The second mixtape from Wait What entitled This is Real Life brings us a fresh collection of killer mash-ups perfect for your weekend dance party. From P. Diddy & Black Rob vs. Sleigh Bells to Nas vs. MGMT & Justice to Crystal Castles vs. Drake, Wait What gives mash-up duos like The Hood Internet and The White Panda a run for their money.

Wait What, aka Charlie K., has decided to adopt a pay-what-you-want model for This is Real Life, with all proceeds going to 826 Valencia which supports youth writing. Be sure to check out his previous mash-up album The Notorious xx, which mixes Biggie Smalls and The xx.

this is real life by wait what

DOWNLOAD: This is Real Life by Wait What

Check out the new music video for the opening track off of MGMT’s sophomore album, entitled “It’s Working.” Directed by French graphic designer So Me, the video is both less disturbing than the “Kids” video and less trippy than the “Time to Pretend” video. Fear not though, because that’s actually not a bad thing. So Me’s creation is interesting enough without monsters and acid trips.

It seems to be happening more and more nowadays: albums get leaked online weeks before they’re slated for official release. It’s happened to some of the most anticipated albums of the past year: The Blueprint 3, Blakroc, Contra, Man on the Moon, the list goes on. MGMT’s latest album Congratulations is no exception; the followup to 2008′s smash hit Oracular Spectacular wasn’t supposed to be released until mid-April, yet copies of the album are floating around the web.

Instead of trying to fight the leak though, the guys have seemed to embrace it.

From their site:

Hey everybody, the album leaked, and we wanted you to be able to hear it from us. We wanted to offer it as a free download but that didn’t make sense to anyone but us

My take on the album? They definitely have a different sound. Whether that’s good or bad, I can’t say after only 2 listens through the album. I’m definitely noticing much more use of the guitar and less keyboard though. The songs seem rather slow and bland compared to such gems as “Time to Pretend,” “Electric Feel,” and “Kids.”

Go ahead and head on over to MGMT’s official site, listen to the album, and decide for yourself. Just a heads up–their site’s getting hammered with traffic right now, so the steaming may be a bit choppy.

Photo Credit: Annika Berglund

Look what the cat dragged in.

I was delighted to see an unfamiliar track by MGMT on the front page of The Hype Machine today only to find out it was one of TWO leaked tracks from MGMT’s newest creation Congratulations.

Congratulations drops April 8th, but these tracks make for a satisfactory preview. Now that everyone in their mothers know the first nine or ten do-do-dos of ‘Kids,’ it’s time to hear a new sound from these boys. And I have to say I like what I hear.

‘Flash Delirium’ has a nice, matured sound that is reminiscent of Of Montreal and Hot Chip. It seems they’ve taken more driving elements from Oracular Spectacular (i.e. ’4th Dimension Transition’ and ‘Of Moons, Birds & Monsters’) and refined them a bit with this breezy, mystical feel.

‘Congratulations’ is a little slower, a ballad if you will, but there’s something simultaneously soothing and psychedelic about it.

I dig, how about you?

Just came across the video for “Pursuit of Happiness” by Kid Cudi feat. MGMT & Ratatat. This is off of Cudi’s Man on the Moon, which dropped last year. If you notice, that’s Drake standing next to Cudi. Why he’s in the video and MGMT/Ratatat aren’t I have no idea. I guess since Drake owned 2009, he gets to to whatever he wants.

Anyway, it’s a decent video, even though I’m not a big fan of the song. Check it out.

Image via Flickr user Keith

The Breakfast at Sulimay’s gang is back and better than ever. In this webisode, our three lovable senior citizens (Bill, Ann, and Joe) agree to do their first ever video review, which just so happens to be of MGMT’s “Kids.” As usual, Joe makes some heartfelt, insightful comments. He even bust out a quote from the legendary American poet Ogden Nash. Ann and Bill on the other hand, inject a bit of their wacky humor into the mix.

What I found to be little weird, however, was how there was an audience listening to them. I guess they’ve turned into local celebrities? I don’t know. It’s a far cry from when they used to sit down in a diner booth with one cameraman.

Memorable quotes (in order of appearance):

“Oh shit … ohh…HOLY CHRIST…run baby, run!” —Ann
“Some sick son of a bitch did that one,” —Ann
“Look at that kid screaming…that’s child abuse…I’m gonna wack that guy,” —Ann
“Oh look at that bastard,” —Ann

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For this week’s Remix Friday, we’ve got some tight jams that are sure to make their way onto your weekend playlist. The remixed tracks are songs originally done by MGMT, Drake, Justice, Wu-Tang, Kid Cudi, Ratatat, Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Imogen Heap, Feist, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The remixing artists are Chiddy Bang, Matamatics, Starters, Benny Benassi, DJ Slink, Alex Metric, Diplo, and A-Trak. Listen to all of them and enjoy.

For everyone out there who’s going to be in the Philly area this weekend, go and check out the Kia Soul Collective. It’s a free three-day music festival that will feature a number of great acts, including Popo, Amanda Blank, The Drums, Francis and the Lights, and MGMT. When was the last time you went to a free music festival that actually had a decent lineup? There will also be a number of DJs there including Paul Devro, Sammy Slice, DJ Sega, Nick The V, Dirty Joe South, and Dave P.

The festival will be held over near center city at the 23rd Street Armory. Oh, and don’t worry if you’re in Boston and can’t make it, because the festival is making its way up here in a few weeks. I’ll keep you posted on that once they finalize the lineup.

17 Hours have never passed so quickly. Maybe it was the stop at Sonic that kept us going (us New Englanders think of it as some Holy Grail of fast food), but most likely it was the excitement of Bonnaroo finally becoming a reality. Honestly, I feel like my visit in Manchester, TN was a fantasy I dreamt up for my own fun. But it happened, and I have the lime green wristband, 3D ticket, and tie-dye t-shirt to prove it.

Even when you talk with people who went, Bonnaroo is hard to describe. If there’s a God, I hope heaven is a big ol’ Bonnaroo in the sky (sure as hell I’d go to church more often). Some friends from Boston College plus some and I all arrived around 5 am on Thursday, pitching our tent and canopy by the light of the sunrise. We napped, and then the adventure officially started.

Here’s the layout of Bonnaroo, 700 acres of former farming lands: Centeroo is an area where all the stages are located and carnival-like vendors. That majestic red archway you see in your friends’ Facebook albums? That’s the entrance to Centeroo. They sell anything from traditional pizza to deep fried gator, and as far as souvenirs go, buy a cool band posters or a didgeridoo. When and if you go, make sure to stop at the Wonder Waffle stand to get the hot waffle sandwich: a cube of vanilla ice cream between two thick waffles smothered in chocolate syrup. Surrounding Centeroo are all the campsites grouped by movie titles and divided by that movie’s characters. Ours was Pussy Galore in the James Bond area… we all got a kick out of that. Port-a-potties are located throughout, and you get used to peeing in the dark after the first two nights. Showering is a no-no. I mean you can for a little less then 10 bucks, but if you’re going to Bonnaroo you might as well do it up right.

Say hi to my friends Kristen and Josh.

Bands play all the time, til everyone’s strung out at 4 am and dancing their asses off. But considering an audience of 75,000 sticky-sweaty people, getting to the front can be a complicated process. Due to a string of great shows on Saturday, we made it to the front for some out-of-this-world entertainment. We edged in the side of This Tent as Bon Iver’s falsettos shivered my bones in 80-degree humidity. He closed with ‘Wolves,’ having the audience sing over and over “What might have been lost” until we were shouting the line 10,000 strong. At that point the crowd headed out and we headed in, close to front row for Of Montreal. I had already seen them in April at Paradise Rock Lounge in Boston, so I was expecting an identical set. Same costumes, different experience. There’s just something about seeing Kevin Barnes in a smoking (literally emitting smoke) fur poncho doing the cha-cha in broad daylight as a brontosaurus with giant arms catapults balls into the audience. After bopping around to ‘Rapture Rapes the Muses’ and grooving out to ‘A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger,’ they smashed their instruments in a distortioned cacophony that simply defines Of Montreal, and proceeded to hurl their bodies atop the audience to crowd surf.

Here’s a taste of a live Of Montreal show that I recorded at the Paradise show, apologies for the quality.

Barnes once explained his performance style in an interview with the Daytrotter crew:

I’ve always loved the theatrical side of performing. I never really got into the whole indie rock approach of taking the stage in your street clothes and just playing the songs. That isn’t fun for me. I really want to put on a performance that people will remember. That means considering the visual aspect of things. I hate going to see shows that just have this static image. I think it’s important to have lots of movement on stage, lots of changes in the images you present to the audience.

Of Montreal

The Decmeberists were up next. If I had to narrow it down, I went to Bonnaroo mainly to see Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, Phoenix and MGMT. The Decemberists were my favorite show at Bonnaroo 2009. A fan informed me that their set was a straight play through of their latest album The Hazards of Love, and they did so without conversation or even a pause. Dark lighting, robotic dancing, violent timpani banging followed by a half-hour encore of fan favorites, which showed a lighter side of congenial performance. I can’t tell you the set list, and I don’t know the names of the band members without Google-ing them, but I can tell you it was just phenomenal.

In the flesh, the Decemberists

This article could easily be longer than a senior thesis. To list my favorite performances is like naming all of the places in the world I’d like to visit – it’s endless and actually sort of boring to everyone but me. The last thing I want to squeeze in here is a note about the people. For four glorious days, I shared a really strange freedom with tens of thousands of other people from all walks of life, ranging from all ages, with different intentions. I watched teeny boppers play around in the mushroom fountain, babies strapped onto ambitious parents, young bucks drinking beers with their friends, and I particularly remember these two middle-aged women swaying their arms with floor-length dresses and mom haircuts. The Healing Shaman was seen daily, carrying a sign advertising his services, doing yoga and chanting “heeemmehpennay, huuuuhhhh” behind us as we walked to Centeroo. There were bearded men wiggling their hips to sound checks, and a man whose bad trip required 8 paramedics and a needle to a neck.

Everyone was just really satisfied to live in a tent, meet new people, and listen to good music.

In your lifetime, go to Bonnaroo. If you’ve already gone, you don’t need to me to tell you to do it again. It is beyond an experience.

Heeemmehpennay, Huuuuhhhh. Photo Cred: Evan Waters

“He who fights with monsters  might take care lest he thereby become a monster … and if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

You may recognize these words from the great American novelist Mark Twain, or you may have just seen the quote scribbled on the opening frames of the music video for  MGMT‘s hit song song, “Kids.” Either way, there’s no denying the fact that this is one weird-ass music video. And that’s putting it mildly. I’m pretty sure that MGMT planned the entire music video while on acid. Now that I think about it, acid-inspired music videos seem to be a recurring theme for MGMT.

Anway, after making it through the minute-long intro, and ignoring the fact that they traumatized a small child throughout, the video turns out to be pretty mediore. For some reason, I’m getting the feeling that they’re just trying to hard to be eccentric and/or edgy. But that’s just me.