Loss Of Life

I loved MGMT’s debut album and dabbled here and there with a couple of their follow up albums and had happened to listen to this a while ago. They really hooked me with "I Wish I Was Joking". This is more laid back than I expected but in a very good way. I loved listening to it, and the appearance of Christine and the Queens was a great addition! Definitely an album I will enjoy again.

While this album was a welcome dose of indie to see on the user list and is generally okay, it still remains pretty disappointing in the wider context of MGMT’s discography. The band showed they could rock clean production and maintain their trademark quirkiness on ‘Little Dark Age’ to great effect, so why does this album forego the band’s joie de vivre entirely? The whole thing feels so flat creatively and instrumentally, like the fun edges that define this band have been sanded off. MGMT please blink twice if you’re being held at gunpoint.

Their worst

Loss Of Life is the fifth album of MGMT. It is not a bad album, but MGMT is one of these band that has made a great debut album and the following albums do not add that much. The problem of this album is that it is overcomplete. You can listen to this album or you can give their debut album another spin.

MGMT has some of the coolest songs that came out post 2000. A truly unique electronic sound while still have good fun lyrics. It seems as they’ve aged they have toned down that sound a bit. This album was significantly more tame then I’d like for mgmt. it wasn’t bad but if you pay for Siegfried and Roy you want to see a tiger not a dove. 6.0/10

This isn't bad and i've liked their previous stuff but this is a bit samey (sorry). Bland pop ballads......

Loss Of Life isn't as good as the other MGMT album and early on it sounds like an inferior copy of the Pet Shop Boys, before for some reason they decide to try ballads towards the second half. 2/5, pretty poor effort.

Some of these other reviews are making me nervous for everyone's memories. Their entire debut album was on the original list that you all had to complete to get here! What do you people *mean* you only know "Kids" and "Electric Feel"??? Far as the music goes, I mean some days you release an album that defines an entire era of party music, and then some days 17 years later you produce something that's slower and more meditative, after dozens of other acts have already trod the same ground without being *nearly* as boring. Glad for the MGMT guys that they're still out there making music, but this one was a dud.

Heavens to betsy, this is a dull, dull album. For the most part it's tepidly occupying space, but from time to time you really have to check into the music to see if it actually is that boring - and yes, yes it is.

Oh this is a great album. I had the first album way back when but didn’t really follow them after the second was a bit disappointing. Really pleased to hear this - musically v good.

I've listened to MGMT before, though I can't say I'm very familiar with their work. But this was not at all what I expected. It was very mellow, almost easy listening-ish. It was good though. Almost reminded me of Elliott Smith at times. Will listen again. 4 stars.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Dancing in Babylon, Bubblegum dog, Phradie’s song

Great production and songwriting. There’s a lot going on here, so I’ll have to listen again to truly appreciate it, but it’s both fun to listen to and an album that has substance. Very well done, guys. 4/5

I hadn't listened to this one in about a year so it was nice to go back to it. There's maybe 2-3 duds mixed in, but for the most part its a really solid album with super catchy hooks and interesting instrumentation. 8/10

When I seen an MGMT album from 2024 I wasn’t sure, but was won over by this. Really nice Indy album.

I thought the sounds on this album and stuff were cool

Okay what if I said that this is better than their debut. Some very pleasant stuff on here, glad they still got it. And sure, there might not be any big standout track on here like "Kids" or "Little Dark Age", but at least it's consistent and has no duds - something their other albums kinda struggled with.

Being only familiar with "Electric Feel" I suppose I was anticipating something slightly different, but the first proper track ("Mother Nature") here gave me Elliot Smith meets old Kinks vibes - melodic and wistful, well-composed. Felt like that vibe carried on throughout the album (also coming in at a perfect running time of 45 minutes) and was both more relaxing and engaging than I'd expected. It's far too-recent to put a 2024 album in this [what i'd hoped would be a "more albums that have proved to be important to the history of popular music" but too-often ends up either a) hey i just like this random album or b) someone clearly taking the piss] list, but even-so I'm glad to have heard it. I don't know how revolutionary, unique, or influential anyone can yet say this is but in the end it's a nice and safe - and I mean that as a compliment - listen. 7/10 4 stars. IMO: Belonged in the book? No.

I only knew the famous MGMT track. I was disappointed that it wasn’t on this album, but after a listen I was no longer disappointed. Thank you for your time.

Didn’t hear about this coming out… a solid, somber effort from MGMT!

This was a pleasant enough listen - didn't have any tracks I recognized on this one, and the overall tone is a bit less poppy and energetic than "Oracular Spectacular". Fave tracks - "Mother Nature", "Bubblegum Dog" and the closer "Loss of Life" had kinda Grandaddy vibes...

Dancing in Babylon and People in the Streets certainly caught my attention. Phradie's Song and I Wish I Was Joking also stood out on the second listen. The closer is quite lovely. Certainly worth further exploration.

As someone who only knew MGMT from their first couple of hits, it's weird to hear this more recent stuff, which feels like a big mix of different influences. I don't even know how to describe the album because it was different every time I looked up. Still, I feel like I enjoyed it overall 4/5

Favorite Track: Mother Nature

Pretty sure there's been at least one other album by this band in the list. I can't recall how it took me. I liked this but wasn't over the moon about it. A little too uniformly soft. As well, the lyrics were on the grandiose side while not being all that rich in content to my ears. It might grow on me with time.

This was a pleasant way to spend some time this morning. Sounds like the 2010s alright.

Oh there are other MGMT songs! And they sound like this?

The unique sounds what made 'Kids' and 'Time to Pretend' succesful were not exactly present in this album. That made this sound a bit more generic. It was fine, but not outstanding

Neo-psychedelia, indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

3 Not bad

I enjoyed the MGMT album on the OG list but this was pretty meh. It wasn't all that interesting and just sounded devoid of creative ideas. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Obiviously I was familiar with "Kids" and "Electric Feel", which are fantastic songs. I'd give this one a 3.5 and would definitely give it a relisten.

s'Okay. Nothing major or different than their other album on this list that sounds just as generic. 3/5

Not bad

MGMT might have a Human Ressources problem in 2024. Hiring the services of a few luminaries whose résumés are filled to the brim with all sorts of top-notch things unfortunately didn't help solve the systemic issues plaguing the company in the last ten years. During the writing of the American duo's fifth LP, Danger Mouse, Jon Fridmann, Daniel Lopatin and Chairlift's Patrick Kimberley were indeed all gathered at said company's headquarters to help Andrew and Benjamin finish a few songs here and there. Yet the manifold talents of this group of luminaries couldn't always bring the much-needed dynamics to a lot of slogging or cheesy tracks in the aptly-named *Loss Of Life*. Call that a missed opportunity in the company's history. Worse, hiring Christine And The Queens for the tepid and unmemorable "Dancing In Babylon" -- placed in the pivotal third slot of the tracklist to boot! -- instantly sucks out all the momentum that could have propelled the album to the level of MGMT's best LPs. Létissier is not necessarily the person to blame for this very obvious misfire -- after all, she / he / they didn't take part in the songwriting here. Yet given how flat, forced, and heavy-handed the end result is, you can't help feeling she / he / they were the perfect match for that debacle. See the rest of Christine And The Queens' discography for eyeroll-inducing reference. This is all quite maddening given that there are parts of *Loss of Life* that still manage to shine with the old magic MGMT spark -- and chiefly among those, you have the first two singles extracted from the album. "Mother Nature" is an endearing, witty and tender ballad whose subliminal undertones about the current anxiety-ridden zeitgeist are hitting all the right marks. And "Bubblegum Dog" is a quirky psychedelic number reenacting the fantasy, liveliness and invention already found in MGMT's criminally underrated sophomore LP, *Congratulations* (that I will *always* defend tooth and nail, and this until my demise!). Alas, those sorts of assets are too few and too apart to make *Loss Of Life* anything but a second- or third-tier offering in MGMT's discography, in spite of sales numbers triggered by already aging millennials, mostly driven by nostalgia without ever assessing the rest of the music for what it really is, i e. long-winded and a little complacent. The days of *Oracular Spectacular* are long gone by now, and the company should try to audit its whole infrastructure so as to find where and how they cornered themselves into such middling waters. The assets are still here, there's no fretting about it. You just need to make them sound more profitable in the foreseeable future. See you in Forbes' next issue analyzing the yearly market. Post Scriptum for the user who suggested this record: Please don't take this review the wrong way. Given that you have also selected that Chvrches LP as your favorite album from the original list, it looks like you and I are are not always seeing eye to eye as to how good music should sound. Yet browsing through your galleries and reading your reviews, it *also* looks like we can actually agree on a lot of other artists and albums! So please don't hold me too much of a grudge against me. And whether you do or don't, more power to you, more power to me, and more power to everyone else using this generator! Peace. ✌️ 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5/5 for the musicianship and production values + 2.5/5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 97 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 112 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 233 (including this one) --- Hey Émile, j'ai répondu sous Demon Days ET ta sélection pour la users list ! 🙂

I liked MGMT's album that was included on the 1001 official list, but this one is God awful. I use the word "liked" loosely there.... I rated it a 3....the album on the original list was called Oracular Spectacular. Maybe a better word than liked would be "tolerated". Anyways, today's record is indie rock without a pulse. It's insanely boring. Nothing happens. Plus, the album was released in 2024, so it is too young to be included in a list like this. Favourite song: Dancing in Babylon Least favourite songs: Loss of Life 2/5

i’m actually glad this is here. I’ve always wanted to listen to more of MGMT but i’ve never gotten around to it, and it was a little disappointing. I think their album kids is a lot more my style. I get the attraction to this album but just wasn’t for me.