Ratatat – London Madame JoJo's – 30/1/07
4/5
By: Chris Pratt
If you've only experienced Ratatat's music in recorded form, you'll be forgiven for harbouring pre-conceptions involving a pair of geeky electro-indie technicians forever huddled behind their laptops. However, as they prove tonight whilst inducing a hectic Brooklyn-flavoured party atmosphere in this heaving Soho sweatbox, there is much, much more to this band than an in-depth knowledge of Pro-Tools.
Full-time members Mike Stroud and Evan Mast are joined by an auxiliary keyboard player (introduced merely as 'Jacob') to treat a sell-out crowd (thankfully unfazed by a dire support bill) to an exhilarating selection of nuggets taken from 2004's self-titled debut and last year's presumptuously titled 'Classics'.
Stroud confidently takes pride of place at centre stage, spewing out wave after wave of the unfeasibly catchy Thin Lizzy-meets-Beethoven guitar harmonies that have become these NYC instrumentalists' trademark, and clearly relishing his tongue-in-cheek guitar-hero persona. With legs akimbo and long hair draped across his face he strikes a flurry of fantastically clichéd poses, feeding off the fist-punching energy of White Heat's pumped-up clientele.
Mast stands sensibly clear of Stroud's ever-swinging axe, letting his partner-in-crime garner the plaudits whilst concentrating on bass guitar parts that nicely embellish the growling low-end synths with more fluid, humane lines. The satisfying snap and crack of synthetic drums are provided by a backing track, whilst Jacob alternates between harmonising saw-tooth keyboard parts with Stroud's guitar and dealing out rhythmic organ jabs - he also gets the enviable job of triggering the awesome tiger roar sample that punctuates 'Wildcat.'
What's remarkable about this band is that they draw so heavily on the sounds of the American FM rock bands of days gone by, but manage not to get caught up in the awful mire of pastiche à la The Darkness. Rather than poking fun at that often ridiculous era, Ratatat celebrate its strengths and in combining hard-rock guitar dynamics with pulsing electro, bring it bang up to date. The only let-down came from a lacklustre attempt at backstage projections - the ethereal abstractions of colour and shape having little to do with the precision and power that was roaring out of the speakers. Otherwise? Spot on.
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