Ratatat is one of those groups you won’t ever fully appreciate until you experience them at noise deafening levels. Their sound has so much going on with it that listening to one of their albums at a comfortable volume is a little like having protected sex with a pregnant hooker. It’s less risky, but not as fun—a fact I’ve yet to ingrain in my own mind, even after the release of their third studio album (not including their two remix albums).
LP3 hit the shelves a few weeks ago, and a large majority of the audiophiles out there, including myself, didn’t know how to react to it. After a couple of times through the tracks, I didn’t really have a take on it. I listened to it in my car, in my room while doing other stuff and in my secret cave while counting my piles of gold bricks, and I just didn’t know what to think of it. It wasn’t until I got those big ass headphones out, put them on and cranked that shit all the way up, that I was able to truly formulate an opinion on this album. And that is one of pure admiration for a group unlike any other out there.
Ratatat’s latest version of guitar-laden electronica is a more slowed down affair than that of Classics or Ratatat, which is interesting considering the reportedly short amount of time in which they recorded it. LP3 slowly draws you in with the purring sound of guitars in “Shilller," a single that was leaked a few months before the album came out. As long as I’m being honest here, this song didn’t get me too amped for the new album (when I first heard it), considering it doesn’t get interesting until well after the two-minute mark. However, they step up the pace on their next track, “Falcon Jab” (and it was here, when I was listening with those Bose headphones, that I became hooked on this album).
The strongest track on the album is “Shempi," which combines excitable guitars, something that sounds like the background to Madonna’s “Hung Up” and other oddball squeaks and noises. Not that I want to swoop in on Guy Ritchie’s wife, right after the divorce. I mean, have you seen that chick lately?
Still, Ratatat’s existence is an enigma to me. Many times I’ve asked myself, why aren’t these guys bigger? It seems to me that more people are a fan of their mixtapes than their actual albums, which is head scratching. Maybe they should do everyone a favor and give out a free pair of quality headphones with each one of their albums, complete with implicit instructions on turning the volume all the way up while listening. That might do the trick.
Artist:
http://www.ratatatmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/ratatatmusic
Download:
“Shiller” from LP3 – [mp3]
“Mirando” from LP3 – [mp3]
Album:
Ratatat – LP3 is available now. Buy it on Amazon.
