This dazzling electro-psych band is two arty Brooklyn dudes who derive keyboard lines from the jumpy gait of a praying mantis and dress up in matching capes. Their buzz single "Time to Pretend" — a booming, tongue-in-bong sendup of the rock biz — sounds like a Flaming Lips outtake, with good reason: Lips producer Dave Fridmann helmed MGMT's debut disc, fluffing their glitchy daydream rock into an intergalactic odyssey. There are hints of Joy Division and Sixties nostalgia both acid-tinged and bluesy, but Oracular Spectacular's playfulness and remarkable density are best displayed on "Electric Feel," a surprising bit of funk featuring the original come-on "Ooh, girl, shock me like an electric eel."

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.