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“Qui?” says the French receptionist. It’s been a while since GCSE
French, and I seem to have forgotten the translation for “please put me
through to the producer and synth-player from Ratatat. He’s somewhere
in your hotel”. Eventually the message gets through and a sleepy
sounding Evan Mast comes on the line, sounding as far removed from the
hype storm surrounding the impending release of his band’s new album as
it is possible to be, without actually being unaware of it. But beneath
the calm exterior lies some kind of creative genius – welcome to the
intriguing world of Ratatat.
A day or two before the interview
the blogosphere is awash with tracks from Ratatat’s forthcoming fourth
LP, titled LP4 (following the equally cannily named LP3). So what does
Evan make of all the fuss? “The first time I saw the leaks I
downloaded it and it was this really horrible copy. The people who are
particularly excited about hearing [the album] are hearing the early
leaks – those people especially you want to hear the best quality
version, with the artwork too. With our music there are a lot of
details that you can miss.” He can say that again. For those unfamiliar
with the kitchen sink approach of the band, think Holy Fuck beats and
the jerk of Battles combined with Animal Collective’s ludicrous ideas,
piling in beatboxing, synths and the most overblown
proggy-double-guitars this side of Queen. All the more impressive
considering there’s just the two people in the band. “We Can’t Be
Stopped is pretty small, probably only 40 tracks. On the other hand
something like Neckbrace has 90 or 100.” Bet The Fratellis never said
that.
LP4 was recorded during the same sessions as LP3 in a Kid
A/Amnesiac-style relationship, but the latter is far denser and
(whisper it) more out-there. What gives? “Basically we went into the
studio and recorded as many songs as we possibly could and then cut it
in half chronologically. We already had a whole record under our belt
and had all this studio time so we had a chance to try out all the
craziest ideas we could come up with! (laughs) It was nice to be in
that position, to be able to really try the weirdest stuff possible and
to entertain every idea that came into our heads. It was the most fun
I’ve had making a record”. And how can you possibly transfer the
complex world of LP4 to the live arena? “Good question – I haven’t
figured that out yet! There are so many layers of sound, and a lot of
it is not very guitar-based. We’ve talked about getting a string
quartet and making new arrangements for the songs”. With the amount of
ideas fizzing from his brain and heard in LP4 I don’t think he has
anything to worry about. And the award for the band least likely to
suffer from writers block goes to...
TAGS: Ratatat Words by: Harry Garne
Links:
Ratatat - Myspace
Ratatat - Party With Children MP3
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