''Hungry Ghosts'' is the fourth studio album by American
rock band
OK Go
OK Go is an American rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion), an ...
. It was released on October 14, 2014, under the band's own
Paracadute
Paracadute is a record company owned by OK Go. OK Go left their previous record company, EMI, because of a disagreement between the band and the label. OK Go reissued their album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, with Paracadute taking care of the ...
record label and was produced by
Dave Fridmann
David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician.
Career
From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore, Neon Indian, Wolf Gang, ...
and
Tony Hoffer
Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer.
Career
Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His records have bee ...
. The band's first studio album since 2010's ''
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
''Of the Blue Colour of the Sky'' is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records in the USA and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on Ap ...
,'' it is a
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...
whose lyrics are mostly about the pros and cons of a relationship. The album has a more
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
and modern approach than their previous studio albums. The album was recorded over three years at Dave Fridmann's
Tarbox Road Studios
David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician.
Career
From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore, Neon Indian, Wolf Gang ...
in
Cassadaga, New York. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics and charted at number 74 in the
''Billboard'' 200.
The band has released five official singles from the album with accompanying music videos: "
The Writing's on the Wall
''The Writing's on the Wall'' is the second studio album by American girl group Destiny's Child, released in Japan on July 14, 1999, and in the US on July 27, 1999, by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Missy Elliott, Kevin "She'kspere" ...
", "
I Won't Let You Down", "
Upside Down & Inside Out", "
The One Moment
"The One Moment" is a song by American rock band OK Go. It was released as the fourth single from their fourth studio album, ''Hungry Ghosts'' (2014). The band released a video associated with the song, its production sponsored by Morton Salt to ...
", and "Obsession". The music video for "The Writing's on the Wall" was nominated in two categories at the
2014 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them ...
, winning Best Visual Effects, but losing to "
Turn Down for What
"Turn Down for What" is a song by French DJ and record producer DJ Snake and American rapper Lil Jon released on December 18, 2013. The song and its viral music video popularized the use of the phrase. The song was particularly successful in Nor ...
" by
DJ Snake
William Sami Étienne Grigahcine (born 13 June 1986), known by his stage name DJ Snake, is an Algerian French music producer and DJ, first achieving international recognition in 2013 by releasing an instrumentation-oriented single called " Turn D ...
and
Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...
for Best Direction. The music video for "I Won't Let You Down" was nominated for, and later won,
Best Choreography
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and choreographer of the music video. From 1984 to 2007, the full name of the award was Best Choreography in a Video. The biggest winner ...
at the
2015 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, follo ...
.
Production
With the exception of the single "
I Won't Let You Down," which was produced by
Tony Hoffer
Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer.
Career
Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His records have bee ...
in Los Angeles, most of the album was produced by
Dave Fridmann
David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician.
Career
From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore, Neon Indian, Wolf Gang, ...
at his New York studio Tarbox Road. Production began with the listening sessions, where band members sent in about 40 demos. They also discussed how they would produce differently from their previous records and how they would change their sound.
The group had spent two years writing material with no set sound in mind.
According to Fridmann, they decided to use a combination of
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...
and
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...
, so "everything was elastic. Everything was synced up to a Reason track, so we could edit in both worlds, and we set up the studio with five different stations. We had the main A and B studios with my stuff, and three alternate rooms so all five of us had our own workspace."
He described the development of the songs in an interview with ''Mix Online'':
The vocals were mainly recorded using Neumann U 7 and
Sennheiser MD 421
The Sennheiser MD 421 is a German cardioid dynamic microphone, widely used for speech in broadcasting and for music in live concerts and the recording studio. Introduced in 1960, the internal large-diaphragm transducer element of the MD 421 ...
mics, with a
Neve 8801 occasionally being used if necessary. Several guitar amps were used, including a Selmer and 1950s
Fender Princeton
The Fender Princeton was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1947 and discontinued in 1979. After Fender introduced the Champ Amp in 1948, the Princeton occupied the next to the bottom spot in the Fender line. Fender Princet ...
amp. The guitars were tracked with a Bock 251 mic. On the drums, an
Electro-Voice
Electro-Voice (EV) is an American manufacturer of audio equipment, including microphones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers, focused on pro audio applications such as sound reinforcement. As a subdivision of Bosch Communications Systems Inc. since 2 ...
868 mic was used for the kick, a Neumann 105 for the snare, and
DPA 4006s for the overheads. An E-V RE27 was used to track bass guitar. Fridmann said that "a lot of the interesting sounds on this album originated inside of Reason. We did a lot of programming, and that made it easy to transfer files; no matter what you did in a Thor synthesizer, you could take it to somebody else's Reason station and it sounds the same. Then we could speed it up, slow it down, do whatever we want."
Frontman
Damian Kulash
Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and music video director, best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go.
Early life and education
Kulash was born in ...
also used an
OP-1 synthesizer manufactured by
Teenage Engineering
Teenage Engineering is a Swedish consumer electronics company and manufacturer founded in 2005 by Jesper Kouthoofd, David Eriksson, Jens Rudberg and David Möllerstedt and based in Stockholm. Its products include electronics and synthesizers, with ...
in recording the album.
Composition
''Hungry Ghosts'' features elements of
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...
,
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, an ...
and
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...
.
OK Go frontman Damian Kulash called ''Hungry Ghosts'' "pretty stylistically diverse," like their previous three studio albums, yet more
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
, "but not in an
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
kind of way." He said some parts of the album are "very modern", with some tracks "made almost entirely of glitchy electronic sounds", while others are influenced by 1980s acts including
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...
,
INXS
INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss ...
and
New Order.
Lyrically, the album is mainly about the pros and cons of relationships.
Release
The album's October 14 release date was announced May 6, 2014. A sampler four-track EP titled ''Upside Out'' was released for free on June 17, 2014. The album was available for pre-order on the direct-to-fan platform,
PledgeMusic
PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
.
Singles
"
The Writing's on the Wall
''The Writing's on the Wall'' is the second studio album by American girl group Destiny's Child, released in Japan on July 14, 1999, and in the US on July 27, 1999, by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Missy Elliott, Kevin "She'kspere" ...
" was chosen as the album's
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
. The song received positive reviews. Its official accompanying music video premiered at the
Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...
on June 16, 2014, and made its world premiere the next day via ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s website and OK Go's YouTube channel.
The video drew over 7 million views on YouTube, which caused the song to debut at the top position of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
's US
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
chart and in the top ten at number ten of the American
Hot Rock Songs
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...
chart, marking OK Go's first entry on the chart.
"I Won't Let You Down" was chosen as the second single from the album. The song's accompanying music video was released on October 27, 2014 through YouTube and was later released as an official single on December 8, 2014. The song debuted in the ''Billboard''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
at No. 71, making it the band's first Hot 100-charting single since "
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is a song by American rock band OK Go, the fifth single released from their second studio album, '' Oh No'' (2005). It was the band's only single to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 until " I Won't Let You Down" in Nove ...
", when it charted at No. 38 in 2005. The song fell out of the chart a week after it debuted. The song also charted in the ''Billboard'' Hot Rock Songs chart at No. 7.
The last single from the album was "Obsession". The music video for this single was released on YouTube on November 23, 2017. To produce the video, the band collaborated with the paper company Double A, and used 567 printers to create the video's backdrop.
Reception
''Hungry Ghosts'' earned positive reviews from critics. As of October 2014, the record holds an aggregated 74 of out 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Gregory Heaney gave it four stars out of five, writing that with this album, "OK Go continue to impress."
A writer for the ''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' awarded it a similar rating, describing the material as "far more immediate" than their previous studio effort.
Scoring it a 7.8 out of ten, Hilary Saunders of ''
Paste'' opined it "may not be the musical evolution that fans sought after four years, but OK Go's bold pursuits of creativity in all media remain exciting still."
Chris Conaton, reviewing for
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
, felt the band took "two steps forward" with the album, but also went "one step back", concluding that "having three or four outright clunkers on your album seems like too many." He gave it a six out of ten.
Track listing
Produced by Dave Fridmann besides track 8, produced by Tony Hoffer. All songs written by OK Go.
Personnel
OK Go
*
Damian Kulash, Jr. – lead vocals, guitars, synthesizers, keyboards,
programming, percussion
*Andy Ross – keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, backing vocals
*Tim Nordwind – bass guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals
*Dan Konopka – drums, programming, percussion
Production
*
Dave Fridmann
David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician.
Career
From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore, Neon Indian, Wolf Gang, ...
–
producer
*
Tony Hoffer
Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer.
Career
Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His records have bee ...
– producer
Charts
Uses in Media
"Turn up the Radio" was used in Season 4, Episode 11 ("eXit"), of ''
Mr. Robot
''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...
''.
References
{{Authority control
2014 albums
OK Go albums
Albums produced by Dave Fridmann
Albums recorded at Tarbox Road Studios
Paracadute albums