Ratatat Party With Children

My Spring has been filled with high expectations for new albums from bands who had strong debuts: MGMT, Justice, Gorillaz, Daft Punk (fingers crosssed) and now Ratatat. So far, many of those that already dropped have been flops. If you're like me, there is a bit of a sour taste in your mouth after the new MGMT album. When I first listened to LP4 I was nervous for a similar downfall.

Turns out listening to "LP4" provided a good reminder that a band should not hold out when choosing to expand what they've already done well. It appears that Ratatat wanted to share more than they could fit into 2008's "LP3", and they accomplished that with this latest release. I'm reminded of Radiohead's "Amnesiac" and "Kid A", two great albums that grew off of each other to make a cohesive pair. Though, LP3/4 is still a far cry from living up to the aforementioned Radiohead albums, I would be surprised to see an "LP5". My hope is that Ratatat will be looking to work on something new.

Back to the present album. Sure, there were a few moments when I thought I was listening to "LP3" (what with the similar samples and instrumentation). But in the end, I can't help but notice they've matured a bit. The songs are full and well balanced. And in good-old-Ratatat fashion, it's not without well timed moments of pause and slower pace that allow listeners to easily absorb the entire album.

I enjoyed this album, and I would recommend it to anybody who is a fan of Ratatat, even more so if you've never heard them at all. For the hardcore Ratatat fans, if you're expecting the next, new, big, different thing from Ratatat you'll be let down. If you're waiting for closure after LP3, however, you'll probably catch yourself doing what I did at the end of the album: taking a nice deep breath.