Final Draft

I'm sitting here on my couch at 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning listening to Congratulations. And it's not because I just overdosed on Ambien and snakebite meds, though God knows it's a realistic scenario given my predilection for uppers and serpents. No, I tell you, it's because I am engrossed in newly listening to Congratulations, and I think we should all give it another chance. In other words, you've been punked: it's actually a mad chill album. Literally it’s cool and uncool at the same time. It’s the embodiment of strange opposites: dark, bright, serious, carnival-like in its absurdity… at once tawdry, at the next exquisite…

Yes, I've lost it, you'll say, but after a few listens, expecting to dismiss it (like I did Metric's "Fantasies," which is in NO WAY worth purchasing) it made its peace with me, and I couldn't help but return to enjoy and inspect it, bizarre and darkly jaunty though it may be. Ironic wino pothead donkeys rule the desert at one moment, while at the next a parade of pipework queers takes control of the nearby bellshop. Somewhere in the midst surfing and tantra are involved, but every rock stars have strange ascents.

Exhibit A:
"It's Working" -- This song is about ecstasy (http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:TzaVhpzGYDwJ:www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/32862565/review/32906679/congratulations+MGMT+%22it%27s+working%22+rolling+stone+ecstasy&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a) Saying that simply makes things easier. Before, one might think, "Wow, this song, being bald-facedly about ecstasy, has an earnest "raison d'etre" and explanatory, inclusive feel ... hmmm, that's what all the drughead hipsters out there would say… guess I better hedge my bets and now say that my possibly positive judgment of the song in no way makes profligate drug use acceptable behavior for us respectable young men of conduct.”  Now, one is confident to say: these dudes are weird. I'm going to examine them.

This was Rolling Stone's take:

'With Congratulations, the knowing smartasses of Oracular Spectacular seem confused about what's next. The result is a hazy, hit-and-miss album that will likely alienate some fans of the debut, but one that also testifies to MGMT's restlessness as songwriters and human beings. "It's Working," a song VanWyngarden describes as about the drug Ecstasy, mixes surf guitars, harpsichord glitter and bong patters with some less-than-ecstatic lyrics: "I see the signs of aging/But if I try to feel at all, I am deceived," VanWyngarden sings.'

A pretty good assessment, I think. Anyway, in this penultimate paragraph, I’d like to sum up my point: Congratulations is at least weird enough to listen to again in full (preferably when baked as ciabatta), IF NOT TO REVISIT COMPLETELY BEFORE PRAYING FOR BETTER JUDGMENT.

Thanks for your time and brave lifestyles.

Your Father,
Douglas

P.S. It feels like someone’s listening…
It feels like someone’s missing…