Ratatat are a duo from New York consisting of Mike Stroud on guitar and Evan Mast (E*vax) on synths and production. The two first met in college and started working musically together in 2001. Ratatat, their self-titled debut album in 2001 recieved warm applause, with such key tracks as ‘Seventeen Years’, which you may have heard in that Hummer commercial. Their sound is a creative mix of hard driven synths, drum samples, and catchy guitar riffs, with all songs being entirely instrumental. Their new album, Classics, will be released next month (8/22).
Their new album is more of the same sound, with several of their key tracks taking over in different tracks. ‘Lex’ is led by synths, while ‘Gettysburg’ is more of a guitar lead. ‘Kennedy’ weaves both of them together, bringing an odd but fun structure into place. To some ears, the sound may sound generic and repeatitive, but it will have a certain way of growing on you, as it’s unlikely you’ll hear a band similar to Ratatat any time soon.
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[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/rat-lex.mp3]————————————————
[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/rat-get.mp3]————————————————
[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/rat-ken.mp3]————————————————
Mike,
As much as I don’t really get into this sort of stuff, Ratatat’s material sounds pretty good. Thanks for mentioning them.
Ratatat has a unique sound. I like what they do, though much of what I have heard on this new album seems a bit recycled. Not that that’s bad, beacause their origianl formula was pretty swanky.