The New Management on first listening.
Honestly I'm not into the whole The Management thingy for too long. Of course I saw them at Lowlands, by coincidence really, and it was pretty rad. Only the enormous amount of people adoring them was a bit to much for my snobistic taste. Music is just better when you are one of the few who adores the gem.
But last month Alex brought me in contact with them and being behind the hype it felt okay to try. I like the songs, they are not all pure genius on first listening but after several hearings you can really enjoy them. Besides it turned out that MGMT became the soundtrack of my romance.
And now there is this new album, and they really want you to listen to the whole album instead of the singles being a concept album and all. So here is my first listening review, lets hear if this will become the soundtrack of the upcoming months in Northern Europe.
Song numbero uno; I like it! Sounds a bit like Spirogyra; a band from the seventies who made 17 minute songs about Mother Russia. Fresh sound, it is promising that they did not fall into the trap of repeating themselves.
The second song seems to give the impression that this will be a bit more of a pop album. It's pretty, but not super. Not so much to say, thus. Maybe that it is a bit too long and that the climax is an anti-climax.
MGMT, if you want us to listen to this album as a whole you should not put two rather boring songs right after each other. Although the climax thingy at 1.50 is pretty okay to wake us up again, too bad it only goes on for less than 30 seconds before fading out(!).
Flash Delirium is the better MGMT sound I was hoping for, it is good but not epic. I think the mastering is a bit to smudgy. They should have asked Brian Eno, the God, to do that.. And after two minutes it changes again and becomes a bit annoying. Not consistent enough to really rock out. But it might me a grower.
I found a whistle is nice, soothing after the more violent songs from before, but also very generic. Not special.
And now it is time for the 12 minute Siberian Breaks, I am really curious what they did with all that time. Since most 4 minute songs of them are already too long.. Slow intro, nice singing. Pretty decent. And it gives me the sound of the seventies feeling again. Modern Spirogyra or something. And after 5 minutes in this song the second song kicks in, not very smoothly but it sounds okay. Yes, I think I like this pretty much. So far my favourite. Maybe I'm getting old but I prefer the soft songs that give me the feeling they are grasp-able. But then again, maybe they are just to vague, I mean, I listen to some crazy music that I really like. Xiu Xiu e.g. The next song in this song kicks in, nice. It is just a rock opera like The Who really adores. And that is a concept I can not really understand, but it is okay.. next song starts when we are 10 minutes in the Siberian Breaks song. Nice ending.
Okay, I really really like the Brian Eno song. It is an ode to the man and I completely agree with them. They are always one step behind him. Like everyone else. This is the hit, it is great. More a normal song and a catchy one too! But a bit pretentious and easy to score with Brian Eno.
The gasp before the Lady Dada song is awesome. The whole song is pretty decent, actually. Less hyperactive and therefore better than the first songs. Only the ending is too abrupt. They did not know how to end it I suppose.
And the last song is nice as well. Same story as the previous four songs.
Overall conclusion is that I really like the last three songs, the rest is mediocre and not very special. More weird too show how original they are than true song making craftsmanship. Which is too bad because they have something original in them as well, but the texture and/or mastering is just not good enough to fully use the ideas. A band like Animal Collective can really use their weirdness to make not only unique but also better songs. MGMT can learn something from them I suppose. Because the last songs of this album, and of course songs of previous albums, really show that they've got something that is pretty decent. Although it is striking that the best songs of this album are more similar to older work... so maybe it has to do with my expectation as well and that the whole album can still grow.
But last month Alex brought me in contact with them and being behind the hype it felt okay to try. I like the songs, they are not all pure genius on first listening but after several hearings you can really enjoy them. Besides it turned out that MGMT became the soundtrack of my romance.
And now there is this new album, and they really want you to listen to the whole album instead of the singles being a concept album and all. So here is my first listening review, lets hear if this will become the soundtrack of the upcoming months in Northern Europe.
Song numbero uno; I like it! Sounds a bit like Spirogyra; a band from the seventies who made 17 minute songs about Mother Russia. Fresh sound, it is promising that they did not fall into the trap of repeating themselves.
The second song seems to give the impression that this will be a bit more of a pop album. It's pretty, but not super. Not so much to say, thus. Maybe that it is a bit too long and that the climax is an anti-climax.
MGMT, if you want us to listen to this album as a whole you should not put two rather boring songs right after each other. Although the climax thingy at 1.50 is pretty okay to wake us up again, too bad it only goes on for less than 30 seconds before fading out(!).
Flash Delirium is the better MGMT sound I was hoping for, it is good but not epic. I think the mastering is a bit to smudgy. They should have asked Brian Eno, the God, to do that.. And after two minutes it changes again and becomes a bit annoying. Not consistent enough to really rock out. But it might me a grower.
I found a whistle is nice, soothing after the more violent songs from before, but also very generic. Not special.
And now it is time for the 12 minute Siberian Breaks, I am really curious what they did with all that time. Since most 4 minute songs of them are already too long.. Slow intro, nice singing. Pretty decent. And it gives me the sound of the seventies feeling again. Modern Spirogyra or something. And after 5 minutes in this song the second song kicks in, not very smoothly but it sounds okay. Yes, I think I like this pretty much. So far my favourite. Maybe I'm getting old but I prefer the soft songs that give me the feeling they are grasp-able. But then again, maybe they are just to vague, I mean, I listen to some crazy music that I really like. Xiu Xiu e.g. The next song in this song kicks in, nice. It is just a rock opera like The Who really adores. And that is a concept I can not really understand, but it is okay.. next song starts when we are 10 minutes in the Siberian Breaks song. Nice ending.
Okay, I really really like the Brian Eno song. It is an ode to the man and I completely agree with them. They are always one step behind him. Like everyone else. This is the hit, it is great. More a normal song and a catchy one too! But a bit pretentious and easy to score with Brian Eno.
The gasp before the Lady Dada song is awesome. The whole song is pretty decent, actually. Less hyperactive and therefore better than the first songs. Only the ending is too abrupt. They did not know how to end it I suppose.
And the last song is nice as well. Same story as the previous four songs.
Overall conclusion is that I really like the last three songs, the rest is mediocre and not very special. More weird too show how original they are than true song making craftsmanship. Which is too bad because they have something original in them as well, but the texture and/or mastering is just not good enough to fully use the ideas. A band like Animal Collective can really use their weirdness to make not only unique but also better songs. MGMT can learn something from them I suppose. Because the last songs of this album, and of course songs of previous albums, really show that they've got something that is pretty decent. Although it is striking that the best songs of this album are more similar to older work... so maybe it has to do with my expectation as well and that the whole album can still grow.