3 Bar Fire - Ratatat

Ratatat - LP3

Written by Wordmaster

Thursday, 03 July 2008

Ratatat touch on a few things across their third album, ‘LP3’, with He Man, The X Files, Santana and Paul Simon being amongst the most prevalent on the first listen; yet the Brooklyn based duo manage to hold the door open in a dinstinctly chivalrous manner for all their bundles of influences.

A lot of the tracks have this timeless triple harmonized guitar sound on them, harking back to the dual axe solos of bands like Guns’N’Roses or even that incredibly fruitful collaboration between Santana and Matchbox 20 ‘Smooth’. ‘Mirando’ uses this tactic expertly teasing out leather trouser clad stances over the top of thick beats that punch like Prefuse 73 drums do and ‘Bird Priest’ makes up for the semi filler track in between the two with its measured thump and crisp packet snare guiding the synths to something considerably pleasing.

Theres definitely a tongue wedged in a cheek somewhere aboard this audio journey and I’m betting its deep inside that of a young teenage girl as this kind of retro harmony exploration is verging on the edge of brilliance and don't a lot of the trend set out there in music land just know it? Yeah sure a lot of the sounds and instruments make continuous, slightly-varied repeat appearances but making the best out of what you got seems to be a prominent Ratatat trait… besides the indulgent warbles of the keyboard solo on ‘Imperials’ merge so well with that whole ‘Greensleeves’ era clavinet sound that it all begins to makes sense within its own swirling pool of context.

Werd.

Label: XL
Out: 7th July

www.myspace.com/ratatatmusic