The Cold Cut

MGMT- Time To Pretend
MGMT- Electric Feel

It kills me that I think of this blog as a small taste of what's great about music 'now', yet I still miss out some truly brilliant bands, doing some groundbreaking stuff. The time constraints of being at a busy boarding school are the cause of this, but my circumstances don't make it any less painful. The first band I've completely missed out on recently is MGMT (short for management). A web-sensation, this band's popularity has rocketed over through a combination of web-publicity and great tunes, directly converted into sales across the pond.

'Oracular Spectacular' has been out in the US for ages, but the band's UK label held the release until the new year, and I think that was a good idea. MGMT have literally dominated the Hype Machine/Elbows popular lists for the last few months, and not without reason. 'Oracular Spectacular' is an album that's inventive, brave and most crucially, packed full of fun. I'm not averse to a simple tune... MGMT don't dress the songs up any more than is necessary, and are brave in their delivery. This is unashamedly great pop music. 'Time To Pretend' is surely the best song attacking stereotypical rock stars' clichéd lives of snorting coke with buxom hookers. Relentlessly powering through a great bass rumble, this is their best song to date.

Next for me came 'Electric Feel', featuring a throwback synth lick that is truly genius, a retro beat and falsetto. These varied songs are vital to the band's appeal, throwing some curve balls and mixing up the album, which I'm sure will be similarly well recieved in Europe. The band are already starting to make an impact over here, weeks ahead of the album's release. Tomorrow night they're performing on 'Later With Jools Holland', playing both 'Time To Pretend' and 'Pieces Of What'.

The album comes out on March 10th... pre-order it on Amazon. If you want to hear a couple more tracks, head over to the Hype Machine. Visit the band's website for more info.