An Appreciation of Modern Psychadelic Rock I

There are so many pitches, frequencies, mediums, distortions, effects, anything is possible through music. It can convey any emotion, it can paint any picture. The auditory painting is essential to experiencing life, to being alive. Music is what allows us to bask in our irrationality and balk at our rationality. Music brings people together. Music is beautiful.

MGMT

MGMT currently remains as one of the hardest to define musical acts of today. MGMT originally gained fame through a few upbeat, electro-pop songs in Electric Feel, Time to Pretend, and Kids. Their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, was a huge success, featuring the three tracks, along with many songs reminiscent of the Beatles in The Youth, the Handshake, and Pieces of What. The apex of the album arguably comes at the song Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters. Their second album, Congratulations, veered away from the upbeat tune of their early successful songs such as Kids, instead falling into a more psychedelic sound. Many of the songs, such as Siberian Breaks and It's Working, are masterpieces in their own right, but I never personally fell in love with the album. MGMT can be difficult to listen to at times, but their songwriting talent is unmatched. Their third and most recent album, titled MGMT, stands to be their best release yet. MGMT the album takes on its own musical genre, unlike any other one we've had before. It can be difficult to characterize at times, and confusing, but the music is masterfully crafted. The album is released with a movie, The Optimizer, which provides "An Aural and Optical Listening Experience." The Optimizer is interesting in itself, although difficult to make sense of. The album itself starts off on the song Alien Days. Alien Days is a weird song, but it all goes haywire from there. Every song on the album has a weird vibe to it. However, each song remains a journey that is worth experiencing. 

Classics:

Kids

Time to Pretend

Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

The Handshake

Siberian Breaks

Alien Days

Cool Song No. 2

Mystery Disease

I Love You Too, Death

Foster the People

Foster the People is another hard to classify band, although nowhere near as confusing as MGMT. Foster the People tends to attach pessimistic messages to optimistic sounds. The group gained widespread recognition with its single Pumped Up Kicks, a song with a very upbeat radio friendly tune that was about a school shooting. Unfortunately, the band's discography is lacking, with only 10 songs on one album. The songs on the album are incredibly refreshing to listen to. The first song on the album, Helena Beat, starts off with a tribal drum line and a kid's laughter, followed by a synth that sounds like something crashing. The song relies on the drums and the bass, which provides a contrast to the singer's voice. The music video is also interesting to watch. Songs such as Call It What You Want and Waste add on to the upbeat tune. The song Life on the Nickel chronicles drug addiction, and is arguably the strongest lyrical performance on the album. All in all, a solid band, and I hope they release more material.

Classics:

Helena Beat

Call it What you Want

Houdini

Life on the Nickel

Warrant