boner4mgmt: glitter penis photo surfaces.

dl: GLITTER PENIS - Angel Food (alt)
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Andrew VanWyngarden may be the "cool" member of MGMT, but an ITMS!! reader just sent me this dorktastic photo of him performing with his high school buddy Dan Treharne as Glitter Penis. For more tracks by Glitter Penis, see the archives here or check out their site.

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- SITE IT - LAST IT - HYPE IT -

boner4mgmt: the glitter penis chronicles continued.

dl: GLITTER PENIS - So Many Days (Z)
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I keep promising myself that I'm not going to write any MGMT-related posts for a long time after the BONER4MGMT series. I've even been holding off on posting some more Glitter Penis tunes I found on the mgmtfans Livejournal forum. Apparently the powers that be are trying to test me, as I have just received an e-mail from a mysterious character known as Flick Noopy with a link to glitterpenis.com. Upon loading the page, one is greeted by two names (Noopy Stivitz and Loranzo Solo) sandwiching the band's name. Clicking Noopy's name will bring you to his blog--- a collection of drawings, historical figures, IM conversations and macaroni doing the macarena. Clicking on the text below his name brings you to a page where you can enter your e-mail address to receive two full-length Glitter Penis albums entirely free.

For those of you who are just joining us, Glitter Penis is a group that Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT started with his Memphis/high school friend Dan. They recorded one full-length album entitled River Offices in 2003, narrated by a cowboy named Gordon Johnson. The other album is a collection of "greatest hits" recorded between 1998-2001. All of the recordings vary in quality and awesomeness, but there are a few gems in the mix that hint at the eventual progression of sound of MGMT.

BLOGGER NOTE: While this post is very Andrew-centric, it should be noted that I just discovered that Ben Goldwasser of MGMT is from Westport, NY. My family vacationed and continues to vacation at Lake Champlain off a road between Westport and Port Henry, NY. All I'm sayin' is that it's kind of random.

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BONER TRACK: GLITTER PENIS - Never Been To Earth (Z)
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- SITE IT - LAST IT - HYPE IT -

boner4mgmt: when i said it was the end, i meant it wasn't the end.

dl: GLITTER PENIS - C.R.U.M.Z. On My Lap (YSI)
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I had pledged that I wouldn't do anymore MGMT-related posts for a very long time, but I couldn't resist after getting the following e-mail from a fellow alum of Wesleyan University...

"do you have a copy of "Crumz" by MGMT? Do you remember it? It was the Aaliyah song Try Again but they rapped about Ernie and Bert and eating crackers and getting crumbs in their lap? I REALLY WANT THAT SONG."

Initially, I assumed this person was punking me, as this song just sounded too good to be real. With a little research (aka googling "MGMT Crumz"), I was led to the comments section of a post on ONTD, which included several older songs I posted here as well as two others that I neglected to share with you. By reading the comments of this post, we receive insider-information that Andrew VanWyngarden's iTunes library was called "kitten hatchery". My favorite comment comes from livejournal user bunnykittycoat--"He may be a total tryhard but damn that boy is fine." Don't be surprised if I make a trend out of calling people "total tryhards".

Die-hard MGMT fans seem to have acquired this already, but you die-soft MGMT fans may want to hear this too. I imagine that it's the type of song they'd do if they made an appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba. I can't wait for the Justice remix of "C.R.U.M.Z. On My Lap".

<3<3<3XOXO<3<3<3,
your favorite total tryhard blogger

PS: For those too lazy to read the comments--"Actually, Crumz is from Andrew's high school project, Glitter Penis. He and his buddy Dan (Treharne?) did an entire CD of parody tunes. Funny shit. There are lots of GP CDs in the hands of Andrew and Dan's Memphis pals. No doubt, as MGMT gets huge, more of this will come out."

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BONER TRACK: MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice remix) (YSI)
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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

boner4mgmt: part four, 2006-2008 + bonus.

Welcome back to BONER4MGMT. If you're just joining us, you can catch up by checking out the last three posts about 2003, 2004, and 2005. I decided to combine the following three years into one post for two simple reasons. First, between 2006 to 2008, I slowly watched the band MGMT grow into something I never expected when I first heard them five years ago as The Management. Between tracks from Oracular Spectacular, Immuzikation's mash-ups with Daft Punk & LCD Soundsystem, remixes by Justice & MMMathais & Leif & J-La & Tronik Youth & Jorge Elbrecht & Amplive, and their own remixes of The Black Kids & Chairlift, the band maintains a consistent presence in the upper ranks of Hype Machine's Most Blogged & Most Searched Artists. Which leads me to my second reason, being that I'd like to take a break from contributing to the over-saturation of MGMT on the interwebs. I'd like to focus on bands, musicians, and DJs who actually need some extra attention. Other blogs will give you your MGMT fix, and I'm pretty sure this post will be a substantial contribution to the world of your MGMT obsession...

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Various versions of "Kids" have been posted on other blogs, but I've realized that no one has ever included all versions in one post. This post is purely for educational purposes, because studying MGMT is probably more interesting than studying the metaphysics of objectivity. Probably.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Kids (YSI)]]
(original version, circa 2003)

As indicated in my first edition of BONER4MGMT, this was the first song I ever heard by The Management. Yes, back then they were The Management. This version is synthier, lazier, and dominated four years of my life. It's basically what you'd expect from two kids who started a band in their dorm room, only substantially more awesome. I still prefer this over any version. Well, actually I prefer this one...

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[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Kids (Afterschool Dance Megamix) (YSI)]]
(circa 2003)

Generally, I prefer songs that are shorter. But the extra minute of the "Afterschool Dance Megamix", mostly an instrumental break, provided a great point in the song to stop singing along and start moving deliciously before delicious movement was cool.

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[[dl: MGMT - Kids (YSI)]]
(Time To Pretend EP, 2005)

I remember a conversation I had with my friend Collin a little over a year and a half ago. We had a minor quarrel over which version of "Kids" was the best---the original or the version on the Time To Pretend EP. You can probably guess which side I was on, solely by looking above. Collin argued that the EP's version was superior because MGMT sounded "like they're going places." When he said this, I don't think he knew how prophetic his words would be. At the point of this conversation, I believe MGMT had just been signed to Columbia Records (after Steve Lillywhite and Three Six Mafia (!!??) flipped a shit upon hearing their demo). This version was released by Cantora Records in 2005, back when the only band they represented was MGMT.

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[[dl: MGMT - Kids (YSI)]]
(Oracular Spectacular, 2007)

The sounds on Oracular Spectacular are bigger than anything previously recorded by MGMT, which is to be expected from a major label debut, eh? This shit is drastic like when Tyra Banks decides to cut off all of some girl's hair on ANTM and that girl cries like a motherfucker, only with less crying.

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Also, compare both versions of "Time To Pretend":

[[dl: MGMT - Time To Pretend (YSI)]]
(Time To Pretend EP, 2005)

[[dl: MGMT - Time To Pretend (YSI)]]
(Oracular Spectacular, 2007)

This is the sound of a band that is going places, a band that is continuing to grow. Quite frankly, it makes me uncomfortable. I remember making a mix CD for a party with my friends back at home. I put on "Kids", hoping that they'd lap it up as much as anyone at Wesleyan, but instead their reaction was more along the lines of, "What the fuck is this?" Flash forward eight years, and MGMT are playing on the season finale of Gossip Girl. Blair Waldorf totally wouldn't even listen to The Management, though I bet she might listen to MGMT. But that's not my issue! I don't care if they "sold out". I don't care if they're "over-hyped". I don't care if they just "sound okay and look kute". It sounds childish, but I have difficulty sharing the band with the world. They were like my own little secret. Before, it was just typical to say that you liked MGMT if you went to Wesleyan University. Now, it's just generally typical to say you like MGMT. ::sigh::

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Obnoxious rants aside, many of you have requested more unreleased/rare songs from MGMT. Considering that I don't imagine dropping these songs onto the internet will necessarily harm the band, I don't feel unethical sharing them.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Love Always Remains (YSI)]]
(We (Don't) Care EP, circa 2003)

Other than "Kids", the only other song that survived from the era of The Management to the era of MGMT is "Love Always Remains". It appears on the Time To Pretend EP, but unlike "Kids" it did not make it onto Oracular Spectacular. The EP's version has a fuller sound than this one, so...um, buy the EP!

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[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Everything Is Happening So Fast (YSI)]]
(We (Don't) Care EP, circa 2003)

This song, along with the EP's two title tracks and "Just Becuz", was not fortunate enough to survive into the era of MGMT. It's admittedly not my favorite tune, but I do have a soft spot for that bouncy cartoonish feel.

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[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Honey Bunny (YSI)]]

(Bootlegs Muthafuckas, circa 2003)

I never got into "Honey Bunny", but after listening to it the past couple of days, I found myself tapping my foot and singing the lyrics in a public bathroom today..."Fucking weasel you've lost your touch, Skinny as hell but it's not enough, Life is a mineshaft of love, But don't dig too deep." I really hope no one heard me singing that.

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[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Portia Sloan (YSI)]]

(Bootlegs Muthafuckas, circa 2003)

I still don't get into this song, but I think it's a good indication of the weird thoughts that go through the minds of dear ol' Andrew and Ben. If four-winged dinosaurs are your thing, maybe you can get down to this?

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THE END, MUTHAFUCKAS.
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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

boner4mgmt: part three, 2005.

HIPSTER RUNOFF has proven to me that it's "a blog worth blogging about" with the recent post "Bands that Sound Okay and Look Cute are destined for big things". And since I must be an "uninteresting person who likes to be into alt music", I am going to continue perpetuating the MGMT hype with the third installment of my series BONER4MGMT. We began in 2003 when "Kids" first hit my ears, moving on to 2004's dance parties and interpretative movements. And so begins 2005.

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In the spring of 2005, I enrolled in a class called Hazardous Earth: Stuff That Will Kill You. It was the sort of science class with a funny name that Wesleyan created for people who don't really care about science. There were two sections of the class, and when we presented our final posters I recall attending the session for the other section due to a conflict. I lugged my whack-ass poster about Santorini to the science center, sat through a bunch of boring presentations, and then two guys got up with nothing but an iPod and speakers. One of these guys was Andrew VanWyngarden of The Management.

[[dl: ANDREW VANWYNGARDEN (OF MGMT) & ETHAN LEINWAND - Supervolcano (YSI)]]

Our professor loved the song so much that he played it for my section of the class. I loved the song so much that I was determined to make it a dance-party hit, taking action by including it in an epic end-of-the-year post on the blog I wrote for at the time. And it worked to some degree! As I was jamming at the house party of an individual who will be labeled as "Adam", the song somehow found it's way onto the playlist. As it played, Andrew VanWyngarden entered the party. In my head, he gave me a look. I don't recall if this was a look of acknowledgment or a dirty look. Maybe he didn't look at me at all.

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As a final music thesis project, The Management performed in Wesleyan University's Memorial Chapel. While I'm not sure why I missed this show, I did manage to catch them another time. My friends and I arrived together, but parted our separate ways for most of the party. As soon as "Kids" started playing, it was as if we Kitty-Pride'd ourselves through the crowd to form a circle. Then we jumped a lot and were very excited.

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Some time in 2005, The Management changed their name to MGMT. According to sources, the Time To Pretend EP was released on January 1, 2005. This is pretty much inaccurate as far as I remember. The band toured with Of Montreal summer and fall of 2005, and the debut of the music video for "Boogie Down" came in early November. A little less than a month after the debut of "Boogie Down", the video for "Destrokk" showed up.

[[dl: MGMT - Destrokk (YSI)]]

Around the time that the band started touring with Of Montreal, I desperately tried to pitch "Kids" to a number of blogs including You Ain't No Picasso. Just sayin'. Despite the fact that "Kids" is dominating on blogs these days, it apparently wasn't good enough back then!

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

boner4mgmt: part two, 2004.

For those just joining us, I am recounting my history with MGMT. At this point, we are at 2004. The band is still called The Management. To catch up, check part one here.

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In my first year of college, I often misheard statements in the way the "telephone" game works. This became a problem in some instances, such as the time I was convinced that my student assembly rival slept with the entirety of Yale's swim team. As a supplement to this girl's awfulness, I would often bring up this "fact" when ranting to friends. And after recounting this rumor to the person who I thought told me it, I discovered that the person who apparently slept with the entirety of Yale's swim team was allegedly Jenna Bush.*

This sort of thing also happened while I was pledging a certain co-ed literary society. One of the members of this society was named Ben, and he wrote for a notable geektastic website. I'm almost positive that someone told me that this "Ben" character was also a member of The Management. I got really excited about being in the same society as one of the guys who made "Kids", and I don't remember if I was disappointed or embarrassed to discover that this "Ben" wasn't Ben Goldwasser. I knew this guy's last name, but I didn't know that the "Ben" in The Management was named Ben Goldwasser. To make matters worse, The Management were heavily affiliated with the rival co-ed society across the street.

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In fall 2004, my newly sophomore self was introduced to the folks in a wonderful apartment known as "B2". This apartment would become a second home for me, a land of theme parties, a couch to sleep on, and most importantly...dance parties. There was a sign stating that B2's living-room was a "No 'Hey Ya!' Zone", but jams like "Toxic" and "Kids" blared through the speakers on any given Saturday night.

I have a visual in my head of two friends doing an interpretative dance to "Kids". It was to the lyric "A baby is born...crying out for attention". One friend acted as the baby. The other one was a vagina birthing him. It was a very deep and interesting interpretative dance, and I hope that anyone reading this gets it. The dance went on for six minutes and seven seconds, because anyone who was anyone knew that the Afterschool Dance Megamix of "Kids" was the only version to play at a dance party.

One of the lovely ladies of B2, Katey, once pondered with me which song had the potential to be the next "Kids" on campus. We may have even concocted devious plots to infiltrate the dance party scene and make this song the next hit by The Management. Unfortunately, we never agreed on which song would be our hit. I rooted hard for "Just Becuz", but she pushed even harder for "We Care". Or was it "We Don't Care"? My memory on this matter is foggy.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - We Care (YSI)]]
[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - We Don't Care (YSI)]]

So 2004 certainly isn't the most exciting year. Stay tuned for 2005, which marks my first time seeing the band live, a science project gone awesome, and the introduction of "MGMT".

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

* In hopes that Daddy Bush won't claim war on this blog, I want to say now that there's no way this rumor was true. I mean, the whole swim team? At YALE? Seriously? This could never have happened, as there's no way that the majority of them weren't gay.

boner4mgmt: part one, 2003.

I originally intended for this to be a huge post dedicated to my eternal, undying love of MGMT. I've now decided to break it up into a daily series (by year) starting with 2003. I realize that MGMT are a big deal right now, but this series isn't a ploy to get hits to this blog. It's precisely because of MGMT being a big deal that I've realized this long history we have together, despite the fact that I've never had a conversation with either of the original members. So bear with me through this unnecessary introduction, as I chronicle my life with The Management. Er...I mean, MGMT.

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Prior to attending college, I was on AIM talking to another prospective student. It was the standard pre-college chit-chat. What dorm do you want to live in? OMG, let's party so much together when we get to school! Were you early decision too?...What kind of music do you like?

I paused. This is the sort of question that trips you up as a teenager. You want to stay true to yourself, while also citing some artist who makes you seem really cool. And you don't want to be that tool who says something like, "Hehe, ne-thing but country!!" Or you're just me. And you simply say..."I'm really into emo." Lame. And then the person you're talking to says, "Oh, like Modest Mouse?" If she could see your face upon asking this, you'd probably be blushing because your favorite albums at this point are by Dashboard Confessional and Something Corporate. You have no idea who she's talking about, but play it cool by saying, "Oh, I've never heard of them. Can you send me one of their songs?"

Oh my god, I’ve gotta gotta gotta gotta move on
Where do you move when what you’re moving from
Is yourself?

Her away message would occasionally read this way, a lyric from "Neverending Math Equation". Knowing the reference made you feel like you were in the know. But you had so much more to learn...

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Within the first couple of weeks of college, I found myself sitting in a girl named Janine's room. We were already friends in the sense that we lived in the same dorm and once encountered a rollerblading asexual together. It was in her room that I would first hear the word "hipster", a word that five years later would ironically be used by outsiders to label my existence. It was in her room that I would first hear the sounds of Ben Gibbard's voice, and do interpretative dances to "Such Great Heights". And it was in her room that I would first hear The Management.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Kids (original version) (YSI)]]

The moment the song hit my ears, I was in love. It was unlike anything I heard before, which may not be saying much given how ignorant my ears were at that point. My memory of that day is a little hazey, but in my head I scurried back to my room and immediately acquired any recordings by this mysterious campus band. I then proceeded to have my first ever private one-man dance-party with "Kids", the first of many.

And then there was "We Care", "We Don't Care", "Hot Love Drama", "Money To Burn", and most importantly--"Just Becuz". While it never seemed to be the preferred song of most connoisseurs of The Management, I latched onto this song. The entire school may have been united in loving "Kids", and whether it makes sense or not..."Just Becuz" was my own personal "Kids".

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Just Becuz (YSI)]]

The rest of my 2003 experience with The Management would include consistently misquoting the lyrics to "Kids" while drunk at parties. Kissedaguy.com style!

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BONER TRACK: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Hot Love Drama (YSI)
DOUBLE BONER TRACK: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Money To Burn (YSI)

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

itms!! mini playlist: bathing booties.

It may be May, but it's not too soon to get ready for the beach. Bathing suit? Check. Sun-tan lotion? Check. Towel? Check. Music? Don't worry. I got your back on this one.

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POP THE FISH - Chez Ta Soeur (YSI): Considering that I don't know any French, I know very little about the lyrical content of this song (other than the fact that the title translates to "with your sister"). For sake of maintaining a theme, let's pretend it's about making sandcastles with your little sister. If that doesn't work, at least the word "fish" is in the artist's name? You know, fish totally live in water and shit. Pssh, gimme a break. The songs just need to sound like summer, and this electro-pop jam has "fun in the mothafuckin' sun" written all over it. (SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

BMX* - War (YSI): You steal two fun noodles from some ugly kid and challenge your crush to a duel on a dock, because this beach apparently has a dock. Frustrated by your inability to knock them off with your foam weapon, you just push them off. Now everything is awesome. Your crush looks smokin' hot when wet, you barely broke a sweat, and you are the cheater your momma told you never wins. (SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

MGMT - Just Becuz (YSI): Despite not breaking a sweat, the noodle-fight leaves you quite thirsty. You head over to a concession stand to grab a water, and then you notice that they have ice cream. You worry for a second that it'll go straight to your hips, but then you think "Bump that, this will be delicious." You get a vanilla cone, and you ask for lots of jimmies. Because you are totally from the Midwest and don't like the word "sprinkles". (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

BRANDY - I Wanna Be Down (Norrit remix) (YSI)**: While waiting thirty minutes prior to swimming, the best '90s R&B song ever pops into your head. You think about how much you want to be down with your crush, and you get a metaphorical boner. I say metaphorical solely because you might have a va-hey-hey. If you don't, then you totally got a real boner. Embarrassing! (SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

MATT AND LIL KIM - 5k, Mothafuckah (YSI): You start to feel guilty about that ice cream cone, so you join a game of volleyball. You realize that Naturi Naughton, formerly of 3LW fame, is on the other team. You start trash-talking her like, "Haha, remember when you were famous?" and then she tells you that she'll be playing Lil Kim in the upcoming film Notorious. You start to feel foolish, but everything gets better when your team kicks her team's ass. You try to get your teammates to chant "Your Playas Can't Really Play" at her, but they don't really get what you're talking about. (VIRB IT)

OLD GOLD - God Almighty (YSI): After so much physical activity, you decide to get your swim on. While drying off, you can't believe your eyes. The volleyball court has been taken over by a gaggle of hot chicks in brightly-colored bikinis. They're pretty good at volleyball, but then they start wrestling, trying to rip one another's bathing suits off, and making out. You feel really stupid when you realize that they're filming for a beer commercial. (BUY IT - SPACE IT)

LADYHAWKE - Back Of The Van (YSI)***: Your crush is listening to Usher and starts joking around, singing "I wanna make looooove on this beach, (ay) on this beach, (ay) on this beach". You're like, "For real?" They say, "4 real, 4 real!" And then you make out. FOR SERIOUS! But you don't make love on the beach because there are other people around, you don't want sand in your butts, and the phrase "making love" gets you both uncomfortable. (SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

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DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE OF BATHING BOOTIES MINI-PLAYLIST (YSI)
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* BMX has an incredibly cute song called "Refero Beach" on their space. I'm obsessed. Via BIGSTEREO, but of course.

** Via Palms Out Sounds

*** via BRRRLN

brenmar: yeasayer remix.

dl: YEASAYER - 2080 (brenmar remix) (YSI)
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I remember that I once had this Choose Your Own Adventure book in which "you" get shrunken down to the size of an ant. The happiest ending finds you falling from very high into a cup of pudding! Oh, delicious...until you think about the physics of the situation. Technically you should have drowned in that pudding. But it sure beats the other option-- time-traveling and getting stepped on by a giant dinosaur! And you were just trying to time-travel back to the point before you got shrinky with it! Gadzooks!

Brenmar's remix of Yeasayer's "2080" is like choosing to confront the dinosaur. Except in this case, the dinosaur is magic and makes you as big as it is! And it wants to be your friend! And eat giant bowls of pudding with it! And then you'd step on people you don't like. You know?

Who is Brenmar? I'm glad you asked. Brenmar is Bill Salas, the man behind the drums/electronics of These Are Powers. He's done a remix of their song "Little Sisters" as well as remixes of Aa, Clipd Beaks, Mahjongg, and High Places. The tunes are constructed "out of old dusty records, digital and analogue synthesizers, microphones, samplers, pedals, toys, and found sounds." Such sounds make MGMT tour-mates Yeasayer's sufficiently more interesting, which is quite a task given that Yeasayer is (no offense) totally boring.

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- SPACE IT -

immuzikation: mgmt remix.

dl: IMMUZIKATION - Just Another Call With You (MGMT vs. lots) (YSI)
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Immuzikation has been popular on the blogs lately. And with good reason! Mashing up Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem with MGMT, Yelle with Weezer, Justice with Boyz II Men*, Ratatat with Enon, Jay-Z with The Postal Service...the fun just doesn't stop. This Georgia boy knows where the party's at, and I'm personally inviting all of you to crash it with this new joint he sent my way. It goes a little something like this...

• MGMT - "Just Becuz" + Soulwax - "Another Excuse (DFA Remix)" + Prince - "When Doves Cry" + Chromeo - "Call Me Up" + Afrika Bambaataa "Planet Rock" + Stardust - "Music Sounds Better with You" = "Just Another Call with You"

"Just Becuz" is nearly five years old, recorded when MGMT were still at Wesleyan University. It's a bit dancier than most of their new stuff, yet it remains one of my favorite MGMT songs of all time. Long story short, Immuzikation is my mash-up GOD for doing this mix.

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- SPACE IT - HYPE IT -
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* Um, can we talk about Soulja Boyz II Men?

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PREVIOUSLY ON ITMS!!: Download the original "Just Becuz" and an ol' skool mix of "Kids". (link)

city opera is the new mgmt.

I had a rather cultural weekend. My eyes and ears were exposed to both Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns and New York City Opera's production of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. And while Angela Bassett didn't kick her triflin' baby father in the balls, I did get to witness Cio-Cio San laying the beat-down on her maid Suzuki and Goro the matchmaker...shortly before she committed ritual suicide. And to think that some people call the opera boring!

Once you get through the background and lame dudes singing in Act I, Butterfly makes it rain flowers! And as Kanye West said that "A little rain never hurt no strippers", I say that a little rain never hurt no Cio-Cio. In fact, as the swirling petals mingled with the music, I wanted to believe just as much as Cio-Cio that Pinkerton was coming home. I felt myself on stage frolicking about in my three-year old bridal garments and dressing my son Sorrow in an American-flag robe that The New York Times would call silly. I felt it all. The hope. The desperation. The waiting...

And then the morning after. Not only did my triflin' baby father leave me for three years to go nuzzle up with some white chick, but now they want to go all Rumplestiltskin and steal my baby! I can't go for their guilt-free exotification and enjoyment of my mixed-race child. Sure. You can take away my baby, but I'm going to take away my life. This Butterfly ain't gonna fly no more!

Now that's what I call catharsis-- the type of catharsis that Angela Bassett just can't deliver. There may be a possibility that you too can indulge in the Cio-Cio experience...but I've been told that Candide presents your best chances of pretending to be cultured and classy like me. Upcoming performances:

• Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini: Running until April 6th (details)
• Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi: Running until April 5th (details)
• Tosca, Giacomo Puccini: Running until April 5th (details)
• Candide, Leonard Bernstein: April 8-April 20 (details)
  

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But City Opera aren't the only folks throwing a party! Now that I can let go of my college memories and let MGMT get popular, I feel a need to notify you faithful readers (all two of you?) that they'll be performing in NYC on April 8th at the closing night party of the Gen Art Film Festival. Check the deets, check two rare older tracks recorded before I was legal below, and then check them performing LIVE on April 8th.

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dl: MGMT - Just Becuz (YSI)
dl: MGMT - Kids (Afterschool Extended Dance Megamix) (YSI)
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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - WIK IT - HYPE IT -

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BLOGGER NOTE: Though I missed my opportunity to catch the "deeply moving" performance of Shu-Ying Li as Cio-Cio, I did get to send my friend this ultra-creepy video directly from the New York State Theater.

leif: little bit.

d/l: LEIF - Little Bit (Lykke Li cover) (YSI)

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Leif has been mentioned on this blog plenty of times, but it was mainly for his mash-ups and remixes. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of his voice tenderly colliding with your earbuds, the time has now come. "Little Bit" is a cover by Swedish songstress Lykke Li, who you may have heard of on some blog that one time.

I'm not about to go make some big claims that Lykke Li will be the "next big thing" to come out of Sweden, and I'm not about to compare her to Feist or some crap like that. Homey don't play that. I have one single thing to say about this song. And I am going to say it with hesitation, because this isn't the sort of thing you should admit to the internet. I'm not really even sure if I've ever felt this way about a song ever. It's kind of inapprop...THIS SONG MAKES ME WANT TO TAKE MY CLOTHES OFF. Now I said it. There's no looking back.

Consider Lykke Li's version the foreplay. Leif's version falls somewhere before or after that depending on how you go about in your freaky ways. It still retains the vulnerability that makes the original so drawers-dropping, yet brings the song to the CLUBZ in the most delicious way possible.

Predictable blogger pun: I think I'm more than a little bit in love with this jam! LOLcat.

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bonus track: LEIF - Electric Feel My Cool (MGMT edit) (YSI)
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- space it -

j-la: mgmt remix.

J-LA apparently went to school with me.

I say "apparently" because I didn't know who he was until I met him on a roof...months after we had graduated. I'm pretty sure that I had never even seen him prior to this interaction, which mostly consisted of him shaking my hand and me awkwardly dancing to Daft Punk. I don't get out much.

I also went to the same school as MGMT. Their new album Oracular Spectacular just dropped, and admittedly I wasn't too enthusiastic about the songs that had been leaked before its release. They were good and all, but they weren't the MGMT I grew to love...they weren't The Management. For some reason, their name change from "The Management" to "MGMT" somehow correlated with a harsh realization that I was going to have to share "Kids" with the entire world. This was difficult to admit to myself, given that "Kids" is my mind's soundtrack to every pleasant moment I spent at Wesleyan University. It was my secret theme song that the non-Wesleyan world didn't know or fully understand.

Now I am encountering another realization that needs to be fucking realized--- I need to let go. I've heard 3-4 different versions of "Kids" and each one sounds further and further away from the one that first touched my ears so many years ago. MGMT are growing up. They're actually getting kind of...good?

Yes. I've said it. I may like this album. I may even like the new version of "Kids". I feel dirty saying this, yet I also feel somewhat liberated. Fuck.

Wait, wasn't this post about J-La? Honestly, I don't even remember who this post is supposed to be about, but J-La's remix of "Electric Feel" reminded me to go cop this album on iTunes. Also, it's the shit. 'Nuff said.

[REMOVED BY REQUEST OF CREATOR (NOT GOD, J-LA)]
dl: MGMT - Time to Pretend (YSI)
(remix + album track)
- space it / buy it - site it - space it - hype it -