Ratatat – The Studio December 10, 2015

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13th Floor - Ratatat-2Ratatat – onomatopoeic moniker for a duo of rock-tronica musicians from Brooklyn NYC – is in my view an apt emblem for their beat-powered brand of instrumental neo-prog-experimental-rock.

Ratatat started from humble beginnings, two guys – Evan Mast and Mike Stroud – started making music in their Brooklyn apartment just after the turn of the millennium.  Their self-titled debut came out in 2004, followed by Classics, LP3, and LP4, which were followed this year by Magnifique, the album this tour is on the back of, being their fifth release.  It distills the essence of their sound – melodic guitar lines drawn from prog-rock and bass-lines owing something to funk or even disco from the seventies; sitting on a pounding electronic beat – often augmented by live percussion during the show.

Opener Pricks of Brightness slammed into the crowd in The Studio with ample power, the sound system delivering from the first beat, and having a solid bottom end.  Next Loud Pipes piled in, harking back to 2006’s Classics.  Seamlessly segued  into Grape Juice City off LP4, and the tone was set for the night.

Mast and Stroud are both multi-instrumentalists, showing diverse skills on guitars, bass, percussion, drums, melodica, keys and more – never noodling away from the songs deceptively simple melodic and chordal structures, and always building layers of sound that fit like a well dove-tailed sonic joint.  Hints of “Daft Punk with guitars” permeated a lot of the rest of the set, which pulled tracks from their substantial past discography, also giving us a taste of several tracks off Magnifique.

I must confess I am usually somewhat skeptical of a live show where samples are used, being a bit of a rock purist where backing tracks are anathema and live is the only way to present music.

Set ListBut I had my horizons broadened that it is possible to do well – these guys pull it off, most of the time, due to a super tight rhythm laid down underneath their bass and guitar parts and the diversity of instruments they layer on top of the backing tracks – giving enough live action on stage to keep it exciting.  No hipster bent over a macbook here, thankfully.  The majority of the time Mast and Stroud play guitar and bass, with occasional forays into the other instruments scattered around the stage – keys, snare drums, percussion, and others. This makes the name rock-tronica pretty accurate and gives the focus of the show to two guys on guitars – not a world away from a typical four on the floor rock show.

Where the most palpable difference lies, however, is the lack of vocals.  It takes a bit of getting used to, and the gap in the middle of the sound-stage where the vocals would usual sit can seem a bit empty at first, like one is waiting for the singer to start.. but the catchy-as-all-hell  guitar riffery ends up being the central instrument.  And eventually I found myself embracing the lack of words, and losing myself in the pure joy of their lush melodies and funky, cracking beats.

My only caveat to a highly favourable review would be that the tunes started sounding a bit samey towards the end of the set.  Possibly due to similar keys the songs were performed in, or that the BPM were fairly similar for most of the tracks, somehow anyway tracks did start to blend into each other a tad.  But when they sound this good – tuneful guitar riff spiraling around cracking beat yet again – who cares right?

I would also have personally liked it if they chucked a few words in between songs – a laconic “thanks so much” every few songs was all the verbal communication we got.

However, all in all a great show by a band digging a fairly unique and fertile furrow.   Magnificent, boys.

Stephen Allely

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