Congratulations (album)
Encyclopedia
The album received mostly positive reviews upon its release, and a 72/100 metascore at Metacritic
, based upon 39 reviews. Pitchfork Media
deemed the album "audacious, ambitious, and a little fried." NME
got a first listen of the album and described it as a mix of "frenetic, brief psych nuggets... echo-drenched mini epic tendencies" and some "classic MGMT". As previously indicated by its creators, the review went on to say the album contained nothing in the way of "Kids-esque pop singles," adding that "it instead delves deeper into the sprawling, psychedelic sounds that characterized the second half of Oracular Spectacular." The article mentioned that "Flash Delirium" was being considered as a taster for the album, which the band had stated would not have any singles released from it in order to solidify it existing as a single body of work. It should be noted here that over the course of 2010, the band did eventually release several singles and EPs with songs from the album. MGMT have described the album as "a collection of nine individual musical tours de force sequenced to flow with sonic and thematic coherence." Writer Shelby Powell noted the group's homage to British rock musicians Dan Treacy of Television Personalities and Brian Eno
, complete with faux accents in MGMT's delivery on a few songs. Eno, who is the subject of one of the songs, described the work as "very flattering", and added: "I appreciate the way they managed to make the song both fond and tongue in cheek at the same time." Also apparent on the album was the group's discomfort with their newfound mass acceptance, citing "the cryptic lyrics bemoan the façade of the pair's new superspectacular poplife." What's more, The Boston Globe
noted that "perhaps most telling is the title track, which closes the album on an introspective note. A relatively straightforward coda, the song ends with a gesture the album rightly deserves: the sound of applause."
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, based upon 39 reviews. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
deemed the album "audacious, ambitious, and a little fried." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
got a first listen of the album and described it as a mix of "frenetic, brief psych nuggets... echo-drenched mini epic tendencies" and some "classic MGMT". As previously indicated by its creators, the review went on to say the album contained nothing in the way of "Kids-esque pop singles," adding that "it instead delves deeper into the sprawling, psychedelic sounds that characterized the second half of Oracular Spectacular." The article mentioned that "Flash Delirium" was being considered as a taster for the album, which the band had stated would not have any singles released from it in order to solidify it existing as a single body of work. It should be noted here that over the course of 2010, the band did eventually release several singles and EPs with songs from the album. MGMT have described the album as "a collection of nine individual musical tours de force sequenced to flow with sonic and thematic coherence." Writer Shelby Powell noted the group's homage to British rock musicians Dan Treacy of Television Personalities and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, complete with faux accents in MGMT's delivery on a few songs. Eno, who is the subject of one of the songs, described the work as "very flattering", and added: "I appreciate the way they managed to make the song both fond and tongue in cheek at the same time." Also apparent on the album was the group's discomfort with their newfound mass acceptance, citing "the cryptic lyrics bemoan the façade of the pair's new superspectacular poplife." What's more, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
noted that "perhaps most telling is the title track, which closes the album on an introspective note. A relatively straightforward coda, the song ends with a gesture the album rightly deserves: the sound of applause."
Track listing
Chart performance
| Charts (2010) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
9 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
4 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 19 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
7 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
5 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
4 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| Scottish Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
6 |
Awards
| Title | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| NME Awards 2011 | Best Album Artwork | Nominated |
Production
- MGMT – production
- Sonic Boom – production, harmonica and percussion treatments
- Billy Bennett – engineering
- Matt Boynton – additional engineering
- Daniel Johnson – assistant engineering
- Dave Fridmann – mixing, additional engineering
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Erich Lenz – art direction, design, photography
- Anthony Ausgang – cover painting
Music
- Andrew VanWyngarden: vocals/ guitars/ drums 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9/ bass 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9/ synths 2, 3, 6, 8/ casio guitar 7/ piano 2/ fake flute 4/ harmonica 6/ electric sitar 3, 6/ percussion
- Ben Goldwasser: synths and samples 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9/ organ 3, 4, 5, 7, 8/ piano 4, 8/ omnichord 1, 2, 5/ numerology 6/ additional vocals 2, 4, 7/ percussion
- James Richardson: guitars 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8/ synths 2/ casio guitar 7/ synth drums 8/ glockenspiel 2/ saxophone 5/ pan pipes 6/ additional vocals 7/ percussion
- Matt Asti: guitars 1, 4, 6/ bass 4, 5, 6, 7/ piano 5/ additional vocals 7/ field recordings and treatments/ percussion
- Will Berman: drums 1, 2, 4/ guitars 4, 6/ bass 4/ additional vocals, percussion and synths
- Peter "Sonic Boom" Kember: master of ceremonies/ modular synth 2/ first documented use of the EMT 250 "glitch" 6/ gakken sx-150 7
- Britta Phillips: additional vocals 1
- Jennifer Herrema: additional vocals 2, 4
- Gillian Rivers: strings 1, 5, 6, 8, 9
- Dave Kadden: oboe and sundries 6
External links
- Official website
- Congratulations Album Blog
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1631334/20100204/mgmt.jhtml
- MGMT, "Congratulations" by BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...