M&G staffers review this week’s latest releases, from MGMT to Dave Rawlings’s solo offering.
MGMT: Congratulations (Sony) 
In their defence MGMT had a hard act to follow, considering the success of their first album, Oracular Spectacular, in 2007. With this album they’re trying to explain that the catchy, easy-on-the-ear and dancing-legs sound of the debut is just not them. Kids and Electric Feel, written by Brooklyn duo Ben Goldwasser and Andrew van Wyngarden in 2005, was a lucky mistake of sorts but, really, it seems as though they’re saying, “Don’t get the wrong idea”. Now that they’ve got the record deal, they’re doing what they really want to, which seems to be to make a far more indie, experimental and complex sound. If you’re able to set aside those hopes for air-punching electro-pop, you might just be able to enjoy Congratulations. The opening track, It’s Working, I Found a Whistle and Someone’s Missing are worth going back to. But with the interesting divergence comes a bit of clutter, which you just have to sit through. It really is a rather self-involved album. They even write their own review on the back cover. But these guys are weird and this album is about them. Let them have their day, humour them and you might find yourself growing to like their new (old-school) look. — Ilham Rawoot
Various Artists: Crazy Heart Soundtrack (MIA) 
The film Crazy Heart, about a down-and-out alcoholic country singer, may have earned Jeff Bridges an Oscar for best male actor, but the real revelation is how good the actor’s singing is on this soundtrack. We shouldn’t really be surprised, because T Bone Burnett was the musical director for the film and he has already brought his magic touch to films such as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain and Walk the Line. There are six songs sung by Bridges, which sit snugly alongside classic country material by the likes of Townes van Zandt, Buck Owens and the Louvin Brothers. Burnett has put together a crack-shot team for the songs sung by Bridges and they are on fire on the blues-rock number Somebody Else and the Buddy Hollyesque I Don’t Know. But the highlight has to be Brand New Angel, a haunting country tear-jerker about death and mourning, which Bridges sings to perfection. Tracks such as Once a Gambler by Lightnin’ Hopkins and Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way? by Waylon Jennings just add to the country outlaw feel of the record. This soundtrack album is an absolute pleasure and country music fans should lap it up. — Lloyd Gedye
Cold Cave: Love Comes Close (Just Music) 
Love Comes Close would have done well to be a bit darker, as the dark tracks on the album are certainly the most memorable. With good work on the synths that tug at your emotions and remind you of nights looking back on lost loves in the blackest corner of a dingy warehouse nightclub, this album can be best described as melancholy synth-pop. The opening industrial teaser, Cebe and Me, is a good introduction to the dark theme that runs through every alternate track or so. There’s a lot of Joy Division in here, with hints of early Interpol. The only thing that keeps this album from being strong are the interruptions of lighter and, in this context, less interesting tracks. There are some definite dance-floor hits in here, too, such as Love Comes Close, The Trees Grew Emotions and Died and Youth and Lust, with irresistibly catchy riffs and loops. This album plays on the fun of pain — but it is probably more fun when on some or other substance and when in need of catharsis. — IR
Dave Rawlings Machine: A Friend of a Friend (Sheer Sound) 
So Dave Rawlings has finally stepped out of the shadows with his debut solo album, after years of playing second fiddle to Gillian Welch, Robin Hitchcock, Ryan Adams and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame. Having taken a listen through the nine great tracks that make up A Friend of a Friend, the questions has to be asked: What took him so long? Opener Ruby is a slow-burning country track in the mould of Gram Parsons, while his bluegrass rendition of To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High), the song he co-wrote with Adams for his 2000 album Heartbreaker, is a great banjo- and fiddle-driven tune. I Hear Them All offers up a Paul Simonesque folk style, while tracks such as Sweet Tooth, How’s About You and It’s Too Easy see Rawlings getting back to his country and bluegrass roots. Method Acting/Cortez the Killer combines a Bright Eyes track with one of Neil Young’s most revered rockers from his golden era to exquisite effect. But the album highlight has to be Bells of Harlem, which sounds as though it could have been a Nashville Skyline outtake that Bob Dylan never recorded. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long for album number two. — LG