Oracular Spectacular

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Oracular Spectacular
Oracular Spectacular cover
Studio album by MGMT
Released October 2, 2007 (digital)
January 22, 2008 (retail)
March 10th, 2008 (UK hard re-release)
Genre Indie rock/pop
Psychedelic
Electronica
Synth pop
Length 40:18
Label Sony Records/Columbia Records
Producer Dave Fridmann
Professional reviews
MGMT chronology
Time To Pretend EP
(2005)		 Oracular Spectacular
(2007-2008)
Alternate cover
2007 Digital Cover
2007 Digital Cover

Oracular Spectacular is the first major label studio album by Brooklyn, New York indie rock band MGMT, released digitally October 2, 2007 on Columbia Records, available in CD format from January 22, 2008.[1] The album features new versions of both "Kids" and "Time to Pretend", songs from their previous release, Time To Pretend EP (2005), the opening track serving as a "mission statement" and theme continued through the proceeding tracks. Pitchfork Media compared MGMT to Muse and Mew, but weaving in an early 90s Britpop sound.[2] Prefix Magazine said the album "sounds like a college-dorm experiment gone horribly right."[3]

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Time to Pretend" – 4:21
  2. "Weekend Wars" – 4:12
  3. "The Youth" – 3:48
  4. "Electric Feel" – 3:49
  5. "Kids" – 5:02
  6. "4th Dimensional Transition" – 3:58
  7. "Pieces of What" – 2:43
  8. "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" – 4:46
  9. "The Handshake" – 3:39
  10. "Future Reflections" – 4:00

[edit] Quotes

  • "Knowing that the Almost Famous notion of stardom doesn't exist anymore (if it ever did), the duo of Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser realize they're "fated to pretend." It's a charming idea-- making a career out of fantasizing-- and on Oracular Spectacular, they not only accept their playacting destiny, they demonstrate that, just maybe, it's a path more people should take." - Eric Harvey, Pitchfork Media
  • "This space-rock gem mocks the clichéd coke-and-hookers rock-star lifestyle, over big synth whooshes." - Kevin O'Donnell of Rolling Stone on the single 'Time to Pretend.'[4]
  • "We redid a lot of our songs that sounded too polished... Dave (producer David Fridmann) ended up running the tracks through this thing that crushed them and made them sound really gross again. They're a lot better now." - Ben Goldwasser in Rolling Stone[4]
  • "The apocalypse is in the zeitgeist... but it doesn't have to be about death and destruction; it could be the shattering of a mass hallucination…where the human race realizes its true potential!" - Andrew Vanwyngarden in Spin.com [5]

[edit] Music Videos

[edit] Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Billboard 200 129
Billboard Top Heatseekers[7] 1
UK Albums Chart 12
Irish Albums Chart [8] 5
Italian Singles Chart 85
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[9] 26

[edit] References

  1. ^ Oracular Spectacular on Amazon. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
  2. ^ Harvey, Eric. Oracular Spectacular: Review. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
  3. ^ Goldmeier, Jeremy. Oracular Spectacular: Album review. Prefix Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  4. ^ a b O'Donnell, Kevin. Artist to Watch: MGMT. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
  5. ^ Marchese, David (2007-11-23). Breaking Out: MGMT. Spin.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
  6. ^ Time To Pretend video. YouTube. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  7. ^ Oracular Spectacular Top Heatseeker. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
  8. ^ Irish Album Chart 13th March 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  9. ^ Oracular Spectacular ARIA Albums. Australian ARIA Albums Chart. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.