Mgmt / Little Dark Age
Album: Little Dark Age   Collection:General
Artist:Mgmt   Added:Feb 2018
Label:Columbia  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2018-02-16 Pull Date: 2018-04-20
Week Ending: Apr 22 Apr 15 Apr 8 Apr 1 Mar 25 Mar 18 Mar 11 Mar 4
Airplays: 5 3 5 3 4 4 6 9

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 29, 2024: Fermentation Station
She Works Out Too Much
4. Jan 11, 2023: The Mystery Machine
Little Dark Age
2. Jul 06, 2023: Stop Making Sense
Little Dark Age
5. Apr 27, 2022: new year, new me (rebroadcast from Mar 26, 2018)
Me And Michael
3. May 03, 2023: mitchell's library
Me And Michael
6. Mar 31, 2022: A Night on the Roof (rebroadcast from Mar 1, 2018)
One Thing Left To Try

Album Review
Telepathic Juan
Reviewed 2018-02-16
Little Dark Age is the fourth album by New York duo MGMT. For Little Dark Age, the band leaves behind their psych-prog-ambient saturated sounds found on previous albums to explore the late 20th century synth-driven production manual, taking cues and melodies from classic 1980s and early 1990s R&B, adult contemporary, modern rock, and even top 40. It works effortlessly. An early candidate for my best of 2018.

Something else from the press release:
MGMT’s music has always pinballed between accessibility and experiment, pop, and psychedelia—a tension that has produced some of the catchiest, most synapse-stretching music of the young century. Reining in the freak-outs of 2013’s MGMT, the band’s fourth album plumbs their (relatively) accessible side, refracting ’80s-style synth-pop (“Little Dark Age,” “One Thing Left to Try”) and ’60s jangle folk (“When You Die”) through a warped, surrealistic sense of humour—a sound at once cheerful and violent, eerie and inviting, light and thrillingly dark.

RIYL: MGMT!

FCC WARNING: 1, 3, 10
Recommended Tracks: 1 [FCC], 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

1. (4:38) ** She Works Out Too Much – FCC (Shit). Upbeat piece with tints of anime, twee and 1990s Alternative. Reminds me of those Japanese pop releases on Emperor Norton records of the late 1990s. Catchy.
2. (4:59) *** Little Dark Age – Medium tempo recording. Gloomy and dramatic. Think of early 1980s British synth pop. Works for me.
3. (4:23) When You Die – FCC (Fuck). Medium-up track. Part Baroque pop, part synthwave. Dark.
4. (4:49) *** Me and Michael – Medium-up tempo electro pop recording. It could belong to any 1980s soundtrack with Molly Ringwald in it. Instant classic.
5. (4:30) * Tslamp – Slow/Medium tempo piece. 1980s influenced – Part adult contemporary, part R&B pop. Lionel Richie would be proud.
6. (3:52) * James – Medium-up tempo baroque pop. Nostalgic?
7. (4:44) Days That Got Away – Semi instrumental track. Slow/medium tempo. Think of early The Human League and 1980s Motown R&B pop.
8. (4:20) ** One Thing Left to Try – Medium-up tempo. Synthwave MGMT. Cool track.
9. (3:30) ** When You're Small – Acoustic track. Influenced by Pink Ployd’s 1973 The Dark Side Of The Moon. Curious recording if we compare it to the rest of the album.
10. (4:17) Hand It Over– FCC (Fuck). Slow tempo. Electro pop ballad. Great ending.

Track Listing
1. She Works Out Too Much   6. James
2. Little Dark Age   7. Days That Got Away
3. When You Die   8. One Thing Left To Try
4. Me And Michael   9. When You're Small
5. Tslamp   10. Hand It Over