I say ooh MGMT, Shock Me with your Electric Feel.
I say ooh MGMT, Shock Me with your Electric Feel.
Written by Sarah Mudgway   
Wednesday, 15 April 2009 09:20

mgmt

If you are like me and still in that post-Easter chocolate fuelled coma, you may have forgotten that MGMT tickets went on sale on the 14th. Also like me, you probably kicked yourself when you heard that all three upcoming Auckland shows had sold out within an hour. Or perhaps you are like my co-worker, whose response to my pain was “MGM-what?” Either way, the facts remain the same. MGMT are coming, and you’re most likely not going. It has been awhile since a band coming to New Zealand has sold out so quickly. Not even Coldplay or Kings Of Leon could awaken the music loving masses of Aotearoa out of their recession slumber to purchase tickets with such speed. So what makes MGMT so special?

MGMT’s background seems like an all too familiar story. Two guys, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, met in 2002 while in college and started playing around with music without the intention of becoming a proper band. Throughout their college years, the boys grew musically and upon graduating they released their six track 'Time To Pretend EP' on indie label Cantora Records.

Good reviews and some extensive touring later, and it wasn’t long before Goldwasser and VanWyngarden caught the attention of the A&R reps at Columbia Records, which is still their current label. An appearance on both 'Skins' and 'Gossip Girl' soundtracks, extensive touring with indie icons Of Montreal, a name change from Management to MGMT and the release of debut album 'Oracular Spectacular' later, and their fusion of psychedelic pop with indie flavourings see them rising up from the musical underworld and sitting nicely at the top of the charts.

Perhaps it is the unique amalgamation of genres which are putting MGMT on the forefront of the musical world. MGMT’s stylings are indie enough to keep the music elitists at bay, danceable enough to interest the town loving socialites, mainstream enough for it to be all over our nations radio stations, and their videos look like they’ve come straight from the mind of some drugged up hippies. Relentlessly experimental indie-dance-mainstream-yet-alternative-stoner music? Sounds like a winner.

As for the three Auckland shows, if you are one of the 'Kids' who managed to score tickets, you’ll have an amazing time. For those of you like me, it’s 'Time to Pretend' that those Trademe ticket scalpers aren’t going to on sell at ridiculous prices, allowing both 'The Youth' and the young at heart, the chance to enter '4th Dimensional Transition' with the help of MGMT.
 

Show Other Articles From This Author