2008 Woodie Awards
Last Week Live: Ratatat
Issue date: 10/9/08
Sonar exploded with electronic energy on Sunday night as Ratatat kicked off the final leg of their North American tour.
After the chilling screams of their opening act, Panther, the New York City electronic duo brought welcome pulsating electronic beats. Within the first five minutes guitarist Mike Stroud and synthesizer Evan Mast had hypnotized the crowd into an almost tribal groove with an intriguing combination of rhythmic drums layered with a more modern dance-club sound.
Throughout the show the band built upon these pulsations. The music became more intense and urgent. It is safe to say that Ratatat shook me to my core; The music amplified to such a degree that my whole body quaked, my ear drums nearly burst and the already irresistible sounds of Ratatat seemed to emanate from my very being.
Throughout the night, enthusiastic fans shoved themselves as close to the stage as they could get, excited not only to see the band, but, perhaps more importantly, to rock out to some truly great dance music.
However, newcomers to Ratatat might have been surprised by the lack of songs that form their famous remixes, Ratatat Mixtape Vol. 1 and Ratatat Remixes Vol. 2, which were released in 2004 and 2007, respectively.
Due to copyright issues, Ratatat is unable to play these remixes at their concerts, and indeed the entire night consisted of a sampling from all of their albums, relying perhaps most heavily on their latest release from 2008, LP3. Their most popular songs, "Wildcat" and "Seventeen Years," made appearances, and the crowd went wild for both of them.
Other songs to watch for from their new album include "Mirando," "Falcon Jab" and "Dura" which provide the same rhythmic allure of their earlier work with more innovative sounds and instruments, some of which defy verbal description. Throughout the show I was pleased to see how little of their music came from sampling; most of their performance was the result of very creative instruments.
After the chilling screams of their opening act, Panther, the New York City electronic duo brought welcome pulsating electronic beats. Within the first five minutes guitarist Mike Stroud and synthesizer Evan Mast had hypnotized the crowd into an almost tribal groove with an intriguing combination of rhythmic drums layered with a more modern dance-club sound.
Throughout the show the band built upon these pulsations. The music became more intense and urgent. It is safe to say that Ratatat shook me to my core; The music amplified to such a degree that my whole body quaked, my ear drums nearly burst and the already irresistible sounds of Ratatat seemed to emanate from my very being.
Throughout the night, enthusiastic fans shoved themselves as close to the stage as they could get, excited not only to see the band, but, perhaps more importantly, to rock out to some truly great dance music.
However, newcomers to Ratatat might have been surprised by the lack of songs that form their famous remixes, Ratatat Mixtape Vol. 1 and Ratatat Remixes Vol. 2, which were released in 2004 and 2007, respectively.
Due to copyright issues, Ratatat is unable to play these remixes at their concerts, and indeed the entire night consisted of a sampling from all of their albums, relying perhaps most heavily on their latest release from 2008, LP3. Their most popular songs, "Wildcat" and "Seventeen Years," made appearances, and the crowd went wild for both of them.
Other songs to watch for from their new album include "Mirando," "Falcon Jab" and "Dura" which provide the same rhythmic allure of their earlier work with more innovative sounds and instruments, some of which defy verbal description. Throughout the show I was pleased to see how little of their music came from sampling; most of their performance was the result of very creative instruments.
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