RATATAT

The above picture is Mike Stroud and Evan Mast. They are Ratatat. Really there's not to much more to them. Two scruffy, bearded, New York musicians doing what they do. Oh, and it's fucking mind blowing. There is no drums. There is no bass. Their drummer is a machine. There is just two guitarists and a synthesizer. Imagine, if you will, Bach's approach to electronica, and you begin to understand Ratatat. They are completely acoustic. A few songs have a few seconds of dialog in front of them, but really, no words. Their music starts with Mike Straud's guitar work, which is mesmerizing. The man has the ability to weave a melody that seems simple, but hooks into your soul and makes it sing. Maybe thats why they have no vocals. Because the singing souls of their fans do it well enough. Anyway his riffs are thumping, dancilicius (thats pronounced dance-e-licius) rovers that could make a paraplegic get up and break it down, generally augmented by Evan Mast past guitar work, and into electronic wonderland. On top of the guitar Stroud lays down synth work, which tend to be drawn out and hyper chill. Then Mast takes it, lays down some mean electro-drum work, and does some kind of magic to it all. There has to be magic involved. They call it 'producing', but I say it has to be arcane. The result is hyper chill music that is almost hypnotic but still makes you want to start dancing. Oh, and it summons unicorns.


To date Ratatat has two albums, as well as two re-mix albums. The first, the self titled Ratatat, is a more sparse work. Just Stroud, his guitar, the snyths, and Mast's mixing. It's more contemplative and technical. The second, Classics is a more polished album. It feels cleaner, and more filled in, and as such it loses something of the minimalist feel that pervaded the first album. However, this is made up for the pure beauty and genius of the songs. Both works are brilliant and honestly, you should pick up both.

Just watch out for the summoned unicorns. They dont like being interrupted. They were listening to Ratatat.