2008 Album Review (Part 11)

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular – If you don’t like this album then you are stoopid and you have no idea about good songs and interesting tunes and your mom eats way too much brickle and has out of control diabetes and you could take the brickle away and save your mom but you’re too stupid to do it because you are st00pid. Don’t be stupid – listen to this album, even to the songs which are not awesome.

Minus the Bear – Acoustics EP – This is a 7 song collection of songs re-recorded in a more acoustic style. It’s a good listen – somewhat essential for Minus the Bear fans. It can probably be skipped by the average listener in favor of pretty much any proper studio album. It provides a nice intro into the band but it misses some of the electronic touches and flourishes that make the band so interesting.

Mirror – Mirror – This is a quiet, chilled slice of electronic pop. Each of the songs feature a guest vocalist (most notably Depeche Mode’s David Gahan) and they are all good enough. None of the songs are entirely awesome but then I don’t think that is the point of this album. It’s one for the quieter, more laidback moments of your life and if listened to in the corret time and place, this could become a useful soundtrack.

Miss Kittin – Batbox – This sounds like the album Goldfrapp should have put out. It’s a bit of a hit-or-miss album and doesn’t break any ground musically. However, there is a certain personality that Miss Kittin brings out through her songs that makes the album much better than the sum of its parts. If you want to add some electronic music to your collection without going off the deep end, I think this is a good one to buy.

Moby – Last Night – I was a huge Moby fan back in the day. I even met him once after a show in…1995? Some time around there. While Moby has continued to put out some good music, he’s not been as daring as he used to be. As such, he kind of latched onto a sound with the Play album and hasn’t moved much from there. This album ditches the old-school samples and sounds much more modern, but it still isn’t far from his last few albums. It’s a good, if not essential, listen. I really like the song “Alice”.