Just a thought but their "sound" seems really prevalent right now, most specifically on the Smith Westerns and Portugal, The Man Records from this year and that Foster The People song that my wife likes loves.

I kinda hope not.

well they brought back the trend of having 2-3 amazing singles on an album with a ton of filler...

I don't think the Smith Westerns sound like them at all.

I've never heard them or any of the bands that you consider them as having an influence on. I know I don't make much of an effort to stay on top of what's current outside of my sweet spot but still...

Yeah, except for the vocals, the guitar sound and the psychedelic textures they don't at all. My bad.

no

i must be listening to a different band called smith westerns. the one i'm familiar with sounds like they ran t. rex through a tin can.

Not after that shitty second album! I also don't think that Portugal sounds anything like them.

Nah I think they are/were more a summation of prevailing sounds than trailblazers or major influences on anybody.

Every comment in this thread should be translated as "I don't really like this band, because they became a hipster favorite, and then got radio play, so even though your premise is correct, my music snobbery won't allow me to acknowledge it as such."

Yail doesn't exactly back this up with overwhelming evidence.

A lot of shit has happened in the past five years, and MGMT didn't even happen until two years into it. I guess it just depends on what you've been paying attention to, but I wouldn't consider his example to represent any kind of major component or general summation of the past five years of music.

are you and Yail playing a joke?

yep. your bad.

i am really not sure ive ever heard mgmt, but i get the sound you are talking about, and yes, its pretty damn prevalent. not sure mgmt was a prime influencer, though.

It's mainly the vocal sound, "atmospherics" and songwriting that I'm talking about. Specifically, mixing doubled and tripled, heavily effected vocals with a sort of falsetto along with some woooshy synth stuff and keyboard tinkling.

As Exhibit A, I'll offer up Smith Western's "All Die Young".

This is also a possibility. I mainly brought them up A. Because that's literally what I've thought of as I listened to some of these bands and B. They are undoubtedly one of the "bigger" indiei-sh bands of the past few years so it stands to reason they would be influential on younger bands starting out (I realize Portugal has been around but their new one has more of this sound than previous ones IMHO)

I just really don't think Smith Westerns listen to MGMT.

They toured together recently.

Also, was pretty sure that on the interview they did for XMU Sessions they cited MGMT's approach to layering on Oracular Spectacular as a big influence on them. I could be mixing up parts of the interview though.

I could see an argument being made in a pop culture context but for me, it'd be LCD Soundsystem.

Just from their popularity, their role in bringing "dance punk" or indie dance music in general to a wide audience, and their work with DFA Records.

Even though it's not stuff I normally listen to, I'll concede their influence.

Not to mention the countless interviews available with a quick Google search where they say things like:

Finally, someone who offers something of a reasoned argument. Thanks for not being dumb, Derris.

Shit.
Fair enough. I did not know these things and I'll stand down.

In my mind I've always lumped Smith Westerns with power-pop garage bands like King Tuff.. not super dancey stuff like MGMT/LCD Soundsystem


AND I would still say that the most influential band of everything else we're hearing right now is not MGMT.

It's hard to argue against this.

However, I have actually been thinking about this a good portion of the day, and part of me is inclined to agree that MGMT may be way more important than I have ever wanted to admit. I think they in some way, specifically with the first record, really summed up a certain generational approach to songcraft. They really showed that you can be more of a fan of music (and with digital music being a given for the majority of their life, the ability to take in more music than previous generations from the get-go) and less of an actual musician as long as you have a mastery of a program like Garage Band--which let's face it, with most people their age, or that of Smith Westerns, the ability to operate a program that seemed like kind of a big deal to those of us in our thirties and above, is somewhat intuitive for that generation.

Sure laptop production and all of that has been around long before that first record, but I am hard pressed to find a record that completely embodied the software process that had such wide-sweeping critical and popular appeal. As such I think there probably were a ton of kids out there who listened to the radio and read Stereogum/Pitchfork who were in high school when that record came out and thought, "I can do this too." Hence the influx of early twenty-something records the past few years completely lacking in the balls category.

I could be completely wrong as I am way out of my realm of expertise on this, but if nothing else, thanks Bloor for giving me something to spend way more time than I should have thinking about today.