Even if you haven't heard of Ratatat, you've heard them. They boast an impressive list of their songs featured in endless commercials and movies. Ratatat is everywhere. Beginning in 2004 as simply a guitar and synth, they recorded their entire debut album on a laptop. With their fortunate connections they released Ratatat in the U.S. and the U.K., and quickly garnering continuous play of their single "Seventeen Years." They're like the Soulja Boy of electronic pop. They have since been gaining more and more popularity with high-schoolers and pseudo-hipsters alike, creating an empire of simplicity and marketability.
It should be no surprise that Ratatat's latest full-length LP3 is just another collection of two guys messing around with electronics and a guitar. The album begins with their first single, "Shiller," a slow and quiet track with a simple progression and minimal variety. The song isn't bad, but you can barely bob your head with the beat due to the lack of substance. The second track, "Falcon Jab," boasts more electronic sound effects and percussion, but still never seems to really get off the ground like you want it to.
Ratatat experiments a little more with differing song structures and synth effects on tracks like "Mi Viejo" and "Brulee," and you can tell they are trying to expand a little more eclectically so as not to tire themselves out as a one-trick pony. But even these songs don't seem to have any unique melodies, even just compared to their other works. The extra bleeps and distortions don't seem to add anything to their already stripped-down sound. The highlight of this album has to be "Mumtaz Khan," which brings an odd progression along with some low bass lines to make it the most appealing track on this collection.
None of this album is necessarily hard to listen to, it's just boring. I can still dig on the catchiness of Ratatat, but the group brings nothing new to the table with this release. Everything seems very expected. Every time I hear the guitar come in with some harmonizing parts to save the electronics from ruining the song, I can't help but think that it's the same notes as some older Ratatat song. Now, I can't knock Ratatat for exploiting a working formula; if it ain't broke don't fix it, right? But there's really nothing on here that you can't find a more exciting version of on their first two albums, and didn't really seem to be worth my time.
