I’m a big fan of electronic, experimental, and especially dance-rock music.  Because many of my favorite bands that fall in this genre don’t get a great deal of mainstream exposure, I count on recommendations from fellow music fans or services like Last.fm to find new music.

Two bands who have consistently come highly recommended for people with similar musical tastes to my own are MGMT and Cut Copy.  So, I decided to sample each band’s album and try to expand my horizons.

MGMT

MGMT’s album Oracular Spectacular starts out with the mellow single “Time To Pretend.” The sounds are lush and layered, with a 70s-pop vibe, almost Pink-Floyd-like.  The record chills even further with “Weekend Wars,” with the vocals evoking John Lennon.  As I sampled through the record, I kept waiting for something a bit more up-tempo, lest I fall asleep (or go out in search of some special brownies to complement the sound), but the closest  Oracular Spectacular ever comes is the Hustle-tempo “Electric Feel” and the head-bopping “Kids,” with its catchy synth hook.

Sounding like Arcade Fire with a little more of an electro bent, I can see why MGMT are indie darlings right now.  Quality musicianship aside, it certainly wasn’t what I was looking for, or expecting when I was recommended them as a fan of dance-rock and electro-pop.  This trippy duo is just a little too…  whoa, man….

Cut Copy

Greeted by a similar fluttery synth opening when I hit play on Cut Copy’s album In Ghost Colours, I feared I was going to go 0 for 2 in my quest for a new band to really get behind.  I was pleasantly surprised when opening track “Feel The Love” picked up a poppy background beat, the tempo a toe-tapping buoy for a sound every bit as lush and layered as that of MGMT.  The songs flow from one to another, something that appeals to me and is more common with dance-rock albums.  The dreamy little synth-effect interludes (“We Fight For Diamonds,” “Voices In Quartz,” “Silver Thoughts”) give the flow a bit of variety and help with the tempo changes.  Cut Copy approaches MGMT’s laid-back vibe on “Strangers In The Wind,” but they avoid getting too mired in the psychadelic haze, and halfway through the song the dance beat is back.

The music has an obvious club influence and wonderful flow.  It was easy for me to listen to this album straight through, rather than with MGMT’s, where I felt like I was slogging through, struggling to stay awake.  The 80s New Wave influences are everywhere, especially on single “Hearts on Fire,” which has New Order written all over it.

And the winner is…

Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours.

These two albums and bands have far less in common than I would have believed upon having them recommended to me, and Cut Copy appeals to me more as a fan of new wave music.  MGMT feel like they get lost in all that sound — a little too meandering for me.  If anything, this is a prime example of how “Other Bands You Might Be Interested In…” can be like night and day.