Ratatat albums from least best to super best

5. LP4, 2010

4. Magnifique, 2015

3. LP3, 2008

2. Ratatat, 2004

1. Classics, 2006

After three spins: Magnifique by Ratatat

Impressions of new releases after three listens...

Magnifique by Ratatat

Through five albums, over the course of 11 years, Ratatat have stayed true to their sound and vision. Each album is a Ratatat album. You can determine that within the first minutes of listening. The rich tones of the lead guitar will dance with the electronic beats, leaving you swimming in a mix of rock, hip hop, and world rhythms. All set in engaging instrumental arrangements.

Magnifique continues this work. It rings of a more stripped down set of songs, nowhere near as expansive as 2008's LP3. Magnifique is more of a guitar album than the last two releases. I read once somewhere that their debut album was described as being a mix between the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z, and Beethoven. I trued using that description to my wife before I took her to see Ratatat at the Palladium years ago. She raised an eyebrow. She thought I was crazy. Again. But on this new album, I definitely feel the more classic rock vibe. Just sub out Jay-Z and replace it with Daft Punk.

The album opens with a baroque sounding organ intro, reminiscent of the harpsichord break down in the Beatles' "In My Life." Classic rock and roll's influence appears early on.

"Cream on Chrome," the album's lead single is also the standout track to me so far. It is driven by a straight 4-beat drum sequence. Think "Billy Jean" by that one guy. The beat remains authoritative throughout, like a railroad chugging down the line. The guitar lick is clean and bright. It sets the tone for the tone of the album. Oops. Too many tones.

"Abrasive" is bright like industrial stainless steel, sanitized. Daft Punk's Discovery is the clear influence on the head guitar licks here. And the guitar shreds. It could live alongside anything on Discovery. Almost.

"Drift" features quirky keys in soft dance. It reminds me of a possible early outtake by My Morning Jacket. Random here.

"Nightclub Amnesia" continues the Daft Punk vibe. A dirty, funk guitar propels this number. Reminds me of "Da Funk."

"Supreme." I love this track. But it's not a typical Ratatat track. Rather than being tuned into French electronic house music. The boys here sound like they've been listening to one of my favorite instrumental albums--The Shadow of Your Smile by Friends of Dean Martinez. Or maybe they were listing to Santo et Johnny on repeat. Beautiful steel guitar slides up and down your ears. Like sweet, thick, syrup.

After three spins, I declare this album resides in the middle of Ratatat's discography. Not as great as the first 3 albums. But better than 2010's LP4. 

                                           

Haul

On Monday, 7/20/15, I went to Gimme Gimme Records in Highland Park. This was my haul (apparently I was in the mood for bands solely from San Francisco. It matches the gloomy weather of the day. Subconscious shopping):

Moby Grape, Moby Grape. Original Issue. In Mono. Great quality. An absolute steal for $20!

Flamin' Groovies Now, Flamin' Groovies. 4 Men with Beards 180 gram reissue.

Classics.

Joy Division in 1979. "She's Lost Control," from the TV show 'Something Else.'

MBV

Random reviews of random albums...

My Bloody Valentine - MBV (2013)

22 years.

Stories are lived and lives are sculpted in 22 years. From 1991 to 2013. 22 years.

In 1991, I was an awkward middle school kid who had just discovered the soul-enlightening life-affirming power of music through Nirvana's Nevermind. I'm sure this was many kid's of my generation entry point into music obsession. But it wouldn't be a few years later until a friend would turn me on to another 1991 album--equally world-opening. Another album that equals and then exceeds the sonic brilliance of Nevermind. That album is Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. Loveless. A wall of sound saturating hooks and chord changes in a way that both invites and the listener in and challenges everything you think you know about music, and how music should sound. 

Loveless, the second album from Ireland's My Bloody Valentine was the high-water mark for the British indie shoe gaze movement (along with Ride's Nowhere and the debut album by The Stone Roses... duh). But it never received a follow-up. The world (of music nerds like myself) craved a new album for years. But this was with trepidation. A new album means more sonic beauty to melt into, but what if they wait too long, and like so many other bands, are never able to capture the moment they painted on Loveless again. 

22 years later. The next My Bloody Valentine album was finally released--2013's MBV. The genius of Kevin Shields had returned. 

The album is a combination of time and its gaps. Part of the album was recorded before the band broke-up in 1997. The some recording happened in 2007. Finally, the last pieces were recorded in 2012. Usually an album can be a way to capture a certain period of time. A brief period of time for an artist. MBV is different. It is an album that captures 22 years, and the sound of time sometimes passing. Sometimes stopping. Some songs sound like they could have been Loveless outtakes. Others are fully dressed in mid-90's drum and bass influence. Some sound new. All sound My Bloody Valentine.

"She Found Me" opens the album as the only song that was recorded in its entirety in 2012. Every other song is built of pieces from before 1997, from 2007, from 2012. This track is drenched in distortion. Chords bend and sustain the crumbles. It is a slow building track, with primitive drums keeping time. You feel like you are exactly where you thought you would be when you listen to this--in a My Bloody Valentine record.

Much of the album lacks choruses, and sometimes the hooks are hidden. Pristine melodies lines are buried and serve as they evidence, once uncovered, of Shields' affinity for classic pop and indie pop song structures.

"Only Tomorrow's" long outro interplay of exaggerated guitar lines and a following bass beg for a cinematic visual to be projected.

Song titles seem to mean nothing. This is exacerbated by the fact that the lyrics themselves are indistinguishable. What are these songs about? I guess nothing. All that matters is the sound.

"New You" stands out as one of my two favorite tracks. It is driven by a head-bopping dance groove. You just have to dance in your car seat as you listen on that drive. The vibrating guitar chords sparkle. The tambourine tinker bell flutters.

My other favorite track is "In Another Way." Are those saxophones? Is that a jungle house beat? Fuses lit then explode. This is the auditory equivalent of a Pollock painting. Dynamite blows away the face of the mountain. Drum and bass beats and another drawn out outdo. Gorgeous highlight of the album. There is a riff of siren guitars, celestial synths, exploding snares, kick, hi-hats. It propels you along unstable paths. Comforting in its chaos. Then it ends.

And 22 years never sounded so good.

"Stay Together" Suede, 1994

"Come to my house tonight,
We can be together in the nuclear sky. 
We will dance in the poison rain, 
We can stay a while in heaven today."

I had a copy of Suede's Singles that lived in rotation in my pick-up truck. I was always much more of a fa of their debut album's songs, but "Stay Together" from Dog Man Star stood out as an essential, crank up the volume, roll down the windows and wail along with Brett Anderson. I feel sorry for anyone who pulled up next me with their windows down. Not a pretty sight. Or sound.

This was a seminal song for long drives from Redondo Beach down to Carlsbad. When the 5 Freeway was wide open. It didn't really resonate with me lyrically. When the song hit me hardest, ten years ago, in my twenties, I was not in the place in my life to beg anyone to Stay Together with me. But, as a single guy courting single girls, the opening line's sentiment sang clear.

I was always a fan of the Brit-pop bands of the nineties (certain ones--no thank you, Oasis). Suede stood out as the band more influenced by glam rock, like Bowie and T Rex, as opposed to Blur's seeming obsession with The Kinks.

This is very clear in Brett Anderson's styling and poses in the video for "Stay Together." Oh, the 1990s. I still love and miss you.

"Dub Magnificent," King Tubby

"King Tubby truly understood sound in a scientific sense. He knew how the circuits worked and what the electrons did. That's why he could do what he did"

"Dub Magnificent" was the first King Tubby piece I ever heard. It was my entry point into Dub music. I would bump it out of the tiny speakers on my Nextel cell phone while walking to and from dive bars in Hermosa Beach.

Dub and the beach will always go together.