Many times young bands will cite their influences as a tip of the hat to the musicians that shaped their sound and musical tastes. Yet it's not every day that a veteran band goes out of its way to give props to some young bucks new to the scene. That was the case when Yahoo! Music Managing Editor/Reality Rocks blogger Lyndsey Parker recently sat down for an interview with the men from Depeche Mode, whose 12th studio effort, Sounds Of The Universe, was just released. During the interview, D. Mode main man Dave Gahan went out of his way to give effusive praise to MGMT, which in turn left Ms. Parker very excited and me writing about it in this very blog. Check out Gahan testifying about MGMT below.
While MGMT's best-known tracks "Kids," "Electric Feel," and "Time To Pretend" feature the undeniable influence of electronic acts such as Depeche Mode, the band is more than just some blokes fiddling around with keyboards and computers. I experienced that first hand last fall when I saw them open for Beck at the Hollywood Bowl. The boys in MGMT can also strap on guitars and rock out with the best of them on trippy country-baked, prog-rock jams. For proof, look no further than this never-before-released exclusive performance of the band's "Weekend Wars" from Oracular Spectacular, which sounds like a cross between classic Rolling Stones, Meat Puppets, and Mercury Rev with a little Yes thrown on top.
While that adventurous tune isn't likely to join "Friday On My Mind," "Friday I'm In Love" or "Working For The Weekend" as an end-of-the-work-week staple, it's a pretty damned good tune, especially in a live setting, and it makes me excited to hear what's next from MGMT. How about you?
Fans lucky enough to snare a ticket to MGMT's July 1 date at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York may get a chance to hear what's next from the band. The bad news is that if you don't already have a ticket, you're out of luck or need to find your friendly ticket reseller, because the show--a benefit for the Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival--is already sold out.
But fear not MGMT fans. If you're a festival trouper, you'll have two opportunities to catch MGMT in the great outdoors with thousands of your new best friends. On June 13, the band plays the Bonnaroo Music Festival in good ol' Manchester, Tennessee on a line-up that also includes such veteran acts as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Wilco, and Nine Inch Nails, and relative newcomers like Bon Iver and Jenny Lewis. After a trio of dates in New Zealand, MGMT returns to the States to play All Points West on August 2 at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. On the bill alongside MGMT for that date are Coldplay, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Black Keys, and Silversun Pickups. Sounds like a rocking good time to me. How about you?
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