Latest Review: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

MGMT
Oracular Spectacular
Genre: Indie
Highlight: Kids

TO GET a flavour of what record company bosses think will be big in 2009 you have to go back to one of 2008's slowest burners.

Industry plaudits reckon we'll be going back to the 1980s with acts like electro-friendly La Roux and Empire of the Sun just around the corner, but if you want to get in on the nostalgia without the wait you could do a lot worse than picking up MGMT'S glossy debut album.

Oracular Spectacular - from the New York duo formerly known as The Management - may have been overshadowed by the success of homegrown rivals the Ting Tings but the smart money's on the duo playing an ever bigger role in music, and on the back of this effort it isn't hard to see why.

Between them, members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have created a sound which draws itself from all sorts of influences - the melodic pop of the Beach Boys, the hardened punk of The Stranglers and bits of Bowie to name but three - but it's in recent single Kids where they've really managed to make their mark.

It's a riot of synth-driven beats underlined by lyrics so catchy it's almost annoying, so it's surprising both it and MGMT's album have been cruelly missed out by so many.

Lead single Time to Pretend, with its bass laden, dancier feel, also shows this band mean business; think Franz Ferdinand brought bang up to date and you won't be too far off. MGMT aren't as accessible as The Ting Tings but prove infinitely more rewarding.

2009 is already shaping up to be a vintage year for music lovers everywhere but here's hoping that MGMT will be in with a slice of the action.

CD provided by Tesco, Llandudno Junction