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CD
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ALN 026CD
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"Formed in 2002 in Brooklyn, New York the band consists of multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, both alumni of Wesleyan University. Their 2008 debut Oracular Spectacular spawned the almost ubiquitous hit singles 'Kids,' 'Time To Pretend' and 'Electric Feel' while 2010's follow up 'Congratulations' saw them embrace more of a progressive, guitar-driven sound. The bands Late Night Tales selection of post-punk, cult indie and counter culture figureheads reflects the band's multifaceted sound, and draws comparisons with contemporary dreampop/chillwave/shoegaze/folk scenes on both side of the Atlantic. The listener finds MGMT presiding over the playlist 'after-the-after-party'; Luminaries the Velvet Underground, Suicide and Julian Cope, although not with their most famous songs, sit alongside less familiar names such as Disco Inferno; whose 'Can't See It Through' from their final '96 album Technicolour opens proceedings. MGMT's exclusive cover of 'All I ever Wanted Was Everything' by Bahhaus sits comfortably alongside the UK post-punk-gothic band's peers the Durutti Column, the Chills, and the Jacobites and Felt's brief but imposing instrumental 'Red Indians.' Paranoia strikes deep: the double header of Cheval Sombre's 'Troubled Mind' and 'Drug Song' by '60s Christian folk singer Dave Bixby accentuate the hope offered by the ever penitent Spacemen 3 (MGMT's second album Congratulations was recorded with founder Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom), who deliver 'Lord Can you Hear Me?' in respect to the beautiful closer 'Morning Splendor;' taken from Pauline Anna Storm's rare '82 LP Trans-Millenia Consort. Putting a full stop on the selection, music journalist and Art and Noise collaborator Paul Morley continues his 'Lost for Words' short story."
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