MGMT Best Pop Performance

MGMT (pronounced em-gee-em-tee /ɛm dʒiː ɛm ˈti) is an American band based in Brooklyn, New York, consisting of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. Formed at Wesleyan University and originally with Cantora records, they signed with Columbia Records/Red Ink/Sony in 2006.

On October 5, 2007, Spin.com named MGMT "Artist of the Day". On November 14, 2007, Rolling Stone pegged MGMT as a top 10 "Artist to Watch" in 2008. The band was named 9th in the BBC's Sound of 2008 top 10 poll. They were also named as Last.fm's most played new artist of 2008 in their Best of 2008 lists.


Their first album as MGMT, Oracular Spectacular, debuted at number 12 on the UK album chart and number six on the Australian ARIA Charts, and hit number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. It has also been named the 18th best album of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine. It was named the best album of 2008 by NME. MGMT also appeared prominently in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100 2008, coming in 2nd with "Electric Feel", 5th with "Kids" and 18th with "Time to Pretend".

MGMT was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and their track "Kids" was nominated for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals. These are the first Grammy nominations for the band. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, the Justice remix of "Electric Feel" won the Grammy forBest Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

Their next album, Congratulations, is due to be released on April 13, 2010. The album was leaked onto the web on March 19. Because of this, the band put all of the songs available as streams from the official MGMT website.

Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden formed the band while attending Wesleyan University during their freshman year. "We weren't trying to start a band", remarked Goldwasser. "We were just hanging out, showing each other music that we liked." They experimented with noise rock and electronica before settling on what David Marchese of Spin calls "their current brand of shape-shifting psychedelic pop." They graduated in 2005 and toured extensively in support of the Time to Pretend EP, opening for indie rock band Of Montreal.

The band first started with the name "The Management", but since this name was already being used by another band, they later changed it to MGMT.

In the autumn of 2006 Maureen Kenny signed the band to Columbia Records. The duo recorded with Flaming Lips/Sleater-Kinney music producer Dave Fridmann in 2007 for their major label debut, Oracular Spectacular. MGMT opened for Of Montreal on tour in autumn 2007 as a five piece touring band including Matthew Asti (bass), James Richardson (drums), and Hank Sullivant (guitar). In November 2007 they performed for the first time in Europe supporting Asobi Seksu and The Courteeners at Koko in London. After March 2008, Hank Sullivant left the band to pursue his own band Kuroma. Will Berman joined as the new drummer, James Richardson switched from drums to guitar, and Matthew Asti remained on bass.

The band supported Radiohead on the Manchester date of their world tour and went on a headline tour of the UK during November 2008, playing at venues such as Manchester Academy and Shepherd's Bush Empire.

MGMT opened for M.I.A. on the Vassar College date of her 2008 tour, and also played several shows with Beck while he toured in 2008. They also toured Australia with a headlining spot on the Meredith Music Festival line-up. They played a show at the Virgin Vestival on Toronto Island on September 6, 2008, playing nine songs off their Oracular Spectacular album. They also played the 2008 Street Scene festival in San Diego. On February 27, 2009 MGMT performed alongside Spectrum at "The Dome" in Finsbury Park. MGMT also added another tour date in Australia at the Splendour in the Grass festival. MGMT is somewhat headlining this music festival with other well known bands, Bloc Party, The Flaming Lips, The Happy Mondays and Jane's Addiction.

MGMT played their first show of 2009 on June 9 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The band Chairlift opened the show. Caroline Polachek joined them for their encore for a cover of the Til Tuesday song "Voices Carry".

On June 11, 2009, MGMT played at Minglewood Hall in VanWyngarden's hometown of Memphis, Tennessee where the band played three songs from their forthcoming album, including the title track, "Congratulations". Later in the week, the band played a late-night gig at Bonnaroo, where they were once again joined by members of Chairlift.

On July 1, 2009 MGMT returned "home" to Brooklyn to play another show at Prospect Park. They played "Congratulations", "It's Working", and "Song for Dan Tracey" from their upcoming album.

MGMT opened for Paul McCartney, an admitted fan, at Fenway Park in Boston August 5–6, 2009.

On August 15, 2009 MGMT played in Hamburg, Germany at the Dockville Festival and performed several songs from their upcoming album.

MGMT was one of the headlining bands for the Treasure Island Music Festival on Treasure Island in San Francisco, California on October 17, 2009.

MGMT has been recently working on their new album, Congratulations, which will be released on April 13, 2010. The band, including Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman from the live band, spent the summer of 2009 in Malibu recording the album with Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom, ex-Spacemen 3 and Spectrum, serving as producer/guru. MGMT debuted three new songs titled "Congratulations", "It's Working", and "Song for Dan Treacy" at recent shows.

MGMT have suggested that they may not release any singles from the album.

The album cover art for Congratulations was created for MGMT by Anthony Ausgang and the overall design of the packaging is by Josh Cheuse of Sony Entertainment.
On Tuesday March 9, 2010 MGMT released the song "Flash Delirium" for free download on their official website
On Saturday, March 20, the band allowed users to stream their new album from their website.

The band stated that they weren't trying to make an album about fame and success but realized it was inevitable as that's all they've been doing for over a year.
MGMT is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live on April 24 and Late Show With David Letterman on May 11 for the promotion of their new album.

MGMT settled a legal dispute with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2009, receiving a settlement payment that they plan to donate to a charity to help musicians with similar legal battles. The song "Kids" was used on several occasions without permission (in 2008), at a party conference and in two online videos. The party paid a standard fee of €53 to the French music licensing party, but this license did not cover all uses of the song. The UMP, Sarkozy's political party, admitted that the song had been used without permission and offered a symbolic compensation of €1. The band rejected the offer, claiming it was "insulting". The band's lawyer commented that "we are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, with infringements of intellectual property."

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