This Brooklyn sextet – who dominated the grad student/barista scene with 2009's Bitte Orca – are off their springy game on this new single. Over a flat, Soul Coughing-style hip-hop beat and bored-angel backing vocals, David Longstreth tunelessly yap-croons like David Byrne on a medieval torture rack. The lyrics evoke ambitions that come up empty – and the music does just that.

Listen to "Gun Has No Trigger":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”