in 2011 MGMTMore It was still fresh to risky rebranding.After the debut album sold 1 million copies Oracle Spectacularone of the biggest albums of the blockbuster era of indie rock, they quickly cut down audiences with their controversial songs of the 2010s. CongratsA record that was alternately defended as being misunderstood, or ridiculed as a cop. maybe both. Faced with the impossibility of replicating the success of their debut, the duo pre-empted the story. They weren’t a band that couldn’t write another ‘Kids’. They were a band that didn’t want to.
It was against a backdrop of disappointed fans and unconvinced critics that MGMT was commissioned to write an original work for the retrospective of Guggenheim installation artist Maurizio Cattelan. Beneath a canopy of dozens of suspended sculptures, cat skeletons and stuffed horses, the duo performed this brand new set of music twice. “The art exhibition is done in a completely original way, so it deserves completely original music,” said the band.
The optics certainly worked for the band heralding a turn from pop to art. At the time, MGMT was trying to tie the latest electro his pop into the deeper traditions of psychedelia.they covered it a few weeks ago pink floyd deep cut upon Late night with Jimmy Fallon and release Compilation of obscure psychedelic musicand on the Guggenheim set released as a live album 11 years later. 11-11-11they emerged a new way of balancing a melody-forward sensibility with a more artistic, more exploratory instinct.
For a set aimed at such a limited audience, there’s a lot of creativity here. 11-11-11 Alluding to the potential of the lost MGMT album, but with its mellow poise and boxy acoustics, the recording sounds like background music for an art show. Songs with vocals are generally the most formal. “Invocation” and “I Am Not Your Home” Cast Diagonal Shadows radioheadvoiced by Andrew VanWyngarden Thom Yorkealien cynicism.
Meanwhile, the set’s many instrumental pieces frolic with sheer whimsy. “Woodland Elves” plays like heavenly pending music, while “Graveyard Whistles” recalls old children’s Christmas music through circus calliope and lost exotica records. With a ton of kitschy elements, this seems like a perfect fit for her Cattelan exhibit. Cattelan is often scanned for cartoonish whimsy, even though his work shows gestures to the subversive. The surf-country roar of “Under the Porch” could pass as his song for his imaginary 1960s western theme for one season.
11-11-11 It inevitably takes a different context than if the band hadn’t waited over a decade to release it. The duo’s latest studio album of 2018 little dark age, marked a return to hook-forward pop suitable for dance parties and afterbars. Good for the record, but as a career move it felt like a retreat. MGMT’s lefts were tough on his turns, but they were never boring. 11-11-11 It evokes nostalgia for when this band was still torn between their urge to entertain and their personal mission to challenge.