MGMT (Band)

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows From the Last Week in S.F. Music

Goldenvoice Announces First City Festival in Monterey With Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House, More

Every year seems to bring more entrants to the Northern California music festival scene. The latest is First City, a two-day festival this August at the Monterey fairgrounds that will bring out big, indie-leaning names like Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House, Toro y Moi, and Neko Case for ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

What Went Wrong with MGMT's New Single, "Alien Days"?

It wasn't an easy decision to give MGMT the honor of having the worst new song of the week. We love this band. We have always loved this band. The reason the psych-pop duo is here is because new song, "Alien Days" just makes no sense to us. It's disappointing. It's like waking up on Christmas mornin ... More >>

Fall Album Frenzy: New Local Albums You Need to Know

Animal Collective's Centipede Hz: A First Listen

I'm not an Animal Collective fan. I like Strawberry Jam a lot, and I cherish a few individual songs elsewhere, particularly "Summertime Clothes" (not least because it sounds just like the theme from Snoopy Come Home, which I loved as a kid). But their rhythms are so clumpy, melodies so soupy, and "i ... More >>

Frank Ocean: The Only Band That Matters

Frank Ocean. Even his name sounds like it was dreamed up, because it was. Ocean is 2012's Clash, its Radiohead, its -- if you insist -- Animal Collective. From his no-name-on-the-cover mystique to the 10-minute opus, pre-career record company troubles and a grassroots indie following, he's an altern ... More >>

Stepdad: Show Preview

Tinted Windows: The Limousines' Eric Victorino Is Barely Hanging On

Seventeen Evergreen Has a New Album and Is Back to Making Trippy Videos, Thankfully

Remember the last time San Francisco electro-rock duo Seventeen Evergreen released a piece of eye-candy? It was November, and the clip was a yarn-bombing odyssey of a music video for "Polarity Song," which pretty much delighted and freaked out viewers in equal measure. (The idea of being pulled int ... More >>

Seventeen Evergreen Tells the Story Behind That Dazzling Video for "Polarity Song"

Seventeen Evergreen's Nephi Evans and Caleb Pate in the video for "Polarity Song"​ You've heard of yarn-bombing, yes? Well, in Seventeen Evergreen's video for the single "Polarity Song," an entire store full of people get yarn-bombed into one fantastical psychedelic universe. It's a capitvatin ... More >>

Things Music Critics Hate: Foster the People, Cage the Elephant, Young the Giant, Portugal. The Man, Etc.

Foster the People: Not bad. But also not that good.​ Music criticism is as much an affliction as an occupation -- especially these days, it's far more reliable as a sickness than a paycheck. Things Music Critics Hate is an occasional series that will attempt to diagnose and explain the broadly ... More >>

Friday: Two Door Cinema Club Woos the Teens at the Warfield

Dean SchafferTwo Door Cinema Club at the Warfield​Two Door Cinema Club Sept. 23, 2011 The Warfield Better than: Dancing suggestively. Okay, we know we shouldn't harp on this, so we'll just say it straight out and then leave it be -- Two Door Cinema attracts a young crowd, and that's that. We ... More >>

'Slightly Damaged': A Conversation with Iggy Pop

Sizzle & Fizzle: Outside Lands Edition

5 Things to Like About the Outside Lands Festival Schedule

Outside Lands: Now without (hopefully) the painful decision-making!​ The schedule for this year's Outside Lands festival hit the web earlier today. But you can stop gritting your teeth and clutching the edge of that desk: Although many festival schedules are an exercise in painful decision-mak ... More >>

Friday: My Morning Jacket Leads a Southern Revival at the Fox

My Morning Jacket at the Fox on Friday​ My Morning Jacket Everest June 14, 2011 @ The Fox Theater Better than: Smoking some kush and listening to "Free Bird" on repeat for three hours. Or was it 30 minutes? There are a few things that can be easy to forget when considering a My Morning Jacke ... More >>

Outside Lands Announces Local Food and Wine Lineup w/ Flour Water, Ritual Coffee, More

Christopher VictorioBecause this will make you hungry.​ Outside Lands has always made an effort to bring in highlights of the local food and wine scene to festival goers. Every year the offerings get a little bigger, and this year's festival is no different. For its return to a three-day forma ... More >>

Broaden Your Horizons with a Free Sampler from the Mission's Porto Franco Records

Seth Ford Young has a moody take on Satie's "Gnossienne #1"​Pause the MGMT, get over your Fleet Foxes obsession, give up on Lady Gaga, and shove this in your ears instead: A new Spring 2011 Sampler from the Mission's own Porto Franco Records, featuring a bunch of talented local artists making the ... More >>

Outside Lands 2011: Phish, Muse, Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Deadmau5, and More

Three days of this for 2011!​As promised, Outside Lands' avatar Ranger Dave announced the lineup this morning for the festivals fourth incarnation, to be held August 12-14, 2011. Your headliners: Phish, Muse, and Arcade Fire. Also playing: the Black Keys, Deadmau5, MGMT, Girl Talk, Decemberists, a ... More >>

Win Tickets to See Dom and Melted Toys This Wednesday at Rickshaw Stop

Dom performing in NYC. Pic by Rob Harvilla.​As far as recent, ecstatic synth-rock anthems go, it's hard to beat Dom's "Living in America." The song sounds more MGMT than MGMT has sounded since, well, Oracular Spectacular. (Just admit it, you kind of miss "Time To Pretend.") "Living In America" gro ... More >>

Starfucker Channels Disco-Pop Forerunners at Rickshaw Stop

Starfucker at Rickshaw Stop last night.​Starfucker Unkown Mortal Orchestra March 9, 2011 @ Rickshaw Stop Better than: Naming a child with an obscenity. Ladies, I'd like to introduce your Passion Pit/MGMT stand-ins. Scream softly, please. But listen up: don't tell Mom and Dad what you're snea ... More >>

Royal Bangs Hold a Half-Full S.F. Coming Out Party at Rickshaw Stop

Royal Bangs last night at Rickshaw Stop​Royal Bangs Foster the People January 20, 2011 @ Rickshaw Stop Better than: Southern Rock at any point in time. If last night's Royal Bangs show was one of those we-saw-them-way-back-when nights, it was also a we-walked-out-on-them-way-back-when nigh ... More >>

Guest Playlist: Come Out & Play SF

This weekend marks the inaugural Bay Area iteration of New York's (and one time Amsterdam's) beloved Come Out & Play Festival, a weekend's worth of sportive mischief in and around the Panhandle and the Upper Haight. Full-contact location-based Scrabble? Check. Unusually polite ninja fighting? Ch ... More >>

MGMT and Francis and the Lights at the Fox Theater

Jen Cash of Calibree PhotographyMGMT Francis and the Lights July 21, 2010 Fox Theater, Oakland Better than: Hearing "Time to Pretend" out in the world for the 765th time.​ A great many MGMT listeners wondered what the hell the band was thinking when it followed Oracular Spectacular -- a debut al ... More >>

In Print: Francis & the Lights' iPad Album, Sammy Hagar is a Joke, All Shook Down Fest

Francis Farewell Starlite​Does the album matter anymore? Does anyone care? Do you know what a CD is? Okay, kidding on the last point (kinda), but clearly the music industry is looking for some new, marketable format to sell to music lovers. After all, CD sales ain't what they used to be, and it do ... More >>

Best Albums of 2010: We Roundup the Lists

Jason NocitoBeach House tops many critics' Best of 2010 lists​Music publications love to compile their personal (though not always eclectic) tastes into easily digestible lists of loves, hates, bests, and worsts, and that's largely because music fans love reading them. While some tastemakers wait ... More >>

iPhones and iPads revolutionize beatmaking, piano playing, and symphony conducting

Videos of the Day: Ukulele Covers of MGMT and Train (by an 8-year-old)

I have a new rule when it comes to Train songs. I only want to hear them as covered by this cute little 8-year-old on his ukulele. Otherwise, I don't want to hear them at all.    There's a whole YouTube genre of uke covers--some of which are actually good songs to start with. MGMT' ... More >>

Last Night: Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda at the Fox

Photo of a previous Vampire Weekend show by Moses Namkung​Vampire WeekendThe Fox TheaterApril 19, 2010Better Than: getting bitten by a vampire wearing high-tops, skinny jeans, and shaggy bangs.Last night, the Columbia grads of Vampire Weekend, led by frontman Ezra Koening and his impressive falset ... More >>

Coachella in Photos: Jay-Z, She & Him, Perry Farrell, Boots Riley, More

We had our own little Coachella last week in SF, with shows by MGMT, Beach House, Faith No More, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the Dead Weather, Passion Pit, Spoon, and Atoms For Peace, among other Bay Area gigs. But photographer Christopher Victoria went to the actual Coachella down south and sent us the f ... More >>

Last Night: Passion Pit, Mayer Hawthorne, & Bear Hands at the Warfield

Eric Lawson​Passion Pit, Mayer Hawthorne, Bear Hands Thursday, April 15, 2010 The Warfield Better Than: Having a solo dance party in your room while blasting Passion Pit. Musically, it doesn't make a lot of sense to put Bear Hands, Mayer Hawthorne, and Passion Pit on the same bill. Bu ... More >>

Yeasayer pushes into new weird pop

Last Night: MGMT at the Fillmore

Gretchen Robinette ​MGMTMonday, April 12, 2010The FillmoreBetter than: Watching a band that's stuck making formulaic radio (or blogger) hits.MGMT had barely taken the stage at 8:15 last night, and a female party train was already whoo-whooing its way to the front, girls a half-dozen deep cong ... More >>

What To Do? Monday's Pick: MGMT

 MGMT @ the Fillmore MGMT's Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden willed themselves to fame with "Time to Pretend," the biggest movie-trailer indie crossover hit since "Paper Planes." Now they want us to know that they can play with that popularity. The chewy new Congratulations isn't at all ... More >>

Concert preview: MGMT

Zion I Brings the Live Show Home Tonight

​In action since 1997, Zion I has become one of the Bay Area's finest hip-hop acts, releasing six albums that have consistently shown off the duo's versatility. But in these times of rampant piracy, MC Zumbi and producer AmpLive know that their studio prowess alone won't butter their toast. Workin ... More >>

New MGMT Video: Flash Delirium

The new MGMT record, Congratulations, isn't out until April 13, but word on the street is all about how the band resolved this round to forgo the usual step of releasing singles. The duo is, however, releasing videos, and this madhouse clip for "Flash Delirium" is great for all its creepiness.&nbs ... More >>

Hear MGMT's Second Album Streaming Online

​MGMT's last break-out single, "Kids," inspired the kind of ecstatic love usually reserved for prepackaged boy bands or massive pop stars. The group's popularity increased as its 2008 album Oracular Spectacular climbed up best-of lists--and music charts--worldwide. So it's an understatement to say ... More >>

Sasquatch! Music Festival Lineup: Pavement, Dam-Funk, Girls, Massive Attack, the XX

Joseph SchellEdward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros: festival favorites​More music news today for festicationers: Sasquatch! Music Festival laid out its lineup last night at a party at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe. This Memorial Day Weekend (May 29-31) the indie rock caravans will head to Washington's ... More >>

Hey DJ! Friday Q&A w/ Adrian & Mysterious D of Bootie

​Adrian & Mysterious D have an interesting take on mashups. As they explain it, the "genre" transcends all other styles, as producers working in this arena pull tracks from a wide variety of artists, making the artform both classic enough to build a large fanbase, and cutting edge enough to in ... More >>

What To Do? Wednesday's Pick: Haiti Benefit w/ T.I.T.S., Eats Tapes, C.L.A.W.S., more

Kurt KepplerT.I.T.S.​Benefit for Haiti: T.I.T.S., Eats Tapes, Houndsound, C.L.A.W.S., Kit Clayton, Sutekh @ Elbo Room Usually when claws and tits mix together, the result is something that requires emergency surgery. But the acronymic monikers of local scenemakers C.L.A.W.S. and T.I.T.S. represen ... More >>

Coachella Brings Pavement, Jay-Z, Them Crooked Vultures, Thom Yorke, and Girls Together

PavementMarcus Roth © 1999​Pavement's first West Coast date of its 2010 reunion tour was announced today, as the Coachella lineup went live with the indie rock giants as Sunday's big headliner. The news will likely send the group's many geeked out fans into organizing the So Cal caravans for the ... More >>

Video of the Day: Amp Live vs. the Robot vs. Trackademics

There's so much going for this video clip--one of the singles off Amp Live's upcoming solo record. "Gary is a Robot" infects you like Swine Flu with that funky android club beat, the lip synching nurse bit is cute, and the whole concept of a robot who swipes hipster styles is really smart (especial ... More >>

Local Grammy Winners: Green Day, Metallica, More

​For those who follow the Grammys, we have a couple locals in the running. Nominations were announced today, and the following Bay Area acts are up for little gold statues:Green Day's "21 Guns" got a nod in two categories: "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals," ... More >>

Last Night: Weezer's 'Secret Show' at the Regency

Joseph Schell ​WeezerWednesday, Oct. 21, 2009The RegencyBetter than: Seeing an arena rock band in an arena.Just to be clear, there was a lot of screaming going on at the Regency last night for Weezer's free "secret" show. Fans screamed when the line they were standing in outside the venue--a line ... More >>

Treasure Island Music Festival, Day One

It takes an iron will and a penchant for risk to submit to the risky calculus of the day-long music festival. In the weeks leading up to the Treasure Island Music Festival, there was no doubt that the lineup would yield something for just about any modern music fan from dreaded dubstep nodders to ho ... More >>

Treasure Island: The Limousines crack dancefloor codes

Treasure Island Headliners Leaked: Girl Talk, Flaming Lips, MGMT

J. Michelle MartinThe Flaming LipsThis year's Treasure Island Music Festival should be another one for the weekender history books, if the early leaked acts booked to perform are any indication. Unofficially on tap to perform Oct. 17 and 18 are MGMT, MSTRKRFT and Girl Talk (Sat) and Flaming Lips (wh ... More >>