The truth is, MGMT, with their newest release after more than 5 years, is still pure hipster rock. It’s the purview of college radio rotations and 20 year old lit majors (I should know. I used to be one.) It’s smarter than pop, more technically interesting that traditional hard rock, and more accessible than hip-hop. And it’s angsty in the way that music from two young guys who attended a liberal arts program at Wesleyan University in the early aughts would be.
But it’s more than just cerebral, sensitive, techno-trippy pop-rock in the vein of their obvious influence PHISH; MGMT is also really funny. And kinda dark. And not new.
However, in spite of falling off the scene for a few years and serving up music that is generally considered niche at best, a recent show at the fantastic new Washington, DC venue Anthem (really, this space is an arena-rock band’s dream), MGMT — who, as a band, is almost 20 years old — proved they still have that thing that appeals to people who were in elementary school when their opus “Oracular Spectacular” (listed by Rolling Stone as the 18th best album of the 2000s) was released in 2007.
They’re a ton of fun.
This is a band that is really only a band when they’re onstage. The actual group is two guys — lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and percussionist Andrew VanWyngarden; and vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist and percussionist Benjamin Goldwasser, who met in college at Wesleyan. They’re sort of a mix between Flight of the Conchords and that whole Elephant 6 collective that became Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples in Stereo.
They’re goofy and catchy, and still edgy enough to make you think that after they leave stage, air still ringing with uplifting modified beats, they might sink into a day’s worth of existential angst, wondering if bubble-gum colored lighting effects are all there is to life.
And they have certainly not lost the ability to engage a huge crowd with limited instrumentation, catchy beats, modified sound machines, and a weird and wonderful light and projector show.
The crowd in DC — about as tame a music crowd as one is likely to come across (I saw a guy who had one too many just sit down for a second on a stair leading down to the seats in the second floor balcony immediately descended upon by 5 Anthem staffers wanting to help him get some air or water or an ambulance. The guy just stood up and said, “no, really I’m fine.” It was hilarious.) — was buoyant. With the old favorites like “Kids” and “Time to Pretend” to the newer ones like “Me and Michael” and ” She Works Out Too Much” (which was performed while VanWyngarden rode a stationary bike).
And the boys played well, giving some of the teenagers in attendance bouncy dance music and the — ahem — older folks in attendance a throw back to childhood with a show closing rendition of “Neverending Story” from the film of the same name. And yes, Falcor was projected onto the screen behind the stage.
There’s no telling how long MGMT’s brand of neo-psychedelia will appeal to the fickle millennials. But so far, based on the crowd in DC, people still want the lights and dance beats, with some barely understood lyrics to make them think.
And MGMT still delivers.
- MGMT: Stationary Biking into the Hearts of a New Generation - March 23, 2018
