After watching Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser make their network television debut performing on The Late Show with David Letterman, I was left with more questions than answers about one of 2008's biggest buzz bands. Immediately, before the music even began, I was left wondering: who let Dave embarrass himself by calling the band "M-G-M-T" instead of "Management?" (I quickly remembered that no one knows who the hell these kids are to begin with... yet.) But then the camera pans, and we're met with an awkward stage filled with awkward kids. Why does this boy's messy hair look like it took hours to mangle? Are they wearing capes? Isn't it past their bedtime?
And yet, MGMT are magnetic. Let's call it Vampire Yeasayer Ruffians Weekend Syndrome -- an entire class of shit-hot Next Big Things who take every chance to irk and repel, their shortlist of bio facts adding up to a loathsome whole, but at the end of the day exude "it" from their collective pores. White Dockers shorts and preppy beginnings? Tribal chants and Brooklyn roots? And then there's MGMT. From Wesleyan University to Columbia Records with Queen-like bombast on a record called Oracular Spectacular (?!) with tongues glued in cheek and still... "Kids"! "Time To Pretend"! "Electric Feel"! Jesus H.
Backlash is so 2007 -- it's time to just give in.
(all dates with Yeasayer)
