Riding the dorm wave
MGMT doesn't need management or critics with its campus cred
Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser are two of the very few rockers who are much better off without management.
Oh no, they do need record label counsel, legal representation, agents and others who work for them in actual managerial positions. What I'm talking about is the actual title ... Management.
Ever since they dumped it for the shorter acronym MGMT they have managed to launch their little Brooklyn-based band to Grammy-nominated, record chart-ascending success.
Originally known as The Management, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser formed MGMT while attending Wesleyan College. It wasn't until they graduated and another band claimed first dibs on that moniker that the current incarnation of the band was truly born. Even before the release of the 2008's Oracular Spectacular, music bibles like Spin and Rolling Stone were already buzzing about the group's live show.
By the time spacey, crunchy singles like "Time To Pretend" and "Kids" came out, college kids across the country gave their Steve Miller and Bob Marley greatest hits albums a much-needed rest and blasted MGMT's stuff through dorm halls from the University of Washington to Florida State. Oracular Spectacular went to the top of the Billboard Heatseekers chart, sold over a million copies and earned MGMT a couple of Grammy nominations last year.
It put a lot of pressure on follow-up album, Congratulations (released last month), to make an even bigger pop culture splash.
So far, so good.
Congratulations debuted at No. 2 on the charts (though the critics haven't been that kind). Still, where past releases seemed perfect background music on campus, new singles like "Flash Delirium" and "Siberian Breaks" have the helplessly, catchy hooks that make for a perfect spontaneous pool party soundtrack.
This show is the perfect way for students to kick off the first real week of summer.
MGMT, 8:30 p.m. Monday at House of Blues
Tickets: $30-$39.50
