Music To My Ears 2 - MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
13/05/08 17:03 Filed in: Music To My
Ears
Well
where do you begin with this album. Produced by
Dave
Fridmann, a man who I admire in terms of his
approach to production techniques and his stance on
being a music producer. Dave Fridmann has produced a
long time favorite band of mine The Flaming
Lips since departing from the band many yeas ago,
becoming a full time producer. Dave's studio,
Tarbox
is awesome. Located in the middle of nowhere, it
houses some very fine microphones, preamps,
compressors and just general cool audio gear fit for
making the interesting works of Fridmann come to
reality.
MGMT's album is by no means the exception. These songs are obviously at first hearing great songs, with great lyrics and great hooks, but I Fridamanns fingerprint is apparent all over this album. Its his personal additions as a producer that has brought these hooks and emphasis on lyrical content to flourish within the songs, crafting the arrangements into these sonically outstanding pieces of art.
The single, which kicks of the album - 'Time to Pretend' was what got me. I think I was washing the dishes at the time with the radio on and out came that song and I had to find out who it was. It was the energy of the song combined with the dark lyrics and child-like outlook on life that instantly had me hooked. Huge delays on the vocals and the soaring synths adopted a trippy vibe which really made this record stand out from the drab you usually hear on the radio. I recommend checking it out and the video here, its pretty crazy. Wikid stuff.
Like 'Time to Pretend' the album is covered in the distorted, thumping drum sound which is quite trademark to Fridmann and is a drum sound I really like. It also sounds as though a lot of the album has been done to tape rather than straight to a computer which will offer a more varied response to the microphone signals. Check out the drums in 'Electric Feel' and also in 'Pieces of What' which come in quite late on in the track which incorporate a good dose of side-chaining which echoes back to the drum sound of the Bealtes track 'She Says' from their Revolver album. I like the way the song 'Pieces of What' starts of with the beginning of the track on the play head of the tape machine causing it to speed up on the first word. 'Pieces of What' has this amazing use of delay on the vocal. The dry vocal is panned left with several delay lines set across the rest of the stereo-image making it feel as if it is always moving. 'Electric Feel' is a good 'dance tune' in some respects, catchy, fun and pounding. Just check out the sound of the snare in the verse, its like this round, distorted punch. Lovely. You can actually watch a clip of them recording the song 'Electric Feel' here where you can see them laying down one of the melody lines on what looks like a Korg Monopoly synth.
The album is a real journey and so are the individual songs, as the arrangements break the tracks up so that they may start of in one fashion but then accelerate off into a whole other dimension, captivating the listener. This album has stayed in my CD player for sometime now and it is hard to move it.
Get the album now is all I can say here and visit their myspace page here
Enjoy
-Matthew
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Label: Columbia
Catalog#: 88697195122
Format: CD, Album, Enhanced, Cardboard Slip-Case
Country: UK
Released: 10 Mar 2008
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Synth-pop, Indie Rock
Credits: Artwork By [Art Direction] - Josh Cheuse
Engineer - Dave Fridmann
Lyrics By - Goldwasser* (tracks: 3, 4)
Mastered By - Greg Calbi
Mixed By - Dave Fridmann
Music By, Arranged By, Performer - Goldwasser*
Music By, Lyrics By, Arranged By, Performer - VanWyngarden*
Other [A & R] - Maureen Kenny
Photography [Cover Photography] - Sam Fleischner
Photography [Inside Photography] - WFN Productions LTD.
Producer - Dave Fridmann , MGMT
Written-By - VanWyngarden* , Goldwasser*
Recorded at Tarbox Studios, Cassadega, NY & Context Studios, Brooklyn, NY.
Mastered at Sterling Sound.
© 2008 & ℗ 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Tracklisting:
1. Time To Pretend (4:21)
2. Weekend Wars (4:12)
3. The Youth (3:48)
4. Electric Feel (3:50)
5. Kids (5:03)
6. 4th Dimensional Transition (3:58)
7. Pieces Of What (2:44)
8. Of Moons, Birds & Monsters (4:47)
9. The Handshake (3:40)
10. Future Reflections (4:00)
MGMT's album is by no means the exception. These songs are obviously at first hearing great songs, with great lyrics and great hooks, but I Fridamanns fingerprint is apparent all over this album. Its his personal additions as a producer that has brought these hooks and emphasis on lyrical content to flourish within the songs, crafting the arrangements into these sonically outstanding pieces of art.
The single, which kicks of the album - 'Time to Pretend' was what got me. I think I was washing the dishes at the time with the radio on and out came that song and I had to find out who it was. It was the energy of the song combined with the dark lyrics and child-like outlook on life that instantly had me hooked. Huge delays on the vocals and the soaring synths adopted a trippy vibe which really made this record stand out from the drab you usually hear on the radio. I recommend checking it out and the video here, its pretty crazy. Wikid stuff.
Like 'Time to Pretend' the album is covered in the distorted, thumping drum sound which is quite trademark to Fridmann and is a drum sound I really like. It also sounds as though a lot of the album has been done to tape rather than straight to a computer which will offer a more varied response to the microphone signals. Check out the drums in 'Electric Feel' and also in 'Pieces of What' which come in quite late on in the track which incorporate a good dose of side-chaining which echoes back to the drum sound of the Bealtes track 'She Says' from their Revolver album. I like the way the song 'Pieces of What' starts of with the beginning of the track on the play head of the tape machine causing it to speed up on the first word. 'Pieces of What' has this amazing use of delay on the vocal. The dry vocal is panned left with several delay lines set across the rest of the stereo-image making it feel as if it is always moving. 'Electric Feel' is a good 'dance tune' in some respects, catchy, fun and pounding. Just check out the sound of the snare in the verse, its like this round, distorted punch. Lovely. You can actually watch a clip of them recording the song 'Electric Feel' here where you can see them laying down one of the melody lines on what looks like a Korg Monopoly synth.
The album is a real journey and so are the individual songs, as the arrangements break the tracks up so that they may start of in one fashion but then accelerate off into a whole other dimension, captivating the listener. This album has stayed in my CD player for sometime now and it is hard to move it.
Get the album now is all I can say here and visit their myspace page here
Enjoy
-Matthew
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Label: Columbia
Catalog#: 88697195122
Format: CD, Album, Enhanced, Cardboard Slip-Case
Country: UK
Released: 10 Mar 2008
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Synth-pop, Indie Rock
Credits: Artwork By [Art Direction] - Josh Cheuse
Engineer - Dave Fridmann
Lyrics By - Goldwasser* (tracks: 3, 4)
Mastered By - Greg Calbi
Mixed By - Dave Fridmann
Music By, Arranged By, Performer - Goldwasser*
Music By, Lyrics By, Arranged By, Performer - VanWyngarden*
Other [A & R] - Maureen Kenny
Photography [Cover Photography] - Sam Fleischner
Photography [Inside Photography] - WFN Productions LTD.
Producer - Dave Fridmann , MGMT
Written-By - VanWyngarden* , Goldwasser*
Recorded at Tarbox Studios, Cassadega, NY & Context Studios, Brooklyn, NY.
Mastered at Sterling Sound.
© 2008 & ℗ 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Tracklisting:
1. Time To Pretend (4:21)
2. Weekend Wars (4:12)
3. The Youth (3:48)
4. Electric Feel (3:50)
5. Kids (5:03)
6. 4th Dimensional Transition (3:58)
7. Pieces Of What (2:44)
8. Of Moons, Birds & Monsters (4:47)
9. The Handshake (3:40)
10. Future Reflections (4:00)