No idea on this one, and I'm not impressed by the opening digital fart noises. Before too long the opening track "Time To Pretend" settles into a modernized ABBA-style synthesized dance epicness with a rougher edge. It's a bit heavy-handed but just over-the-top enough to work. The following songs aren't quite as good. "Time To Pretend" has a driving power behind it's groove and melody that balances out the digital noise. "Weekend Wars" and "The Youth" are gentler numbers that are drowned under too many layers. "Electric Feel" has a much stronger groove, and would almost pass for a spacy 70s club song if it weren't for all the reverb.
"4th Dimensional Transition" would probably have sounded great if it were done in the classic psychedelia tradition, perhaps by a band like 13th Floor Elevators. In the 60s when bands didn't seemingly have unlimited budgets (or perhaps access to a decent laptop is all it takes these days?) they made their songs sound interesting by including outlandish instruments like jugs or by playing drums in a stairway to get a heavy sound. MGMT's idea of making Oracular Spectacular sound interesting is by adding more sound. More echo, more guitar noodling, more distortion, more synth tracks. I'm not even sure how many people are even in MGMT, what instruments they're connected to, or what their style is other than being slightly weird and covered with digital noise.
MGMT is exactly the type of band I would expect to become popular in the last 15 years and that is annoying. For one, the music is pretty annoying. But also I really want more variety in popular music, especially if people are going to claim there are so many subgenres of party-pop, post-rock, electro-beat, indie-rock, indie-pop, or whatever. At least it would appear that the authors of the big list have thus far only been fooled once, because MGMT has 2 other albums since this one that haven't made the list... yet. 2 stars.
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