:: Track Listing

1. Seventeen Years
2. El Pico
3. Crips
4. Desert Eagle
5. Everest
6. Bustelo
7. Breaking Away
8. Lapland
9. Germany to Germany
10. Spanish Armada
11. Cherry

:: Record Review

Ratatat

Ratatat
(XL; 2004)

Rating: 75%
Combined Rating: 76%


“Après moi, le deluge,” said Louis XV. I think we can safely transpose the quotation to the last couple years, when Out Hud, The Rapture, Liars, and even acts like Hot Hot Heat could’ve said “Après nous, le deluge.”

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the deluge.

Everyone is either jumping on or getting ready to jump on the danceable/sampled rock/punk/funk train. And, really, thank God. Because let me tell you, my music-fun-factor struggled through the end of the '90s. We were embracing IDM like it was our job, while realizing that we had utterly and totally stopped listening to music on our stereos, and demanded isolated headphone appreciation. The groups that did hold on to rock were few, the bands who actually made you want to jam along with youthful abandon even fewer. Radiohead released OK Computer, which was freakin’ incredible, but the next project was, tellingly Kid A. It is one of the most beautiful and astounding records I've ever heard, but it was a headphones record all the way. The D-Plan recorded a song called “Do the Standing Still,” and we actually stood still and nodded our heads at their concerts. Had we lost our balls? Almost. But the deluge indicates to us that perhaps we’re not all hyper-introspective dramatic snobs. We love Franz Ferdinand, we love The Rapture, and we loved (in past tense) the Liars. We love Basement Jaxx.

Some are straddling the line though, thinking that in case the deluge washes itself out to sea quickly, they’ll take care to be left on land.

These bands stand in the fallout area of the dance-rock bomb. Ratatat is one of those bands – from opener “Seventeen Years” you’d immediately assume another danceable album from guys who sample guitars like nobody’s business, throw in handclaps and deep bass beats. I’ll be honest, it’s an excellent hook of a song; I’m not quite ready to ride out the dance-rock wave yet. Ratatat pack in a number of hooks, using ferocious buzzing guitars, and at times clear sampled ones, and then keyboards as well. Even the swelling “El Pico,” following “Seventeen Years,” keeps the dance beat going – but you realize that while “Seventeen Years” might come off as their most marketable single, this is a glitch-pop record more than it is a danceable one. And given that they tour with Interpol, it makes sense; Interpol following a dance act would be the emotional equivalent of an ecstasy comedown.

The band’s success at glitch-pop, however, is at times a too-consistent affair. Which means that a great part of Ratatat can turn too familiar too quickly. Possessing neither the warm emotive tone of The Notwist thanks to the Acher vocals, nor that band’s variation within its organic and electronic elements, the swelling guitar samples and keyboards that Ratatat use early on in the lush “Crips” can become old news after enough listens.

Which isn’t to say that the album isn’t enjoyable all the way through; only that it starts to fuzz a bit. Nonetheless, the excellent hooks of tracks like “El Pico,” warrant multiple listens, and the groups calming, synthetic sheen doesn’t overcome your listening pleasure in short bursts.

“El Pico” in particular boasts multiple guitar-sample hooks, a nice, limber bass line, and a danceable enough beat, making for the band’s early high. And opener “Seventeen Years” is the kind of energy-laden, rollicking equivalent of The Walkmen’s “The Rat.” The band’s hooks are largely successful, their use of space equally impressive, as they make use of a nice downtempo stretch in “Desert Eagle” to punctuate its repetitive hook.

However, by the time “Everest” rolls around, the band’s initial cleverness and immediately accessible sound begins to lose lasting power. The success of glitch-pop relies on multifarious ingredients, and Ratatat just don’t innovate enough to buoy the success of their sound higher than solid enjoyment. And occasionally they do lose sight of hooks, like on “Everest,” whose ambling leaves you forgetting any consistent melody or hook to latch on to. By the time you reach “Breaking Away,” the band seems to have made things too easy for themselves. It doesn’t do them justice, because you might tune out just as a more filthy, chunky guitar comes into complement the initially apparently innocuous mix. And if you make it through the whole album, phenomenal closer “Cherry” swells with enough high pitched tones and warmth to add the sometimes missing emotional element to the band’s sound. The album ends on an undeniably forward looking note.

With a little more grit, energy, and variation, Ratatat could prove themselves to be major players outside of the deluge – this first effort is evidence enough. But right now they’re just barely peaking over the swarm, while other artists like The Notwist and Boards of Canada soar above. Right now Ratatat have mastered being consistently strong. On the next go, let’s see if they can manage being consistently great. Amir Nezar :: 27 April 2004 |