Ratatat

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Ratatat

Background information
Origin New York City
Genre(s) Electronic, Techno, Hip hop, Indietronica
Instrument(s) Guitar, Synthesizer
Years active 2001 – present
Label(s) XL Recordings, Rex Records
Website Official Website

Ratatat is a New York City electronic music duo: guitarist Mike Stroud and synthesizer driver and producer Evan Mast.

Stroud and Mast met as Skidmore College students, but did not work together until Cherry in 2001, a track that later would end their debut album. Their 2004 debut, Ratatat, was written and recorded in Mast's Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment on Stroud's PowerBook.[1] This album is entirely instrumental, except for occasional excerpts of dialogue at the beginning and end of some tracks.

The band started out on the independent label Rex Records, on which they released their first single, Seventeen Years. They released that single again on Evan and his brother's record label Audio Dregs. They then signed for XL Recordings, releasing their debut album and the single Germany to Germany. Ratatat occasionally remix other artists' songs, most notably on their limited 2004 release Ratatat Mixtape Vol. 1 which garnered the attention of Rolling Stone.

Both musicians have had experience with other projects, such as Mast's E*vax and Stroud's stage work with Ben Kweller, The Vash and Dashboard Confessional. Ratatat has toured with bands such as Mouse on Mars, Interpol, Clinic, The Killers and more recently they supported Mogwai in Japan.

The song "Seventeen Years" has been featured in a Hummer television commercial and on British television show Soccer AM's "Crossbar Challenge" segment.

On October 10th, 2006 a new demo album from Ratatat entitled "9 Beats" leaked to the Internet. This new set of tracks is not listed on any discography associated with the band. They are all short instrumental electronic musical pieces.[2]

Contents

[edit] Discography

Studio Albums

Singles

Song Album Date Label
"Seventeen Years" (US Release) Ratatat 2003 Rex Records
"Seventeen Years" (UK Release) Ratatat November 25, 2003 Audio Dregs
"Germany to Germany" Ratatat October 4, 2004 XL Recordings
"Wildcat" Classics July 25, 2006 XL Recordings
"Lex" Classics October 30, 2006 XL Recordings

Remixes

Artist Title Year
Shout Out Louds "The Comeback - Big Slippa Remix by Ratatat" 2005
The Knife "We Share Our Mothers' Health - Ratatat Remix" 2006

[edit] Interviews

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leckart, Steven. "Have laptop will travel", MSNBC. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
  2. ^ Rob. "Ratatat 9 Beats Hits Hard", Bittersweet Blog. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.

[edit] External links

In other languages