RATATAT
LP3
XL3532
XL Recordings 2008
13 Tracks. 42mins24secs

It’s not easy to categorize Ratatat.  The Brooklyn-based duo of Evan Mast and Mike Stroud embrace a diverse smattering of styles, picking and choosing to create a kind of Frankenstein creation that is, damn the term, perhaps best referred to as simply “electronica”.  Like the big beat, maximal French house, and jungle recordings that fit the late-nineties press categorization of “electronica”, Ratatat are making electronic compositions from a song-based mind state.  Counter to the exhausting, minimal repetitions, which categorize much of techno, house, and other defiantly non-song-based electronic fields, Ratatat’s songs (not tracks) focus on melody and resolution.  Most songs on LP3, in fact, feature at least one instrument that sounds as though it’s trying to sing lyrics, and tell a story. Continue Reading »