Another view of MGMT

Yeah so I like Mgmt, but that's not a huge surprise. There are a lot of things to like about Mgmt. They are a couple of guys from Wesleyan, a small New England liberal arts college, who make fun anthemic electro-synth jams that everyone from the blogosphere hipster to middle aged guys can bob their head to. A number of contributors to this blog and I saw Mgmt and Yeasayer in Boston this past winter and in all honesty I was not overly impressed with the show. Yeasayer was by far the more experienced showmen and they characterized the young guns of Mgmt as the cute guys on tour. When Mgmt took the stage the cute description was acutely visible in the host of cool hipster accessories and hairstyles of the band. Mgmt had some great moments, but really strayed towards trying to emulate the anthemic rock greats and not their snyth pop energy. Instead of actually playing Kids they simply held a singalong from a recording during the encore. Despite my lukewarm reception, I still enjoy Mgmt. Here are a couple of lesser known nuggets from their earlier Time to Pretend EP that I like just as much, if not more than anything from their full length.

Mgmt - Indie Rokkers
Indie Rokkers has a subtlety and quiet drive that is lacking on the full length. While the EP version of Kids also has that simplicity and intimacy that just gets blown away on the more mastered version.
Mgmt - Kids (from the EP)

In more current news, Justice (those crafty French and their beats) has recently remixed Electric Feel to great effect. Already one of my favorite tracks from Oracular Spectacular, the Justice remix disrupts the flow of the song, but also adds some heavy beat breakdowns that serve to emphasize the song's strong beat. The synth pop of Mgmt is transformed by Justice into heavy chords of techno destruction that make Mgmt from cute little hipster kids into mature club bangers. Somewhere in Mgmt's oeuvre from the EP, to the LP and the remixes there is a sound I love, but as of now its a little scattered.
Mgmt - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)