Oracular Spectacular

Look recession core and this album hit when I was 17, so yea..gonna be biased. Sure call it proto recession pop- but it still just doesn’t quite stick the landing as much as I remember. Man the singles are good though, damn. But like a lot of it's era - more vibe than substance.

The singles are really good. That bassline on Electric Feel is an all time great and gets stuck in my head for days every time I hear it. 4/5

I distinctly remember listening to this a few years and thinking to myself something along the lines of: "take away Kids & Electric Feel and this is complete rubbish." I don't entirely disagree with the sentiment, but I definitely feel that the album has grown on me enough to amount for better than a two. The production is fine, songs have a good variety to what was coming out around this time period. It provided a good contrast to the MySpace scene and Club Pop culture. Comparing how good the first 5 songs are with the last 5 is a bit unfair. But if you're gonna make an album, you got to try to be consistent across the board. I don't think they managed that. In fact, I know they didn't manage it. Relisten to The Handshake and tell me again they deserve anything above a 4. Inspired a new wave of creativity in the indie scene by redirecting it away from it's rock roots toward the electronic. Sitting between a 2 and a 3, so I'll be generous and mark it up. If only because Electric Feel is one of the most addicting songs released since the turn of the century.

The Beatles of today

Супер, знайшла для себе багато нових пісень

Starts strong, peaks at 3.Electric Feel and 4.Kids, to then be let down by 5.4th Dimensional Transition. Does not return to the height of the first 5 songs.

Interesting band whom I have never heard nor heard of. Clever arrangements of experimental music. Not too bad.

A classic album. Lots of nostalgia from the 2010's. Reminds me of a fond part of my life. Great album

Estoy entre el 3 y el 4, quizás el 3,5 sea lo más justo.

Album #188: Oracular Spectacular - MGMT Genre (W): New rave, neo-psychedelia, indietronica, electronic rock, psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, synth-pop Singles: Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids I have not listened to this album before. Thoughts?: I like this album’s production and the compositions. This is a unique style and I wish we saw more of it today! Unfortunately, I wish some of the tracks didn’t bleed into the others so that a lot of it sounded the same. Favorite tracks: Time to Pretend*, Electric Feel, Kids, Pretend to What, Of Moons, Birds & Monsters, The Handshake

I really really like the singles I hear on the radio. The rest of the album was fine.

I came to Oracular Spectacular completely in the dark and when I left I made sure to leave the light on as a reminder to never open this door again. It's musical eqivalent of watching clothes spinning in public washing machine. Bunch of sound mindgames, symbols, pretensiousness, and references that are used only to supply a sense of cool rather then to represent the meaning they used to have. Its an endless tub of pop - so maybe it's a band for our times, fuck I know. Its a butter smeared on toilet seat, Blink182 of "indie electro pop" or whatever the fuck this empty shell of music is called.

Мы живем в компуктерном обществе спектакля

почти 5, но все таки вторая часть альбома с просадками небольшими, и все равно очень люблю - 4.5

nostalgic

Pleasntly suprised by the accessibility of this album

Singles are the real highlight

This album takes me back to the 2007-2010 period when these songs were EVERYWHERE. I saw these guys at Bonnaroo in 2009 and between when they had been booked and when the festival happened, they had exploded so the stage they put them on was WAY too small. The high points on this album are definitely 5-star-worthy for me, but the weaker tracks drop it just SLIGHTLY below 4 stars. I probably would have given this 5 stars in 2010, but today for me it is a 3.9.

This is such a great album, I could listen to it again and again.

I might be biased towards this because I listened to it a bunch when it came out. But this still holds up and really is spectacular.

Au delà des morceaux connus, l'album vaut le détour

This album starts off so strong, and has quite a few memorable singles, so I was initially feeling a 4-ish rating. A deeper listen and it's a little stale, presenting as a more rock-forward indie rock that has less spice than the heavy synth and electric production that the handful of memorable tracks have in their favor. It took me a moment to consider this for this list. I lived through their peak, I remember them headlining an indie festival nearby. If you haven't heard of them, it's probably an eye opening experience. Rock and roll can be a lot of fun things, this is an album for that. Now if you've already heard some MGMT singles, this can be docked off your radar, it won't get better than those tracks. 3.2/5

Ta album me pa prou zanima, ker sm glih te starosti, da mi "Time to Pretend" kinda velik pomen in je izjemno nostalgičen zame. Nikoli pa nisem poslušala celega albuma. (Ampak, po hitrem pregledu, v bistvu poznam kar nekaj komadov? Ok, poj mam pa dobr filing za album.) "Youth" je haunting. "Electric Feel" je banger. In ja, "Time to Pretend" je fakin timeless? (Ampak naslovnica je pa tok painfully 2007.)

Love the singles. Absolute masterpieces. But the rest of the record is just fine…

One for the kids

Esse álbum para mim é um clássico moderno. Músicas inesquecíveis!

Decent

Super duper fun pop album. Eins der besten sies gibt. Klingt super unique und ist gleichzeitig simpel genug, dass es jedem gefallen kann. Komplett zeitlos und trotzdem hats perfekt die klänge aus einer einfacheren zeir eingefangen 5/5

Ein klassischer Fall von "sind genug Hits drauf, also reicht es für die Liste". In diesem Fall sind es zwar nur 3 Hits, die aber dafür zu dem Besten gehören, was in den später 00er-Jahren releast wurde. Damals war mein Ranking Kids>TTP>EF. "Kids" fand ich damals immer am besten, hab den mittlerweile etwas überhört und würde mittlerweile auf EF>TTP>Kids gehen. Dass da die restlichen Songs nicht mithalten können, ist nur logisch. Trotzdem sind hier noch 3 weitere Songs ("Weekend Wars", "Pieces of What", "Of Moons...") drauf, die ebenfalls kleines Hit-Potential haben und im Albumfluss gut reinpassen. Der Rest... joa. Entweder es geht ebenfalls in Richtung Psych-Pop, ohne zu zünden oder es zeigt sich bereits etwas der Wille zu Experimenten, den sie auf den Nachfolgern noch weiter ausbreiten werden, aber ohne, dass dieser Wille bereits richtig fruchtet. Aufgrund der Strahlkraft der 3 großen Hits kann ich hier noch gerade so auf 4 Sterne gehen (eigentlich eher 3,5). Am liebsten gefällt mir tatsächlich das letzte Album "Loss of Life" von ihnen.

War schon ganz cool für so nebenbei. Aber muss ich mir jetzt auch nicht öfter geben.

Joa. Hat Hits, ist ein gutes Album. Aber gefühlt auch bisschen wild zusammengewürfelt. Gehen wir mit stabilen 3 Sternen mit.

Großer Großer Fan dieses Albums. Die Hits sind perfekte Pop Songs, der Rest passt nicht ins Standard Pop Schema und ist genau deshalb so gut. Besser waren sie nur noch mMn auf Little Dark Age.

It's a pretty solid album with some standout tracks - you certainly have the "hits" and others... it was pretty fresh in 2007 but I don't have so much time for it now. 3.5

Not bad but not an album I’d listen to again.

This album means the world and more to me.

I'm surprised I never listened to the whole album before. Really solid debut album. Great mixing and sound design, even more so for the time. Love the themes of nature and innocence.

Ok, nostalgia but boring too

(Strong 7/10) This album is greatly enjoyable but has a few things going against it that make it a bit of a grower: that it has 3 HUGE singles that outshine the rest of the record, and that those 3 singles are stylistically polarizing from the main core sound of the album. "Time to Pretend", "Electric Feel" and "Kids" are indietronica, heavily synth-based millennial jams that evoke feelings of nostalgia and youthful disenfranchisement that deeply resonate with lots of millennials that are forced to grow up past the golden age of youth and participate in the doomed adult world (also touched on in the song "The Youth"). These anthems have earned their place in the annals of millennial nostalgia-core, but also simultaneously alienate the listener from the kind of music that MGMT really desired to create. This is a psychedelic rock and pop album similar to the likes of AnCo and latter-half career Tame Impala. Lots of swirling and unorthodox instrumentals with acoustic and electric guitars, synths and reverby vocals. It's a trippy and watery sound that I wasn't prepared for when I bought this CD years ago. Over time the music has really grown on me outside of the singles. "Weekend Wars" should honestly appear later in the track listing, coming right after the opener it's like a sudden mood switch that hits like a whip to the face. The sudden shift from electronics-heavy and spacey "Time to Pretend" to this more organic track is kind of wonky. The song is great though, it evolves into this great indie rock jam that isn't all to different from what bands like Foster The People would go on to take inspiration from. "4th Dimensional Transition" is a desert-flavored jam that really leans into the Neo-Psychedelia and Eastern Indian influences of the music, "Of Moons, Birds and Monsters" doesn't have a hook to speak of, but the instrumental is super interesting as it evolves from an alt rock jam to a psych rock one with a really neat guitar lead that plays out the song. The ending of the record is admittedly not super strong, "The Handshake" is rather forgettable and "Future Reflections" feels sonically out of place as the closing track, though I do suppose thematically it does tie up the album's themes of nostalgia and youthful restlessness pretty nicely. To circle back to my original statement, this record probably could've done with a better track placement for the main singles to better balance out the dopamine hits as you work through the song order. It would also improve the balance as well with how the sound palettes are interacted with. Maybe have "Time to Pretend" as the final song and have "Weekend Wars" as the first song, and then have "Kids" right in the middle where it's at and have "Electric Feel" play after "4th Dimension" and then just cut out "pieces of what", easily my least favorite song on the record lol. So yeah, all in all, a pretty good record but knowing where MGMT was headed after this one, hearing the majority of this album be Psychedelia, "Congratulations" is really no surprise if you've been paying attention. This album was just the steppingstone to what MGMT would evolve into.

Nostalgic. Amazing lyrics. Doesn't feel like a 2008 album. There are some songs I would need more time to start liking. Would give it 4.5 stars if I could. Overall a great time :)

Truly one of the albums of my life. Bop after bop. No notes.

451/1089 okayyy i’m excited to listen to some MGMT for the first time, been meaning to check this one out for a while oh so THIS is MGMT, Time to Pretend is iconic The Youth was gooood parts of Electric Feel kinda felt like a more indie version of scissor sisters oh THAT’S Kids, yeah makes sense Of Moons, Birds and Monsters is GREAT, especially the ambient ending really enjoyed this album, kinda exactly the type of music i gravitate towards faves: Of Moons…, Future Reflections, The Youth 88/100

There's an element of nostalgia affecting my review, but overall I feel like Oracular Spectacular holds up well.

Without this album we wouldn't have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QopIJgLAueU

I remember the time when you seemingly couldn't go anywhere without hearing Kids from this album. I typically love synth-oriented pop, but something about the low fi sound of MGMT has always been grating on me. Whether it's the opening riff in Time to Pretend or the uber repetitive motif from Kids. I find myself preferring the more laid-back sound in Electric Feel, but this seems to be the outlier in their sound. These three tracks seem to be the centerpiece of the album while the rest languishes in blandness.

Immediately we get another indie record with electronic elements but from a decade earlier. I’fe listened to all of MGMT’s projects at one time or another and enjoyed most of them in some respect, but their debut may still be my favorite. Yes, this album is very nostalgia and coming-of-age theme driven, but that means that I do connect with much of the material here as I try to navigate what the next decade of my life will look like. On top of that, I feel like this duo is quite musically creative and dynamic, offering all sorts of fun riffs and hooks. The album is undoubtedly split with three of the first five tracks being enormous hits and the second half playing with more experimentation, but I find the big tracks to be deserving of their popularity despite their subversive nature and the rest of the material to be an interesting but fitting contrast with one massive standout near the end. 1 re-listen Favorite Tracks: Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters; Electric Feel; Time to Pretend; Kids

My Spotify algorithm always seems to pull up Electric Feel, which I am appreciative of. Same for Apple Music before that and Pandora before that. Never gets old. Then I learn today that I clearly know and like Time to Pretend and Kids! To my friends: I figured it out. Kids is a banger.

Knew the big hits off the album so no surprises with that, the album I found really nice, the middle songs were a bit slow and I didn’t enjoy them much, the album finished very strong. Not too long either which also helped with my enjoyment

It was ok. Some good catchy songs

Pure nostalgia. What a time to be a teenager. Top bops: Time to pretend Electric feel Kids Future Reflections

My feeling for Oracular Spectacular borders on love.

2007 was a rough year for me. This album reminded me then that I was still alive and there was still a lot of hope in the world -- and a lot of fun. Today it still reminds me the of same things.

lots of fraking hits and it shows!!

Spectacular

The two well-known singles remain great songs but the rest of the album is a bit meh.

It's fine. Not my style but I've heard a few and know they are big.

Three absolute timeless bangers with Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids are enough to elevate the stature of this album, even if none of the other songs stand out all that much. The other material is passable enough to not drag the experience down, and overall it's a great time. Sounds like the 2000's in the best way.

I am a bit puzzled why the hits are literally sandwich between space rock and high brow indie pop. I never heard this the entire way through before today, but the singles on this thing are soooo freakin' timeless. I never really got bored of hearing these songs on the radio growing up, cause the maximalist arrangements always let you latch on to something new when you'd hear em. Just a bit underwhelmed that nothing quite stands out like the singles. Anyways, I still think it's a great album and defo a great representation of the time, that obama era fuckin' optimistic indie and alternative pop wave. Undefeated shit right there. This is up there, with a strong 4 starts, but really somewhere in the 8-9/10 range. I do think everyone needs to give this a shot before they die.

Love MGMT

2007. Synths and psych. Weird but iconic. This album had some big hits that are benchmarks for the era.

Awesome - almost every song is a banger. Weird fact - I was humming Kids about 3 minutes before I loaded the 1000 albums page. Am I merging with the 1000 albums intelligence?

Oh no. Is my music taste is dated! Do I listen to my generations post punk? I'm pretty sure the band would agree with me though. This album is a snapshot of the music of that time and place, but man. It sounds so dated now. I will say their other albums feel much more timeless but obviously this is the one with the singles. Love the band, album didn't age well

This album had a good few hits on it but I definitely get the sense that while it was popular when it was released, it will not maintain that impact into the future. It seems like an album that reflects the contemporary sound well, but isn't groundbreaking. I think it's already the case that it will fade, I don't hear their songs around anymore.

Enjoyed it when it first came out and still love it now. The entire album just has a vibe.

It’s all O k but it goes nowhere. I was surprised by how much I knew

The first half of this album is fire. It peters out at the end. Still, that first half though... 4/5

It's the mst 2010s-snding 2000s albm evr! It's not my fav, but the three bangers crry the album. Favorite Track: "Kids".

Three songs known by most on one album - Kids, Electric Feel and Time to Pretend. All excellent. The remainder of the album felt a bit safe and generic, in contrast to each of the three unique songs above. Overall a decent listen, and glad to have done so.

muito bom!!!!!!!! já iniciou com uma música que eu conheço, então já comecei gostando, mas o resto do álbum não decepcionou!

Eh, it was okay.

I really wanted to like this but the singles were the only songs that really felt memorable to me. All the deep cuts were either too out of left field for me or just boring. 2.5/5

Still a super solid album after 15+ years. For me, this album is littered with nostalgia. MGMT really found their own blend of sounds that makes this unmistakably them, without being overly experimental.

Extremely nostalgic, 4.2

Psyc-pop from mid 2000’s yes please!

Such aas greast greasat akbum frfr

Solid album! Bangers on side A, fine songs on side B

Being around for this it is hard to give it a truly objective rating. But is that what these reviews are about? I say not! Loved it. Production and melodies are excellent throughout. Never boring. Felt like each non-hit had the same care and attention as the hits, from pen to pressing.

A very interesting release of a variety of musical genre. Worth a listen

Me gusta Time to Pretend. 4/5

'Of Moons, Birds & Monsters' was a decent track. I did not like the rest of it.

not for me

Took me back to Year 9 scene kid era. 4 for the nostalgia.

Several bangers on here, mixed in with a few duds. But the highs are very high indeed

couple very good songs, rest were good.

OK.

I'm in a weird spot with this one - everyone says it's one of the best albums of all time, and Kids and Electric Feel are genuinely perfect pop songs, and I liked the album overall, but there just wasn't anything that blew me away, so no 5

electric feel fue una de mis canciones favoritas casi todo el 2024, gran banda mgmt pero little dark age me gusta un poco más, 7/10 este tho

Electric feel is the only song i liked here. Think I’ve heard it somewhere before. Felt a bit nostalgic.

Me likes

It’s an album that was a mockery turned big time. Electric Feel is a monster anthem that just came to be

They were fine. Nothing really stood out for me. Some songs went on too long.

Ok this was very good modern electrorock

One of the better albums of its time. Of course the massive hit 'Kids' has been everywhere, but the rest of the album is good and enjoyable as well. Memorable, but not outstanding enough for the maximum rating. 4/5

4/5

Oracular Spectacular thrust two Weslyan University kids into the limelight as MGMT became the unlikely heroes of pop. Their debut LP was showered with accolades, seeing the duo get nominated for Grammy and Brit Awards. Oracular Spectacular also found itself on countless year end "best of" lists, with NME awarding it Album of the Year. I'm a fan of the album, though the 00s version of me felt it was a little bait and switch. The infectious synthpop singles that tentpole the album do not in any way represent the psychedelic space rock that make up 80% of the experience. I appreciate the variety more now than I did then, especially since none of the songs are snoozers. It also doesn't hurt that those singles are some of the best songs of the entire decade...that helps forgive some less than spectacular album cuts (and hopefully a bad pun)

Not many bands in 2007 sounded like MGMT and not many have after either honestly.

Kids is great, rest of the album is filler.

Siempre sospeché que era un gran álbum y cumplió con mis expectativas

A psychedelic chill wave of Beck by way of Prince grooves

I like this album but overplayed it years ago so I wouldn’t choose to listen to the top chart songs anymore. I do like the indie-pop beats and the musical voice on this album. It felt like it fizzled out in the second half though.

Great album and honestly, bad recording but still great musical concept, it's inspiring 👏