MGMT

MGMT - MGMT
Critic Score
Based on 36 reviews
2013 Ratings: #1023 / 1115
User Score
Based on 962 ratings
2013 Rank: #486
Liked by 52 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
DIY

It's an immaculate full-length that shows growth and maturity in songwriting and sound, with adult themes cleverly masked by playful sonics that evoke the innocence of childhood.

80
AllMusic

Although it's clear that their infectious, single-heavy debut was no accident, the more experimental aspect of MGMT seems to be their dominant side.

80
NME

In a world where bands exist merely to bag the next phone ad soundtrack, the guts and wild abandon of the pair’s singular, foolhardy vision is rare indeed.

80
Northern Transmissions
It may not make you get up and dance, but your brain will be spinning.
80
Exclaim!

MGMT finds VanWyngarden and Goldwasser having a great deal of fun creating exactly the kind of eclectic, weird music they want to.

80
The Guardian
You might need a strong cuppa to settle your nerves afterwards.
75
Under the Radar
They’ve managed to step forward into focused recalibration without losing their weekend-warrior identity.
70
musicOMH

On one hand, they seem able to produce easily digestible fuzzy pop songs slightly reminiscent of soft rock with what appears to be consummate ease; on the other, they can enter into all manner of sonic digressions with a noteworthy lightness of touch.

70
Loud and Quiet
These songs are certainly less paranoid, and fuse the two previous albums into some sort of workable chimera, but they still lack the confidence and self-assertion of the band’s debut album.
70
Rolling Stone
MGMT keep finding new and exciting ways to mess with our heads
70
God Is in the TV
This album is indeed an amalgam of the good times, let’s-not-upset-Columbia debut ‘Oracular Spectacular’, and their rather drained sounding, introspective but idea-filled sophomore ‘Congratulations’.
70
The 405

Not many other bands in their position could get away with an album like this; they've reached the stage where going back to writing straightforward songs would seem like a serious retrograde step. More power to them.

62
Pitchfork

For all of their talk of going off the deep end, MGMT ultimately takes on a less flattering image, of a band wading in the indie mainstream.

60
NOW Magazine
If the noise doesn’t scare you off, there are a lot of delicate details waiting to be discovered.
60
The Independent
It sometimes meanders like a wasted hipster at an Animal Collective after-show.
60
The Needle Drop
Neo-psych outfit MGMT returns with a fuzzy new album that's got plenty of odd moments, but too few memorable ones.
60
The Arts Desk

American duo frustrate with follow-up to the classic ‘Congratulations’.

60
PopMatters

The result, a self-titled rebirth following a hiatus, is a bit of a mess. Still, it’s a thrillingly inventive and uncompromisingly colorful mess, and isn’t that the best kind of mess?

50
The Line of Best Fit

Dense, uneasy psychedelia dominates, and although this isn’t a product of wilfully inaccessible experimentation, neither does it contain much in the way of instant melodies and conventional song structures.

50
Pretty Much Amazing

On MGMT the band has aimed for a modern day equivalent of a cross between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, but they’ve produced the psych-rock equivalent of Oasis’s Be Here Now – an impenetrable, overwrought, hit-and-miss product marred by ego. 

50
Consequence of Sound

The record’s thick textures feel like canvases that have been painted over too many times, and its genre excursions have had the life practiced out of them. A looser take on MGMT would likely have been a rousing success.

50
No Ripcord

What’s disheartening about MGMT is that even if they disapprove of their earlier pop songs, their structureless compositions still operate within a high level of artful accessibility.

43
Entertainment Weekly

Though there are flashes of gratifyingly gauzy pop, their cavalcade of goopy dross and hippie-dippy navel-gazing takes a left at transcendence and eventually just lets this bloated trip sputter out altogether.

40
Slant Magazine

The swampy, claustrophobic MGMT is never as interesting or smart as the crowd-pleasing sing-alongs on Oracular Spectacular.

40
FACT Magazine

The good news is, MGMT is by some margin the New Yorker’s most intuitive, sincere and naturalistic record. The bad news is that it’s not at all musically interesting.

40
Paste

MGMT is less a collection of worthwhile songs than a demo reel for Fridmann’s studio tricks.

40
SPIN

On their third and eponymously titled album, Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden don't notice a lot of things, including their lack of hooks or any sort of identity. 

40
Spectrum Culture
MGMT is a case of a band that should have stuck to what they were good at, rather than diving into waters they’re left floundering in.
40
Tiny Mix Tapes

Whereas Congratulations was almost impenetrably dense with melody and progression, the material on MGMT is stripped down to an absolute dearth of ideas.

25
A.V. Club
An endurance test of an album that’s seemingly unlovable by design.
20
Crack Magazine
MGMT aren’t a real band, they’re a total fluke.
charlie17
68

Here's the deal(crash)
Open your eyes(crash)
This album's alright(crash)
There are some good songs(crash)
Like alien days(crash)
And Life is a lie(crash)
This album's alright
But there are some flaws(crash)
it feels underbaked(crash)
At certain times(crash)
Like introspection(crash)
Or Astro-mancy(crash)
It's really alright(crash)
This album's alright(68/100)

SnowyFighter
73

Magical Guys Making Tunes

Okay huh. I think this one is a bit over hated. It’s definitely not their best work but I have to say I really enjoyed some moments on here. This album might be their most psychedelic to date, possibly besides Congratulations. There are some very cool atmospheres on here that really suck me in. Alien Days is a really great opener, really catchy and there’s a lot of cool effects. An Orphan of Fortune is a super weird yet captivating closer. I Love You Too, ... read more

Gustavstone07
55

So... people aren't gonna get too mad if I said that this is my least favourite MGMT record, right?

Yeah, wow. Either they tried too hard or not at all with this. Andrew and Ben already alienated their entire fanbase with Congraultions three years prior, so what did they do to try and appeal to the mainstream without giving up the cool ideas they had on their sophomore album? Well, they didn't actually do anything, they just doubled down on the weirdness tenfold. Actually, hundredfold would be ... read more

The_Noided_One
72

I can definitely see why people consider the weakest MGMT album. I actually love the production here. These walls of sound create an atmosphere that's super easy to get lost in. My main problem with this album is that the actual songs themselves feel a bit unfinished. like I said, the atmosphere here is great, and the foundations of these songs are really good, but a lot of these songs feel like they stay in the same place for most of the song and don't really go anywhere. This makes the album ... read more

bomber
75

over hated as hell, this may be controversial, and a hot take, but i think this album is better than congratulations, i just think it hits harder, its more colourful, more consistent, more creative, more powerful as an album, its just better executed and sounds better in general, and yes this album can feel over-produced and lacking in a lot of moments, but theres less of those moments on here than on their sophomore record, the instrumentals are just more well though out and played, the mix is ... read more

Eggdipie
50

Alien Days is amazing. The rest? Well...

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Added on: April 22, 2013