CD Reviews

Ratatat | LP3

By ZETH LUNDY | July 8, 2008

3.5 Stars

After two albums of Queen-worthy guitars sighing and heaving over beats that sound like handclaps caught in a vacuum cleaner, the Ratatat æsthetic should, by now, be exhausted. Classics perfected the instrumental glitch pop of the homonymous debut from Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, but it left little room for growth. On the deceptively titled LP3, however, Ratatat go outside their comfort zone, replacing a lot of the epic metal riffage with zither, tablas, harpsichord, and a host of assorted pianos and keyboards. The result is some kind of cosmic machine music, reflecting not just a stoner’s world of internalized minimalist headbanging but an entire universe of culture, texture, and possibility. LP3 trips through Spanish flair (“Mi Viejo”), Indian groove (“Mirando”), and plenty of interstellar wake-and-bake (“Shiller” and “Imperials,” with its space-prog organ) without ever losing the essence of Ratatat’s plangent whiplash. The band sound prepared to go anywhere, as long as they’re headed away from the novelty bin.

Related: Ratatat, Ratatat | LP4, Field Music | Field Music (Measure), More

Topics: CD Reviews , Mike Stroud, Evan Mast, Zeth Lundy, More

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