Tracklist:

1. Montanita
2. Lex
3. Gettysburg
4. Wildcat
5. Tropicana
6. Loud Pipes
7. Kennedy
8. Swisha
9. Nostrand
10. Tacobel Canon

In the spring of 2004 Evan Mast and Mike Stroud collaborated on what would be the first, self-titled release by the duo under the moniker Ratatat. Seemingly out of nowhere, the duo’s first release garnered critical attention with its mix of drowsy electronic beats and Mike Stroud’s often ferocious guitar. Ratatat’s second release, confidently (and perhaps facetiously) titled Classics, is essentially more of the same.

While their debut’s first track “Seventeen Years” could be considered the heart and hook of that album, the same can be said for “Wildcat” here. The album cover is a picture of said “wildcat” after all. It’s a song that typifies Ratatat’s sound; mellow enough to be a relaxing sit-down listen but catchy enough to get up and dance to. And enough can’t be said about the cat screams peppered throughout the track.

The next track, “Tropicana”, sees the duo taking their sound in a different direction for perhaps the first time ever. It’s unsightly warbles of sound, releases of steam, and chug-a-lug style psychedelic beat is nothing like Ratatat has done before and is an interesting step for the duo even if only a one song shift in direction.

And while “Tropicana” takes the road less traveled “Loud Pipes” is a great example of how to take all roads at the same time. The track seamlessly blends genres together beginning with a deep bass line, hand claps, and something that sounds like the church lady slamming on her organ keys. This hip-hop feel fades away when Stroud’s loud guitar enters the mix soon after and eventually the song goes woozily electronic when a tide of synth washes over all. Not only is the track’s electroni-hip-rock sound reminiscent of say…RJD2, it’s just as good.

This selection of songs from the album’s gooey center alone illustrates how good (and diverse) this duo can sound. Perhaps unsurprisingly, here on their second release Stroud and Mast expand and experiment with their sound a little. And with another album under their belt and more experience working together one can only expect more new sounds and further twisting of the “typical” Ratatat sound to come, but for now we all have this tasty collection of Classics to sink our teeth into.

MP3:
Tropicana
Loud Pipes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 10:00 am and is filed under Record Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.