The cover is almost too atrocious to display.
What does MGMT’s new album Celebration have in common with Pearl Jam’s No Code, Nirvana’s In Utero U2’s Pop, Interpol’s Antics and Metallica’s Load? Each of these albums represents a complete change in musical direction and style which freaked out, alienated and irritated fans – and in many cases received a tepid critical response. Certainly fans who loved MGMT’s phenomenal debut Oracular Spectacular with the glossy dance floor-like hooks, anthemic choruses of its 4 or 5 infectious, most popular songs will probably find MGMT’s latest effort to be an alienating and rather frustrating listen. There isn’t a discernible hook to catch the attention of listeners with terribly short attention spans and extremely pedestrian tastes. In fact, although the semi-psychedelic feel remains somewhat, the album feels much like an early 70s prog rock album gone horribly wrong. In other words there are just too many musical ideas thrown against the walls to see if they would stick – and sadly, they don’t always stick or fit together well. The time signature changes don’t feel organic or necessary to any of the songs, and in a number of them there’s either too much instrumentation throw into the songs as if to fill up really spare musical space.
“It’s Working,” the album’s first and introductory track sounds as though it could have come out of the 60s – seems to be a mash up between Pink Floyd, the Doors and the Beach Boys. In fact this song and the following song, “Song for Dan Traecy” are punctuated with organ bursts in the background, childlike refrains. When I heard “Someone’s Missing,” I was reminded of how much it sounded like the Jackson 5’s. Hell, it’s in the same damn key as several of their early love songs. Perhaps because of this, I found it kind of catchy. But these songs seem destined to irritate, because an astute listener can easily figure out who MGMT is heavily borrowing from and most importantly, it’s obvious that this is done on purpose. There’s this odd feeling as though MGMT may hate their fans, hate being famous, hate their record label or just hate everything and everyone. The cover art alone is horrifyingly ugly and most of the songs have a weary, down-tempo drowsy feel – a Magical Mystery Tour/Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band psychedelia without as much real joy, wonder or even whimsy. A song like “Brian Eno” where the man’s name is repeated as part of the chorus is full of a certain child-like glee that manages to be infectious, and then quickly seems annoying before turning into something maddeningly irritating that you can’t somehow get out of your head – for better or for worse. Oddly enough, the key of the chorus sounds much like an old Sum 41 song I’ve always hated. There’s no reason for a song like “Siberian Breaks,” to be over 12 minutes long when it doesn’t do much except sag and plod on its own weight. And these are just some of my complaints. I could go on for days, telling you how irritated I was listening to this one.
Even with the complaints about how awful these songs are – and they’re really bad – there’s something oddly compelling about this album. Congratulations as an album is much like a grisly scene of a car accident: no matter how horrible the sight of mangled bodies, you keep turning back to look and you kind of hate yourself for doing so. Ending with Goldwasser and VanWyngarden clapping their heads at the end of “Congratulations,” this album is the perhaps strangest unsettling release of the year.
Track Listing
1. It’s Working
2. Song for Dan Traecy
3. Someone’s Missing
4. Flash Delirium
5. I Found A Whistle
6. Siberian Breaks
7. Brian Eno
8. Lady Dada’s Nightmare
9. Congratulations
