Congratulations, Volume Two Leaked
How many hipsters does it take to fix a leak?
Since I have been voted commander in chief of your musical enlightenment (by myself), a responsibility I very nearly take seriously, I spent the better part of my Sunday night (about 3 minutes) isolated for profound reflection and diligent research. In that seemingly interminable time, I had storyboarded an entire weeks worth of articles, only to be awoken by a cyber blitzkrieg of music news. I was so consumed by my prolific plans that I did not check the news wires until Monday morning (very late afternoon). For those of you who are not on spring break and do not have immeasurable time on your hands, She & Him’s Volume Two and MGMT’s Congratulations both leaked over the weekend. Now one of these album’s leakage is far more noteworthy than the other. Many of you are probably asking, “did he write that sentence because he had always dreamed of using the word leakage in a public forum?” Absolutely I did, but I also think that it really is the proper conjugation in this context. I digress. Volume Two was intended to be released today anyhow, so its slightly premature arrival does little for anyone outside of those select individuals who believe Zooey Deschanel and Sonic the Hedgehog to be on neighboring levels of awesomeness. Congratulations on the other hand, was not supposed to be released for another 21 days (but who’s counting). The two albums not only represent polar opposites in terms of content, but also in what they mean for the careers of their respective creators. Now because I know most of you care more about MGMT, I’ll begin with She & Him.
Volume Two is exactly what one would expect as the sophomore release from Queen of the Hipsters Zooey Deschanel and her ever-so-talented compatriot M. Ward. Her Royal Highness Deschanel diverges little from her successful Volume One except perhaps in exhibiting more shrewdness about her range. She continues to perform her classic lighthearted lyrics sung in her raspy, smile inducing voice. And while the album sounds nothing like an archetypal M. Ward release, his producing and arranging fingerprints are strewn about the record. The majority of the record is given a 60’s and 70’s oldies arrangement to accompany Zooey’s vintage voice, which is often layered atop itself for smile inducing harmonies. There’s absolutely something Beach Boys-ian in many of the melodies, in addition to heavy influences of early R&B. This volume, much like its predecessor, goes down exceedingly smoothly, like my pick up lines on the hard of hearing, until of course, they are told what I said.
On it’s first listen, Congratulations goes down about as smoothly as ten year-old dfjacobs trying to get into the 20/20 club or the highly explicit diatribe I gave to my 5th grade English teacher. It’s distant, completely unexpected and at some points abrasive. MGMT depart from their idyllic dance-pop on Oracular Spectacular and morph into futuristic psychedelics. The Brooklyn duo of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden responded to the leak by streaming it on their own website with the message, “Hey everybody, the album leaked, and we wanted you to be able to hear it from us. We wanted to offer it as a free download but that didn’t make sense to anyone but us.” whoismgmt.com seems to be a genius web address, mirroring the thought process of most of the band’s listeners. The album requires many listens before its endearing qualities are fully appreciated, and for those of you waiting for the “Kids-ian” or “Time to Pretend-esque” song, you will be heartily disappointed. The duo said that they didn’t truly understand why Oracular Spectacular became so popular on mainstream airwaves, and that they did not believe themselves to be a pop group, but rather a rock band. Whether you love the new direction or hate it, you have to respect their gravitas. They could have easily created the mainstream dance-pop follow-up and sold a million more records, but they tried something different. While I’m still on the fence about how fantastic their creation is (it’s growing on me massive amounts with every listen), I respect the hell out of them for trying it.
I apologize for writing such an epic, and I promise to return to my Zooey Deschanel-esque light-hearted elegance tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy some of my favorite tracks from each record.
Someone’s Missing – MGMT (YSI)
First of all, I’m pretty pretty pleased that dfjacobs has been putting nose to the grindstone lately. The recent uptick in his entries is certain to convert me to a regular animalshow devotee.
And now, for my own additions to the leak: 1. Ben Goldwasser used to go as Beno (pronounces Bay-Noh). 2. Andrew VW has paid top dollar for a spray tan, just for giggles. Scouts honor on this one.
I definitely agree that at first listen, I was thrown off and slightly away from Congratulations but after giving it a couple more spins, I am warming up to and it’s definitely reaching my top 5 records so far of 2010. I pre-ordered it already on iTunes, more fun blasting it from my car, http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/congratulations/id362806069
I really like those She & Him tracks.
i liked this entry, but one thing that i’ve been somewhat confounded by is how everyone thinks that she & him make such lighthearted and smile-inducing music. perhaps it’s that first single from volume one, which is rather simple and cheery, especially compared to the rest of the album. perhaps it’s deschanel’s perpetual zombie-esque smile on her face when she performs. maybe it is that oldies, beach boys sound and the sunny images it often seems to conjure. it could be the associations people have with zooey as an actress, which i think i tend to separate from the music almost entirely. i don’t know if it’s just me, but vol. 1 never felt like a particularly happy album for me. while i certainly think it’s great, i actually think it’s more of a sad album, and i don’t think the majority of the songs were lighthearted in meaning either. i haven’t really listened to volume two yet. i’m somewhat afraid, now that zooey’s married to douche-from-death-cab. not to be too much of a downer, but… the best writing generally doesn’t come from the recently married and in love
i admit, as for new mgmt, i am in the minority. in fact, i might be close to the only person on earth… who really couldn’t care less.