signal a problem that my favorite thing about this album, the debut from super-hyped Brooklyn-based duo MGMT, is a track that isn\u2019t even actually on<\/i> the disc; it\u2019s the funked-up Justice Remix of \u201cElectric Feel\u201d with its thick, distorted beats and crunching riffs. Oh, and I do like the album name itself, too, because Oracular Spectacular<\/i>, in theory at least, is pretty excellent. But for all the hype, this disc is missing something — some heart below all the sun-warmed harmonies and big doses of jumpy, jittering synths. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Recent Wesleyan grads MGMT (comprised of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden are part of the latest crop of college rockers (see Columbia alums Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot out of Syracuse University, and Harvard\u2019s Chester French, among others). Their sound is anything but classic brick-front Ivy League, though; instead, it\u2019s a pretty blissed-out blend of pop and psychedelia, woven through with threads of everything from the hippie beauty of the Mamas & The Papas to Muse\u2019s\u00a0 \u201870s prog fancies to catchy, charming Britpop. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The most cohesive display of the band\u2019s sound is the record\u2019s three singles, \u201cTime To Pretend,\u201d \u201cKids,\u201d and the aforementioned \u201cElectric Feel.\u201d Though criminally overplayed, album opener \u201cTime To Pretend\u201d is a lovely blend of chattering synths, handclaps, and blurry drums that pairs memories of \u201cthe playgrounds and the animals and digging up worm\u201d with the declaration, \u201cI’m feeling rough \/ I’m feeling raw \/ I’m in the prime of my life\u2026This is our decision to live fast and die young.\u201d It captures both an uncertainty and a flying-high euphoria with a shimmering backbeat and the visceral lyrics.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cKids\u201d is an appropriate (and less overplayed) sequel to \u201cPretend\u201d with its swirling electronic beat and churning drums, VanWyngarden\u2019s upper-octave, dreamy vocals pairing well with the slivered, surreal lyrics that play out almost like a memory themselves. Meanwhile, \u201cElectric Feel\u201d has a slow, sexy groove and a swerving bassline, plus a limber falsetto; still, I\u2019m partial to the jolt of energy that the Justice Remix pumps into this track. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s in the songs between the solid singles where things get a little dicey. \u201cWeekend Wars\u201d is like Queen intersecting with Muse, only with a lot less spark; the nasal whine of the vocals here get grating quickly, while the synths and harmonies are piled on in an overblown attempt at being epic that doesn\u2019t really come together. \u201cYouth\u201d again sounds too forced with its programmed beats and an unnaturally high sounding vocal, though it does take a turn for the better when the real drums and bass kick in and the song finally dissolves in a gorgeous swirl of harmonies. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The second half of the disc struggles to navigate its way between electro-pop and rock: \u201c4th<\/sup> Dimensional Transition\u201d has a big title with little substance to back it up, just mid-tempo instrumentation that never really rises and again, a dizzying onslaught of electronic bleeps; \u201cPieces Of What\u201d is just messy, too long even at barely three minutes with its hazy vocals and loose acoustic strums, while \u201cOf Moons, Birds & Monsters\u201d veers toward an intriguing psych-rock sound, aping The Zombies until it collapses halfway through into a blur of fuzzy guitars and caterwauling synths. Everything\u2019s just as sprawling here, with big harmonies and myriad tempo changes, but seems to traverse less territory than the distinctly catchier first half.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u00a0Oracular Spectacular <\/i>has its moments, to be sure, as well as a boundless, sparkling supply of energy. Still, for a piece of work that tries to evoke the vividness of memories, an emotion as layered and rich as nostalgia, this feels a little too empty. <\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":29543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8278],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-41135","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mgmt","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41135"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}