RATATAT @ Les Saints

By Susannah Hicks - Rock the Plank - 09/07/2006

When I walked into Les Saints, the lights were low and smoke machines were on full blast. The crowd seemed into the hip-hop filler music, as people were dancing and excited for Ratatat and still pumped from the two openers The Envelopes and Panther. Ratatat quietly entered the stage and started to play. The first couple of songs weren’t that exciting; Ratatat’s energy was mellow and calm. This wasn’t expected from their hard-hitting, energy-pumping, rock 'n roll-twisted hip-hop beats that they showcase on their albums. The live set-up involved the core duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast with a third touring musician playing with the band. One element that made Ratatat’s show stellar was the mighty projections, a contribution to making many shows great. The artists' black silhouettes intertwined with the psychedelic geometric-shaped projections against the white wall added a great dimension to the show. Aside from the projectons, Ratatat were not impressive for their first couple of songs, but then they started to heat up -- smoking, in fact -- with hard reverberant bass lines and power-charged eletric guitar. The crowd started dancing up a storm, with robotic moves and the Running Man alike. What really intrigued me about the show was that Ratatat played their instruments precisely like on their album. The majority of the songs played were off their most recent album Classics, released in August 2006. They sounded crisp, clear, full, so analogous to their recording quality, which is rare with two-piecers. They integrated their analog instruments perfectly (guitar and bass) with the keys and ended up sounding seamless. Ratatat played a one-hour set with two encores, keeping their dance punk vibe strong throughout the show. All in all, it was a good evening -- aside from the first couple of songs -- and they soon won over the crowd and rocked steadily the rest of the night.

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