New MGMT album is here

Their sophomore album Congratulations is not set for release until April 13, but the website for MGMT is now streaming the record online for free.

MGMT (say the letters, not management) is a two-person combo featuring Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, who is a native of Memphis. The duo met and began their musical collaborations at Wesleyan University. Their first album, Oracular Spectacular, was released in 2007. The record was included on many critics' Best of 2007 lists, and was nominated for two Grammys, best pop performance by a duo or group, and best new artist.

The band's first live show of 2009 was in Little Rock in June of last year at The Village, the domed movie theater at Asher and University formerly known as the Cinema 150. I was there. The event was a mess... patrons with tickets were kept waiting outdoors until some two hours after the advertised start time, then thanks to a non-working AC, it was 100+ degrees inside. A cup of water cost $2. But the band was great.

MGMT is usually classified as a neo-psychedelia group, but the music is really all over the map. Check out the video samples below, then click over to the new record to hear more.

Here are VanWyngarden and Goldwasser at a college party circa 2003 performing a version of Talking Heads' Naive Melody:


Here's Time to Pretend, MGMT's breakthrough single from the first record:


And here's a second trippy video from Oracular Spectacular for the single Electric Feel: