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Gig review: MGMT at the Powerstation

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Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:00a.m.

MGMT in the video for 'Electric Feel'

MGMT in the video for 'Electric Feel'

Review by James Murray
 
MGMT, Powerstation, Auckland

Tuesday July 21
 
I dress blandly. That is my conclusion from last night’s MGMT gig.

In my day, and I am aware that I sound extremely crusty here, bands like Blur and Oasis ruled – all you had to wear was a pair of jeans, Adidas trainers and a t-shirt and you were away - a walking, talking fashion statement – we were ‘lads’ and we didn’t go in for anything fancy.

But that era is long gone. If I was a teenager now the gamut of clothing options has grown exponentially. Hmmm, headband or leggings? Big thick belt or shorts that look like they were worn by an overweight hillbilly? massive black shades or luminous tank top?

It is reminiscent of the early ‘90s so will probably look very stupid in about two years, but for now dressing up like you have been dragged through an op-shop is in vogue and it was definitely the thing to do at the Powerstation last night.

Enough about fashion – this is a gig review. MGMT’s debut album Oracular Spectacular is a bit over-produced; too many effects spoil the broth so to speak.

Live though, the band are a different matter. Founders, Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, line up with an extra guitarist, bass player and drummer and suddenly their music makes sense.

They are not so much pretentious electro-pop idiots as quite an interesting psychedelic band with a few catchy keyboard bleeps thrown in.

Apart from the singles, which the crowd go nuts for, the highlights were two album tracks: ‘The Youth’ and ‘The Handshake’.

Both songs reminded me of early Flaming Lips records. ‘The Youth’ changes key halfway through and its lovely, repetitive chorus lulls me into a sense of well-being.

‘The Handshake’ breaks down into a noise-rock extravaganza, with their guitarist Hank Sallivant performing a fret-tapping, effects-laden guitar solo the like of which I thought died out in 1975.

I hope this band are not corrupted by their early success and are allowed to go on and explore some of the off-the-wall, psychedelic pop that made this concert better than expected.

Having said that, they finish with Kids, a pretty straight electro-pop song-by-numbers, and the kids in the second-hand clothes go mad once again.

Perhaps they should keep just a smidgen of that catchy pop instinct.

MGMT play the Powerstation tonight and on Thursday

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Comments

22 Jul 2009 11:46p.m.

ben wrote:

i agree with some of the comments james made about mgmt and their gig. the vast majority of people reading this review (probably the opshop clothees wearing fans of mgmt) aren't really going to care who wore what to the concert though.comon james think of something clever to talk about instead of telling everyone you aren't really part of this scene- you make yourself seem incapable of reviewing a gig like this.you call mgmt's album 'over produced'- The album's sound is experimental and completely origional and is most certainly not created by 'pretentious electro-pop idiots'i think that would be the stupidest comment in the review- i dont think radiohead would get some pretentious electro pop idiots to open for them would they? in my eyes ben and andrew are the two most important musicians on the planet right now- i hope they're next album will be as influential and incredible as oracular spectacular.

22 Jul 2009 11:45p.m.

ben wrote:

i agree with some of the comments james made about mgmt and their gig. the vast majority of people reading this review (probably the opshop clothees wearing fans of mgmt) aren't really going to care who wore what to the concert though.comon james think of something clever to talk about instead of telling everyone you aren't really part of this scene- you make yourself seem incapable of reviewing a gig like this.you call mgmt's album 'over produced'- The album's sound is experimental and completely origional and is most certainly not created by 'pretentious electro-pop idiots'i think that would be the stupidest comment in the review- i dont think radiohead would get some pretentious electro pop idiots to open for them would they? in my eyes ben and andrew are the two most important musicians on the planet right now- i hope they're next album will be as influential and incredible as oracular spectacular.