Ratatat

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Ratatat
Origin	New York City
Genre(s)	Electronic, Alternative, Hip hop
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer
Years active	2001 – present
Label(s)	XL Recordings, Rex Records
Website	Official website
Members
Evan Mast, Mike Stroud

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

Mike Stroud and Evan Mast first met as Skidmore College students, but they did not work together until they recorded several songs under the name Cherry in 2001. 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 dialog at the beginning and end of some tracks. For touring in 2006, they added a third member, Jacob Morris, on keyboard.

The group started out releasing their debut single Seventeen Years on Evan and his brother's record label Audio Dregs label in the US and Rex Records in the UK. They released that single again on Evan and his brother E*Rock's record label Audio Dregs. They then signed for XL Recordings, releasing their debut album and the single Germany to Germany. Ratatat occasionally remixes others for collected release on Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1 (which garnered the attention of Rolling Stone), as well as the later second volume, both of which were self-released in co-operation with Audio Dregs.

Both musicians have had experience with other projects, such as Mast's E*vax and King Pang and Stroud's stage work with Ben Kweller, Joe Satriani and Dashboard Confessional. Ratatat has toured with bands such as Björk, Daft Punk, Mouse on Mars, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, CSS, The Faint, Super Furry Animals, Clinic, Panther and The Killers. In 2006 they supported Mogwai in Japan.

On October 10, 2006 a new demo album from Ratatat entitled 9 Beats was leaked online. This set of tracks does not appear on any official discography listings. The tracks consist of short instrumental electronic musical pieces and demos for their next mixtape.^[2] This release was followed by another remix album, Ratatat Remixes Vol 2..

It has been rumored that they will be signed by Star Trak as the understudies of the Neptunes.

Mast has most recently collaborated with former Shudder to Think vocalist Craig Wedren on a record for a Tokyo independent label, Mold Recordings and said to be finishing a follow up solo album for Audio Dregs.

The official site has been updated showing that a new single, Shiller, is now available for purchase (only on 7"). The release date for a new album, LP3, has also been announced: July 8, 2008. ^[3]

1 Discography
2 In pop culture
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Discography

Studio albums

Album	Date	Label
Ratatat	April 20, 2004	XL Recordings
Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1	2004	Self-released
Classics	August 22, 2006	XL Recordings
Ratatat Remixes Vol. 2	2007	Self-released
LP3	July 8, 2008	XL Recordings

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
"Loud Pipes"	Classics	2007	XL Recordings
"Shiller"	LP3	May 6, 2008	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
Biz Markie	"Just a Friend - Remix by Ratatat"	2006
Television Personalities	"You Kept Me Waiting Too Long - Ratatat Remix"	2007
Björk	"Wanderlust - Ratatat Remix"	2008

[edit] In pop culture

"Beat #6" (From 9 Beats) was used in CSI Season 8 episode 14 (Drops Out) aired 24th April 2008.
The song "Seventeen Years" was used in the J. J. Abrams movie Cloverfield (2008). It has been in a Hummer television commercial, on British television show Soccer AM's "Crossbar Challenge" segment and in a ski movie called Shanghai Six.
The song "Lex" has been featured in a Zune commercial.
In February 2007, Cartoon Network aired a commercial for My Gym Partner Is a Monkey in which "Wildcat" played in the background. An episode of the same show contained over two minutes of the song, edited slightly with a few parts cut out.
In 2007, "Loud Pipes" was used in the soundtrack of 989 SportsMLB 07 - The Show.
"Lex" was used in Standard Films 2007 production "Catch the Vapors" for a segment featuring snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo.
The song "Wildcat" was featured in Mack Dawg Production's 2007 snowboard video Picture This.
The film Knocked Up (2007) played "Tropicana" during the various gestation time lapse scenes within the story.
The website GOOD Magazine used the song "Gettysburg" in an animated video about nuclear weapon proliferation.^[4]
Numerous Ratatat works have been featured in excerpts on NPR (National Public Radio).
Most regularly El Pico on This American Life
"Wildcat" was played in background to the Printemps-Ete 2007 catwalk of Chanel.
"Gettysburg" was used in a Nylon.com short video profiling the Marc by Marc Jacobs show during New York Fashion Week on February 5, 2008.
The song "Lex" was also used during a 2007 Louis Vuitton fashion show in New York. The song was played as a standalone and as a remix with an edition of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" which was specifically tailored for the fashion show.