Every once in a while, a new act comes around that lands like a nuclear bomb. No matter where you go, you can’t escape them—not that you’d want to.

MGMT was this act. And their debut full-length, Oracular Spectacular was one of those rare records that was as poppy as it was bizarre, as dancy as it was experimental. Tracks from this album appeared on Top 40 radio, TV commercials, and even the most cynical hipster’s year-end list.

It was a groundswell, and rightly so.

In fact, before I listened to them, MGMT’s popularity was so widespread that I had assumed they were a crappy EDM group. But when my more artsy, underground friends started lauding them as well, I took notice.

And I was stunned.

Most of the attention was focused on the lead singles, which are absolutely stunning. “Time To Pretend” is a piece of sparkling synthpop that informed most of what being a hipster in the late aughts was about (I’m pretty sure I’ve attended more than one lakeshore party where everyone was dressed like they were in that video). “Electric Feel” is a sleek, sexy love song with the smoothest bassline this side of Barry White. “Kids” is youthful nostalgia set to a disco beat, as melancholy as it is infectious.

But tucked between those singles, the deep cuts are chockfull of full-on psych freakout. These tracks are filled with noisy synth blasts, spaced-out acoustic guitars, and fever-dreamed, surreal lyrics. There’s the meandering, mood-hopping “Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters,” the 70s prog-tinged “The Youth,” the chaotic “Future Reflections“…none of which sound anything like you would expect to appear on the same album as “Time to Pretend.” Well…Maybe “The Youth,” but you might be like, “wow, this is weird.”

Those two halves of MGMT’s ethos make Oracular Spectacular an absolute masterpiece. But it would prove to be a double-edged sword, as the group has (so-far) failed to recapture the attention they had when their debut rocked the world.