Benjamin Goldwasser
Benjamin Goldwasser |
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Ben Goldwasser (born December 17, 1982) is a lyricist and musician in the rock band MGMT, for which he primarily plays keyboards and sings. In 2009, his song "Electric Feel" (co-written with bandmate Andrew VanWyngarden), remixed by Justice, won a Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category.[1] In 2010, his band was nominated for a Grammy as Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[2]
Biography
Goldwasser was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York,[3] but was raised in Westport, New York.[1][4] When he was 11 years old, he saw Adrian Belew live in concert, and met guitarist Rob Fetters backstage.[4] He took piano lessons while growing up, played in his high school's jazz band, and attended a "rock and roll camp" in Montpelier, Vermont.[4] One of his musical influences in high school was the electronic protopunk band Suicide.[5]
MGMT: 2004 - present
He met Andrew VanWyngarden, the other half of MGMT, in his freshman year at Wesleyan University.[6] Goldwasser was studying art at the time.[7] While in college, he was a member of the Eclectic Society, a college fraternity.[8] He helped run the fraternity's music venue (a room in the house).[8] Goldwasser, already a keyboardist, took experimental music classes with VanWyngarden which exposed them to progressive musical ideas.[9] They made their debut as MGMT at a party in a college dormitory (playing the theme to the motion picture Ghostbusters over and over for hours).[10] The duo would email one another and sign the emails "The MGMT" as a way of satirizing corporate culture.[6][11] They chose this email signature line as the name of their new band.[11]
After graduating from college in 2005,[3] Goldwasser and VanWyngarden moved to New York City, experimenting with music and building a band.[9] They immediately went on tour, starting out in Montreal.[3] But no record deal came, and the band was on hiatus by 2006.[12] Goldwasser began working on a farm and was intending to move to California when the duo was signed by Columbia Records.[11] The band's 2008 release for the label, Oracular Spectacular, was a major success.[13] However, the band's sudden success, Goldwasser says, put a serious strain on his friendship with VanWyngarden for a time.[14] During the band's early success, Goldwasser lived in an apartment with roommates in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.[15] In early 2010, he moved to a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan so that his girlfriend would have an easy commute to classes at the School of Dentistry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.[15] The band released its second album, Congratulations, in April 2010 to mixed reviews.[16]
Footnotes
- ^ a b "What's News." Burlington Free Press. February 10, 2009.
- ^ Sisario, Ben. "Grammys' Weight Is Now Measured In Face Time." New York Times. January 29, 2010; Peerless, Beth. "Neo-Psychedelic/Alternative Pop Band MGMT Plays Santa Cruz on May 29." Monterey County Herald. April 22, 2010.
- ^ a b c Couch, Rachel. "MGMT Brings the Quirks on 'Oracular'." Daily Cavalier. January 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c Pollak, Sally. "A Spectacular Show." Burlington Free Press. April 12, 2008.
- ^ Davis, Hays. "On Time With MGMT." Richmond Times Dispatch. July 26, 2008.
- ^ a b Perry, Jonathan. "Year of the Brats." Boston Globe. February 8, 2008.
- ^ Powell, Austin. "MGMT, Yeasayer." Houston Press. January 17, 2008.
- ^ a b Black, Cristina. "The Wesleyan Mafia: MGMT, Boy Crisis, Amazing Baby." Village Voice. August 4, 2009.
- ^ a b Lanham, Tom. "MGMT Gets Down to Business at Bottom of the Hill." Inside Bay Area. January 25, 2008.
- ^ Danton, Eric R. "Ambitious, Ambiguous Duo." Hartford Courant. January 3, 2008.
- ^ a b c Donahue, Michael. "Messin' With People's Heads." The Commercial Appeal. January 11, 2008.
- ^ Gottlieb, Jed. "MGMT Training." Boston Herald. February 7, 2008.
- ^ Caballero, Martin. "MGMT's Free Online Offer Worthy of 'Congratulations'." Boston Herald. March 25, 2010.
- ^ Haga, Evan. "The '60s and More." Baltimore Sun. August 13, 2010.
- ^ a b Ryzik, Melena. "MGMT's Sophomore Challenges." New York Times. April 11, 2010.
- ^ Harvilla, Rob. "The Gleeful Self-Sabotage of MGMT." Village Voice. April 13, 2010; Stewart, Allison. "Hard to Understand—or Hate." Washington Post. April 13, 2010; Gundersen, Edna. "'Congratulations' in Order For MGMT's Radical Turn." USA Today. April 13, 2010.