Ratatat: LP4

I first came across Ratatat in a commercial for -- ready for this? -- Hummer.  Back in '04, I was sitting on my couch in college and this commercial came on and my roommate and I Googled the information before the spot ended.

(Parenthetical footnote: Hummer actually had a killer commercial campaign back then, featuring this awesome spot -- set to "Swamp" by Midwest Product -- and another ad that featured Album Leaf.  When indie bands get accused of "selling out" by putting their song in a commercial, what they are actually doing is getting their music to the widest possible audience, getting paid, and making more fans!)



Fastforward five years and I'm catching Ratatat at the House of Blues in New Orleans on the heels of the somewhat disappointing LP3 (the concert was awesome (I danced)).  Then the leftover tracks from LP3 turned into LP4, which sounds like a recipe for disaster but I think I prefer LP4 to its predecessor.  In fact, looking back, LP3 is the album that sounds like songs from the cutting-room floor, while LP4 feels like the sonic successor to 2006's fantastic Classics.  There are no inexplicable growling panthers on LP4, but the soundbites of random people talking are back (sidenote: I have no idea what's going on in this video):


Grade: B
Blurb: There is no "Seventeen Years" here, but LP4 is a solid album and it gives me my electronica fix.