Ratatat Don't Sing, Because It Would Probably Gross You Out

10/03/06 5:30pm

by Phil Villeneuve (CHARTattack)

Guitar guru Mike Stroud and synthesizer wizard Evan Mast, the New York-based earthy electronic duo behind Ratatat, recently released their new record, Classics. It's kind of a funny title for a second album, don't you think?

"I think naming the album Classics is funny," says Stroud before playing to a packed house at Toronto's Lee's Palace. "One lame reason is we just had a file in our computer called 'Classics.'

"There was also a shit songs file. We had to name our record and we thought we should just call it that. It also seems funny that people would think it's an album of greatest hits."

Those people won't be too disappointed when they realize that this isn't a best-of collection because Classics is still bursting with funk-filled and warm electronic instrumentals. Ratatat's self-titled 2004 debut garnered the skinny rock boys some electro cred, setting them up to open for Interpol ("They're cool guys and that tour was so good for us and for exposure."), Mouse On Mars ("That was awesome. We were all on the bus together and became friends."), The Stills ("They were cool guys.") and The Killers ("They were some weird guys.") After extensive touring, Ratatat have grown up a bit and sound a lot better for it.

"We're a lot more confident in our songwriting, more comfortable with making mistakes, and experimenting a lot more," Stroud says. "I think the production has gotten a lot better in terms of fullness of sound. To me it feels like a big step up from the last record.

"We recorded everything live this time. The last record would be a guitar plugged into a distortion pedal and finish a part and loop it. This time we got guitars with amps and played the whole song through, and then did some overdubs. We've learned how to record."

Part of the reason Ratatat's sound works so well is because there's no singing, which is something that Stroud says neither he nor Mast will most likely ever do.

"I can see us working with another band as a singer, but I don't want it to be on this band's music," Stroud says. "It's also because neither one of us really sing, and I'm definitely not a lyricist."

Evan was making electronic music with E-Vax, and we just never really wanted to have a singer. I think a lot of people, besides ourselves, would be grossed out if we sang."