lofichick:

February 27, 2012 - Andrew and Ben are at Tarbox starting to record the new record (session # 1).  Andrew tells Latercera, “Ben and I have been writing since early this year. We do not know when it will be ready, but the material is much more positive, more open, and less rigid.” 

March 28, 2012 - Rob Stringer (Columbia Records) says, “They’re in the studio. It’s due for September. They’re in good spirits. We feel very good about that.”  A September release was doubtful to fans and it never happened.

March 29, 2012 - Ben tells Page 12, “The new disc will be a transition in many ways.” 

March 30, 2012 - MGMT play at Estereo Picnic and debut a new song called Alien Days.  No confirmation that the song will be a part of the third album.  

May 14, 2012 - Ben and Andrew return to Tarbox for more recording (session # 2) and a photo of them at Cool Little Music Shop surfaces.  

June 3, 2012 - Dave releases a photo of Andrew and Ben recording.

June 18, 2012 - Ben and Andrew return to Tarbox for even more recording (session # 3) and another photo from Cool Little Music shop in case you had doubts. 

July 28, 2012 - Ben tells the Montreal Gazette, “We’re set up at this point where the next album can be whatever we want it to be. We don’t have to appease anybody in order to stay relevant, because I think we managed to prove we’re a band that cares more about authenticity and doing what we feel like.  It seems like there are still people out there who are waiting to hear what we do next, and I hope they like it.  Or maybe they’ll just be pissed off that we didn’t make another record that sounds like Congratulations.”

August 4, 2012 - Andrew tells The Morning Call, “We haven’t done any sort of press for the album at all yet, but it’s nothing too dramatic. Ben and I are just having a great time making the new album….It’s been going great. We’re really enjoying it. We’re kind of getting back into eating a lot of ice cream while we record, which helps the creative flow.  I think we’re making good songs. We’ve got a good bit of material so far, and we’re just going to keep writing until we get to a point where we feel like we’ve figured out what our album is going to be. So this album is just kind of like we’ve been able to do whatever we want.  It seems like we’re in a much freer, kind of more liberated state of mind, and not really anxious or paranoid about much these days. And I think that’s the result of having both been through the experience of the first album, with the kind of unexpected, crazy buzz and everything that followed in 2008, and then the second album, which wasn’t difficult for us, but because people called it a difficult album, even though I don’t know why till this day.  Just put in a word about how our new album is going to be really great and we’re really excited about it.”  The Morning Call reveals more saying Andrew and Ben are working with Dave Fridmann, who mixed the second album and co-produced the first.  Andrew tells them they have had 3 recording sessions so far at Tarbox and indicates the sound will be close to that of Congratulations.  

August 23, 2012 - Ben and Andrew are at Tarbox…now mixing the album.

January 3, 2013 - Dave Fridmann puts up a photo of Ben and Andrew at Tarbox (most likely taken last year).

January 12, 2013 - Cool Little Music Shop posts a photo of Ben and Andrew. Plus MGMT starts tweeting, including a photo of a kitten that just heard a new MGMT song.

January 13, 2013 - MGMT tweets a photo of them in the studio.

January 14, 2013 - Cool Little Music Shop posts another photo of Andrew and Ben there.  

triceratopsinthesnow: