Even with two thirds of my life spent collecting records and playing them for others I don’t consider myself anything remotely approaching a music “expert.” I don’t have a music degree. Nor do I possess innate knowledge of every band in the known universe. I just like music, and spend a lot of time looking for music I’ll enjoy listening to. Despite having the opportunity to share my enjoyment with strangers via this space I don’t consider myself a music reviewer either. I feel this way because, unlike situations where writers are given assignments or draw their subjects from piles of submissions, I get to write about music I actually like without having to negatively critique a lot of music I don’t.
I love the process of finding new records. And while I prefer the naturalness of hunting and gathering to the crapshoot of the traditional review process I’m not so confident in my own methods that I’d turn down a recommendation. Such was the case not too long ago when OKP’s own Dan humbly asked me if I was familiar with a group called the MGMT. Other than a fuzzy recollection of seeing the Brooklyn, New York-based duo’s name listed as an opening act on Of Montreal’s last tour (which I, sadly, did not attend) I wasn’t. But after listening to one of their tracks I pledged to obtain their album and thanked Dan for the heads up. And even though it took me a minute, when I finally copped their debut disc Oracular Spectacular I was pleased to add it to my listening rotation.
Like Kevin Barnes and company the MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden compose songs that musically hearken back to the Pop songcraft of the of the ’60s and ’70s, incorporating elements of Pop, Rock, psychedelia, Prog-Rock, Glam and Disco, while boasting distinctly modern lyrics & themes and a largely electronic sound. Tunes like “Electric Feel,” “Weekend Wars,” “Kids,” “4th Dimensional Transition,” “Of Moons, Birds & Monsters,” “The Handshake,” “Future Reflections” and “Time to Pretend” reminded me alternately of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Bee-Gees, Queen, the aforementioned Of Montreal, the Flaming Lips, Scissor Sisters and Animal Collective, sometimes within the same song.
Mgmt “Electric Feel”
Within days of obtaining Oracular Spectacular I stumbled upon a record called Blood Moon by another New York band called Apes & Androids. As if having a name involving both monkeys and robots weren’t awesome enough, the group sports a sound complimentary to the MGMT’s; a funky, synth-and-drum-machine-fueled take on ’70s Glam & progressive Rock that sounds something like a mash-up of Of Montreal (yes, again), Muse and Beck… If that mash-up was put together by a drag-bar DJ who really likes David Bowie, Radiohead and The Neptunes. In fact, songs like “Nights of the Week,” “Imaginary Friends,” “Doyle is Dead” and most notably “Sweetest Secret” wouldn’t sound out of place next to tracks from The Neptunes’ homie Kenna’s recent Make Sure They See My Face LP.
Apes And Androids “Sweetest Secret”
Whether word-of-mouth recommended major label scenemakers, or randomly discovered independent self-releasers, I know what I like.
-El Keter
