{"id":65895,"date":"2018-02-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=65895"},"modified":"2018-02-22T12:26:42","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T18:26:42","slug":"mgmt-little-dark-age-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2018\/02\/21\/mgmt-little-dark-age-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MGMT: Little Dark Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After a four-year hiatus the psychedelic duo MGMT is back with their fourth studio album. Does Little Dark Age<\/em> bring a fresh sound reminiscent to the songs MGMT is best known for? Or does it fall into obscurity like their last self-titled album?<\/p>\n

In a video essay by Middle 8<\/a>, founding members of MGMT Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser thought it would be funny to make the poppiest songs to “sell out as quickly as possible” resulting in MGMT\u2019s first EP Time to Pretend<\/em> (2007). The EP drew the attention of Columbia Records who signed the duo to create Oracular Spectacular<\/em>. There\u2019s no doubt you recognize \u201cTime to Pretend,\u201d \u201cKids,\u201d and \u201cElectric Feel\u201d as they now serve as the basis for indie-pop.<\/p>\n

Oracular Spectacular<\/em> is a great album for that friend who\u2019s cool but for some reason keeps jamming the top 50 hits on Spotify. Slip this album under their door, it\u2019s a great primer. MGMT\u2019s second album, Congratulations<\/em> isn\u2019t as accessible in terms of isolated tracks, it\u2019s meant to be listened to from start to finish, much more polished, and their 12-minute track \u201cSiberian Breaks\u201d is the duo\u2019s greatest work. In 2013 MGMT took their sound in a completely different direction in their self-titled album, resulting in few people listening and those who listened to MGMT<\/em> appreciated the charm of the experimental tracks, but still not impressed when stacking the album up with previous work. Little Dark Age<\/em> gives you the accessibility of Oracular Spectacular<\/em>, the polish of Congratulations<\/em>, and the experimental charm of MGMT<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The album starts out with \u201cShe Works Out Too Much,\u201d sampling an 80\u2019s workout video saying \u201cGet ready to have some fun\u201d which sums up the album, from start to finish every track delivers something unique for MGMT\u2019s new sound. Tracks like \u201cLittle Dark Age,\u201d \u201cMe and Michael,\u201d and \u201cOne Thing Left to Try\u201d follow a similar 80\u2019s synthy psychedelic sound. What sets these tracks apart from 99% of the music in this genre is the production quality, producer Dave Fridmann ensured Andrew\u2019s dynamic vocals flow with the polished vintage sound. \u201cWhen You Die\u201d has Andrew\u2019s trademark voice that can only be described as \u201csilent yelling.\u201d \u201cOne Thing Left To Try\u201d has Andrew singing in a much higher voice while \u201cJames\u201d has his voice drop so low you can easily mistake it for Ariel Pink. It\u2019s not just vocals that Andrew does well, his lyrics on \u201cTSLAMP\u201d comments on our generation\u2019s screen addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m wondering where the hours went
\nAs I’m losing consciousness
\nMy sullen face is all aglow
\nTime spent looking at my phone\u201d<\/p>\n

While I think the whole album is worth it, my favorite tracks that deserve high rotation (in order of super best to best) are \u201cWhen You Die,\u201d \u201cHand it Over,\u201d \u201cTSLAMP,\u201d \u201cJames,\u201d \u201cMe and Michael,\u201d \u201cLittle Dark Age,\u201d and \u201cShe Works Out Too Much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Dark Age<\/em>\u2019s mix of radio-friendly hits and experimental tracks serve as a perfect balance for those wanting to jump into the band\u2019s discography. If you\u2019re coming to this album after knowing one of their three hits, you\u2019ll find most of these tracks comfortable and highly enjoyable. For longtime fans, you\u2019ll enjoy the change of sound that\u2019s familiar with the songs that brought you to MGMT in the first place.<\/p>\n

Similar Albums
\nDedicated to Bobby Jameson – Ariel Pink
\nCongratulations – MGMT
\nAmerican Dream – LCD Soundsystem
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: LCD Soundsystem, Ariel Pink
\nRecommended Tracks: 1 (She Works Out Too Much), 2 (Little Dark Age), 3 (When You Die), 4 (Me and Michael), 5 (TSLAMP), 6 (James), 10 (Hand It Over)
\nDo Not Play: 3 (When You Die), 10 (Hand It Over)
\nWritten by Karsan Turner on 02\/20\/2018<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LDA’s balance of radio-friendly hits & experimental tracks serve as a perfect balance for those wanting to jump into the band\u2019s discography.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20836,"featured_media":65896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,181],"tags":[7729,8017,7352],"class_list":["post-65895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-rock-rotation","tag-karsan-turner","tag-little-dark-age","tag-mgmt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/little-dark-age.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20836"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}