The lame album art was actually the most "fun" thing about "Congratulations"
Knew going into this one that it wasn’t supposed to be as poppy as “oracular spectacular”, but still this was disappointing. Probably wanted to like the single “Flash Delirium” more than I really did. Just wasn’t ready to write off the whole album after hearing one sub-standard song. Heard that MGMT actually came out and apologized for the song sucking….
“When we first wrote that song, we were laughing so hard,” said MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser.
“Andrew just reminded me of that – that we thought it was the funniest thing we’d ever heard. And then we got used to it, it started to sound more normal. It’s not a single, but we thought it was a good way to entice people to listen to the whole record.
“I’m sure there are plenty of people who think it’s completely weird and not what they were expecting. I’m sorry.”
Not sure if apologizing is the best move. Seems pretty shitty if you can’t even stand behind your work.
It’s understandable that they might not want to keep making poppy “soundtrack” friendly songs that teen gurlz can jam out to. I get the desire to evolve and change. Probably wanted to prove they had real alt-cred. Just wanted to feel ‘meaningful’ and be respected as artists by critics. Probably thought they could transform into a new ‘Animal Collective’ or ‘Grizzly Bear’. The problem isn’t really in the goal, but the execution. MGMT might just kind of suck at being ‘edgy’ and experimental. Not sure that they know the difference between weird and good.
Maybe this is the type of music that they really want to make. Maybe Congratulations truly represents them as musicians and people. That might be the case, and while I respect their choice to make music that makes them happy. That doesn’t keep me from thinking that it is pretty horrible.
MGMT Congratulations 1 out of 5
The Music Hoarder 