Singles

MGMT - Kids

Alisha Ahmed 01/12/2008

Rating: 3/5

The first time I listened to MGMT's debut album, track 5 stood out among all the others. So I knew it was just a matter of time before Kids was chosen as one of the singles taken from Oracular Spectacular, and so eventually it became the third single from the very fortunate album by Brooklyn duo formed of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden.

The typical MGMT sound should be familiar to you by now given how brainwashed we've been this last year with MGMT stuff; featuring mainly synths, '80s-ish vocal effects you'll see how Kids just goes along these lines: its main feature is still the synth sound placed as a riff repeating itself over and over ad libitum, making it effectively catchy. Another version is featured on the single, the Soulwax Remix, which is just the perfect version you'll hear around clubs and such, even though is not nearly pleasant-to-the-ears as the original version. An extra previously unreleased song called Of Moons, Birds and Monsters (this is on the album? - Ed.) is the is the last gift of the single, which will make happy all of MGMT fans as it's (yet again) a perfect '80s-derivation: a disco/dance beat, synth and vocal harmonies/distortions.

Definitely the best pick as single by MGMT so far, but the fact it's coming out as third single is not doing it proper justice as, by now, it doesn't sound as groundbreaking as MGMT appeared when Time to Pretend first emerged. Still, it's a very good song, but since MGMT are quite established by now, it's nothing particularly special if put into that frame.