Cover art for MGMT's album "Congratulations."

Maybe “Congratulations” isn’t the MGMT album everyone wanted. The band’s first release, “Oracular Spectacular,” was a trippy, independent opus. It filled concert venues, found critical acclaim and scored the band opening slots for acts like Radiohead and Beck.

But maybe that wasn’t MGMT. During the band’s humble beginnings, its members were dorm-room miscreants, playing shows consisting solely of the theme from “Ghostbusters.” After signing to a major label, they created a list of dream-producers featuring Barack Obama and “Not Sheryl Crow.”

The band was a paradox. Fun-loving hipsters churning out arena-ready anthems like “Kids,” then poking fun at stardom. The group’s first single, “Time to Pretend,” might be looked at as a confession now. MGMT was faking it once, but not on “Congratulations.”

The music is exactly what you would expect from the jokers of the electronic rock two-piece. “Song For Dan Treacy” is a catchy pop tune at first but quickly dissolves into a haunted house-music bridge. The title track sounds like an early Bob Dylan song before the synthesized hand claps and electric piano catch up to it. “Someone’s Missing” is the only remnant of the old MGMT, and even that features a disco-inspired finish. Every bizarre noise and genre-hopping experiment is the sound of MGMT having fun.

The album only falls apart when that fun comes at the expense of the listener. The lyric-less ballad “Lady Dada’s Nightmare” was probably an enjoyable exercise for the band, but the song is forgettable for everyone else, while “Flash Delirium” might be just a little too strange for fans of “Oracular Spectacular.”

“Congratulations” may be exactly what the title promises, though — a pat on the back for a band who ran through the trials of becoming great. MGMT deserve some indulgences after a debut that could be considered a classic years down the road, but “Congratulations” is so full of them it quickly turns into a challenging listen.

So, is MGMT’s “Congratulations” as inspired as their debut? The short answer is no. It’s a textbook “sophomore slump.” The album’s setbacks outweigh most of the noteworthy songs, and it’s hard to find the gems through all the clutter. But after the members of MGMT made a name for themselves with an album based on being someone else, it’s about time they stopped pretending and showed everyone who they really are.

Contact the reporter at clecher@asu.edu

Vampire Weekend performs in Tempe. Photo by Kerry LePain.

In a sold-out show Tuesday night at the Marquee, Vampire Weekend showed Tempe what they’re all about ­– the music.

The lights dimmed for a moment until suddenly a rainbow of colors exploded as band members Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio took the stage. An enormous picture of Contra’s album cover, a polo clad girl, served as the backdrop to their stage.

They opened with “White Sky” as the crowd began to jump up and down, a jumping that continued for the rest of the concert. The song soared through the room as Koenig’s signature squeaky falsetto burst through the speakers. The lights glowed green and yellow punctuated by flashes of blinding white that illuminated the band’s silhouette as they played their way through a terrific opening, finishing to a stage covered in azure light.

As the colors alternated, flashed and otherwise dazzled, the concert continued. The band kept the talking to a minimum, although Koenig frequently gave short intros for the next song, getting the crowd particularly riled as, the opening notes to “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” playing in the background, he said, “This one’s a summer jam.”

Another favorite moment was Koenig’s jokingly telling the crowd to find the girl or boy they’d been eyeing through because the next song was their best chance to have a romantic dance. The band then proceeded to play one of their most energetic songs, “A-Punk.” So much for romance – the crowd screamed and rather than coupling up for a cute dance, began to dance with an altogether new level of energy.

Fans of the old and new albums alike must have been pleased, as the band made it through all of their songs except for “Contra” and “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance.”  The entire concert was a sing-along, fans showing their love for the band’s intelligent lyrics. Koenig seemed to take special pleasure in organizing a sing-along to “Blake’s Got A New Face,” urging to crowd to go louder, sing angrier.

At first it appeared the concert had ended with a marvelous performance of “Oxford Comma.” The lights went out. The stage crew began unplugging the keyboard. The crowd wasn’t having it and began to chant, “One more song!” After several minutes the band reappeared to thunderous applause.

“Y’all are loud,” Koenig said before tutoring the crowd once again in singing, this time to “Horchata.” They then played what he said was their shortest song, “Mansard Roof.” The song finished, the band remained on stage. Koenig once again began to talk, telling the crowd it’d been a great time, that the next song would be the band’s “goodbye present” to them. “This one’s about getting out of Cape Cod tonight,” he said. And as the band began to play “Walcott,” the crowd began to yet again to dance, the lights flashing blindingly, the eyes of the girl on the cover glowing red and blue, the keyboard pounding away at the melody.

Something a boy said as everyone was piling out of the room pretty much summed up the concert: “Wasn’t that sick?!”

Contact the reporter at klepain@asu.edu

The front page of Fiverr.com

These days it’s often difficult to find a postcard from Turin, Italy, a genuine rock from a garden in Ireland, or even someone willing to burn a paper effigy of your enemy, especially all in one place.  However, all of these things and more can be had at fiverr.com, for the price of $5 each.

Fiverr is an online market where registered sellers can post ads for specific tasks, called “gigs,” that they are willing to do. Likewise, buyers can post wanted ads for tasks or items they are in need of. The only catch is the price, which is fixed at $5 for every gig on the site. Sellers are rated based on promptness of service and overall quality of the completed gigs, similar to eBay and other online shopping auction style sites. Sellers have 24 hours to respond to orders – otherwise the buyer is automatically refunded his or her $5.

Interested in selling on Fiverr.com? All you need to get started is a PayPal account and the willingness to complete any type of task. After your gig is purchased and the final product is sent, you will receive $4 in profit. Fiverr.com takes a $1 cut as commission. Because all messages sent between buyers and sellers is through the Fiverr Web site, your true identity is never displayed. This keeps your safe from potentially angry customers, who may or may not have thought your completed “gig” was worth  their $5!

So how reliable is Fiverr.com? Are any of the gigs actually worth $5? In the interest of providing a thorough review, we decided to throw down a Lincoln and see what we got.  After browsing through several pages, we picked a gig offering to turn any photo into a cartoon style caricature. By the end of the end of the next day, the photo was finished and delivered through e-mail. Was the final product representative of the photo?  You decided for yourself.

Original image (left) versus Fiverr.com final product (right).

Contact the reporter at Peter.Lazaravich@asu.com

She & Him Volume 2

First things first … Zooey Deschanel has a great voice. She’s got something jazzy going on, something fresh. It hearkens back to an age when singers could actually, well, sing. She’s surprisingly versatile — occasionally sounding as if she’d fit in perfectly with the likes of Judy Garland. On the piano pounding “Over It Over Again” and multiple others of Volume II’s tracks, she sounds like Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley.

That said, Deschanel is at her best when her smooth, buttery vibrato comes through, when she sounds like old school singers. Unfortunately, her voice isn’t showcased as it could and should, be on the album. Typically, a singer who’s actually got the vocal chords to sing live isn’t improved by the studio because it’s in the studio that their voice becomes processed and loses its lovable quirks. On Volume II, Deschanel’s voice loses its depth and variety, its signature vibrato, its rich, warm character and becomes thin. She sounds like other singers and not herself because, guess what? Other singers have probably used the same software they used on her voice.

The majority of Volume II is a throwback to the 60s. It’s full of bright, poppy tunes and a retro, tinny echo. It has a beach vibe, the ambiance of a day full of salty breeze, air suffused with golden sunshine, ice cream dripping onto a picnic blanket. The first song, “Thieves,” is perhaps the track where Deschanel sounds the most like herself. It’s one of the better ones on the album, sounding, if possible, like summer. The second track continues the summary theme in its sound and its name, “In the Sun.”

As the album progresses, the songs get gentler and the echo in Deschanel’s voice increases. The album starts to wind down — the summer day is coming to a close, a hazy evening is settling on green grass and a hammock. Hints of the beach can still be heard in a vaguely Hawaiian sounding guitar, especially on the track “Me and You.” By the time the album hits the last track, “If You Can’t Sleep,” sleep has become the focus of the album, with Deschanel singing a lullaby backed up by a chorus of humming.

The album takes a few listens to get accustomed to, but it definitely gets better with time. The lyrics are all written by Deschanel, adding another dimension to her extensive talent. Overall, it’s a good album. It’s only a shame that her terrific voice doesn’t always come through.

Contact the reporter at klepain@asu.edu

Little Boots is not Lady Gaga.

Despite past comparisons, her bright blonde hair and electro-poppy sound, she has more in common with artists such as Goldfrapp, focusing less on impressive vocals and more on a jumpy electronic sound. Her initial singles, “New In Town,” “Stuck On Repeat,” “Meddle,” and “Remedy,” were misleading in relation to her debut album, Hands.

The singles are easily the most fast-paced, energetic tracks on the album. The rest of the tracks, while still enjoyable, require several listens, as they’re slow, funky and don’t pop out quite as quickly as their flashy counterparts.

The album kicks off with “New In Town,” one of the more upbeat, spunky songs. The lyrics are catchy and sunny, the melody infectious. “Earthquake,” while not quite as happy-go-lucky, follows the energetic trend set by the first track.The subject is interesting — at first the song appears to be about a love gone sour, but as the song progresses, Little Boots changes her tune, singing that every fight “makes her stronger on the inside.”

“Stuck On Repeat,” “Meddle” and “Remedy” complete the exciting, up-tempo half of the album. “Stuck On Repeat” is the album’s most hypnotic track, reminiscent of European discotheque music. “Remedy” may well be the album’s most catchy track – “contagious” in the words of Little Boots – as well as its most danceable. It’s polished, bright, edgy, fast, sassy. The list goes on.

The rest of the album is more subdued, but still edgy. The lyrics are clever and the beats, while not racing, are fast enough to invoke motion. Standout tracks are “Symmetry,” Little Boot’s duet with Philip Oakey, whose voice is reminiscent of the vocalist for She Wants Revenge, and “No Brakes,” whose beat resembles the steady rolling of a boulder. It’s almost hypnotizing, perfect for late-night driving. Although the track is ten minutes long, the first four minutes are the only interesting bit – the hidden track in the last four minutes are simply Little Boot’s vocals and a piano. Without an intriguing beat in the background, her vocals fail to enchant or even interest the listener. Boring hidden track aside however, the album is a well-manufactured, sparkly bit of British electro-pop. Fit for a spin around the dance floor: yes. Enjoyable: yes.

Contact the reporter at klepain@asu.edu

"Frida" by Gennaro Garcia.

For his first public exhibition, “ENTRE EL CIELO Y LA TIERRA,” Gennaro Garcia wanted to show he has become a more dynamic artist.

“I wanted to exhibit different styles and different motifs in the same exhibit,” Garcia says.  He calls his earlier work “mostly religious,” but lately he’s been trying to expand his motifs beyond religion.

Professionally, Garcia has been painting for about 10 years. His exhibition at Calvin Charles Gallery in Scottsdale marks his sixth solo, public exhibition. Garcia has been featured in more than 40 exhibits in the past 5 years.

Garcia also says he is the second Latino artist to be featured at the gallery.   “Insane.  It’s good.  It’s the best,” says Gennaro of his exhibition. “It’s the culmination of a long process.”

While the exhibition does include a wall of beautiful etchings, most of his work is paintings, including a mural titled, “El Arbol de Vida” (The Tree of Life).   Garcia says he painted it for his 3-month-old daughter, Frida.

He named his daughter after Frida Kahlo, the famous Mexican painter.  A portrait of Kahlo is also featured in his exhibition.

Memorias de Unos Ojos. Courtesy of Gennaro Garcia.

“Those two (paintings), I think, mean more to me,” Garcia says.

The exhibition also includes mono-prints, solarplates, and a few hand-carved wood pieces.

Born in San Luis, Mexico, near the U.S. border, Garcia says he has been painting “since [he] can remember.” His parents bought him an art set when he was nine or ten, he says, and he loved it.

Another artist who was viewing the exhibition, Oliverio Balcells, says he likes Garcia’s work because it was different.  Of “El Arbol de Vida,” Balcells says, “It reminds me of the paintings of Michoacan,” on temples in southern Mexico.

Garcia’s paintings show glimpses of worlds most have never seen.  He says he finds most of his inspiration from his travels, like trips to Spain, Morocco, and South America.

Some of his most striking paintings are portraits of people he met on his travels.  A portrait of a blue-eyed woman in a scarf catches the eye through a window of the gallery.

The girl was someone he met in Morocco during Ramadan, Garcia says.  “She was drinking a coke,” he says, during a Muslim holiday where food and drink is forbidden during the day.

Garcia says he never considered painting as a profession until a good friend of his asked him to paint as a favor.  The result was a piece that his friend told him he should sell.

After that, Garcia says, he realized he could make a living with his artwork.

In the end, Garcia says, painting is about doing what makes him happy.  “God loves you for who you are, not what you’re supposed to be,” he says.  “It’s a complete dream for me.”

If you go:

“ENTRE EL CIELO Y LA TIERRA”: Between Heaven and Earth
Calvin Charles Gallery
4201 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ
Exhibit is open until March 8th.

Kids play a game of freeze at the "Goose Bumps" exhibit at the Arizona Science Center. Photo courtesy of The Arizona Science Center.

Eight tiny eyes are intently staring me down through a spotless pane of glass. Sitting below the aquarium is a pitch-black box casually promising to deliver the spider to me if I’d only be kind enough to reach my hand inside and say hello. It sounds silly. It’s just the arachnid equivalent of putting spaghetti in a box at a kid’s Halloween party and telling them they’re reaching into a pile of worms. But, with the hairy legs of my friend gently pawing at the glass in front of me, I can’t say that I didn’t think twice.

And that was just the first room.

A visitor of the fear exhibit faces the fear of falling. Courtesy of the Arizona Science Center.

The Arizona Science Center’s newest exhibit, Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear, offers visitors an opportunity to face what goes bump in the night, and to learn a little bit on the way.

The four-room exhibit is buzzing with a variety of fear-driven activities. The first gives people a chance to face their fear of animals by reaching into a dark box while a tarantula and snake stare them down from a tank above.

Next up, they can grab hold of a metal rod seemingly connecting to a Dr. Frankenstein electric current machine, and wait for a “shock.”  A dark room tests the visitor’s fear of loud noises by sitting and waiting as trains and various animals parade by and then gives the opportunity to watch reactions on tape. Finally, visitors can conquer vertigo after being straight jacketed and dropped to a padded bed below.

After the activities, fear questions are answered. The exhibit leads into an open area where videos, games, and billboards explain what the visitor may fear and how they might react when confronted with it. The animated cartoon of a man urinating after being scared by a barking dog may have been a little much, but a wall demonstrating how our fears change  as we age (abandonment as a toddler all the way to dying as an elderly adult) is fascinating for all ages.

The exhibit, of course, is geared mostly toward children, but there is certainly enough information for any curious adult. Most will probably still take some joy out of hiding from an animated cougar as they carefully avoid its gaze, gathering virtual apples along the way. If one makes the trip on “Adult’s Night’s Out,” (the first Friday of every month), The Science Center admission is free and the Fear Exhibit is $5.

Contact the reporter at clecher@asu.edu.

The front page look of TheOatmeal.com.

TheOatmeal.com is quite an amusing alternative to note taking.

The site showcases snarky, in-your-face comics, quizzes and how-to articles. Each article is accompanied by an original graphic or drawing. The site also sells merchandise with the graphics and illustrations featured on the site.

“The Oatmeal,” as he refers to himself, is 27-year-old Matthew Inman, a web designer, developer and online marketer. Inman generates all of the site’s content and is not looking for help. ”People email me with ideas all the time, but I turn down most of them,” Inman says in an e-mail. ” I don’t allow anyone to submit content, so for the most part the site is 100 percent pure Oatmeal.”

Prior to creating The Oatmeal Inman created Web sites for a living but decided he wanted to do something different. “I wanted to have a job where I could work on my own terms and my own schedule, meanwhile making people laugh,” Inman says.

Inman asks readers to “Buy The Oatmeal a Cup of Coffee” in return for his sarcastic commentary and witticisms. He also sells comic books, posters and other merchandise on the site. In October Inman started making enough money from merchandise sales and donations to operate the site full-time.

Play around with the site long enough and you’ll learn valuable life lessons such as “How to Suck at Facebook” or “How to tell if your Cat is Killing You.” Have you ever considered if you could survive making love to Bigfoot? Or wondered how many baboons you could take in a fight? Take these ridiculous quizzes to find out your chances of survival.

The humor is crass and the illustrations are equally vulgar, but wildly entertaining if you’re looking for laugh.

Contact the reporter at lauren.gambino@gmail.com

The Mary Poppins promotional art. Photo by Lauren Melby.

She sings, dances, flies and yes, she’s a nanny. The Disney magic has been brought to the stage of ASU Gammage for the national tour of “Mary Poppins.”

Presented by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, this musical is based on the stories by P.L. Travers and the classic Oscar-winning Disney film. It follows a small London family that seems to have lost all connection with each other. In flies Mary Poppins to revive the chim chim cher-ee back into Mr. and Mrs. Banks and the children, Michael and Jane. With each scene a new moral is presented to the children. They learn respect, kindness and find out that any task can be done if one can find the fun in it, which is enchantingly presented in the classic song “A Spoonful of Sugar.”

All the favorite songs are included, and some have been slightly adapted for the stage. There are also several new songs that will easily be playing in viewers’ heads after the curtain falls.

Caroline Sheen plays a “spit spot” on Mary Poppins, keeping the balance between having fun and learning lessons. She was “Practically Perfect,” one of the new songs, and was able to make the part her own rather than just channeling her inner Julie Andrews, the original Mary Poppins in the Disney film.

Bert, normally played by the role-originator Gavin Lee, was played by Dominic Roberts. He had a spectacular scene during “Step in Time,” tap dancing up the stage wall and onto the ceiling. Yes, upside down tap dancing while singing.

There were also some memorable new ballads including “Being Mrs. Banks,” performed by Blythe Wilson, as well as “A Man Has Dreams” performed by Laird Mackintosh.

The same movie magic still exists on-stage. Even Mary’s magical bag was able to “carry” a coat rack, lamp, plant and mirror to adorn the bedroom set. The finale is also quite spectacular as Mary literally flies over the audience and into the stars.

People of all ages can find enjoyment in this production and will be humming the tunes for days. Only one word can really sum up the show: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

It runs through Feb. 28 and tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 480-965-3434. Prices range from $19.75 to $95.

Contact the reporter at Samantha.Lloyd@asu.edu

The Diamond Dash prize. Photo courtesy of Hamra Jewelers.

Young couples with a flair for treasure hunting should be marking their calendars for March 6, when Hamra Jewelers will be hiding $12,000 dollar diamond ring in Old Town Scottsdale.

The dash is organized by Hamra Jewelers as an inventive new marketing campaign. According to Meghan Stern, head of the marketing team and ASU marketing student, the goal is to get the jewelers name publicity and to convince couples to have Hamra Jewelers “first in their mind” when shopping for an engagement ring.

Judging by Stern’s expected turnout for the event, 400-600 couples, it just might work.

The idea for the event came from a math problem posed by a Princeton University student that was eventually translated into a real life business model. After a successful trial run in an unrelated Philadelphia Diamond Dash, Hamra Jewelers decided to pick up the event for Phoenix.

Ideally, Stern says, only couples or those working for the benefit of couples will be attending the event, but anyone is free to sign up. All that’s required in an application is a first and last name, cell phone carrier and number and a brief explanation as to why the applicant deserves to be chosen for the hunt.

The Facebook fan page for the Diamond Dash is littered with examples of couples from different backgrounds planning to participate. Stories feature everything from a returning army veteran and his wife with a new son to a man who refuses to let his good friend propose to his wife using “the ring he found in the Cracker Jack Box.”

Couples will gather at Old Town Scottsdale’s Civic Center at 11:00 a.m. where clues and riddles will be sent to their cell phones, hinting at the final location of the ring. The Diamond Dash covers several square miles of Old Town and, win or lose, provides a pleasant afternoon for couples.

Contact the reporter at clecher@asu.edu