Bulba...donde sólo entra lo cool

Monday, October 02, 2006

Classics Review

Ratatat
“Classics”
XL Recordings
2006

Fue hace aproximadamente 1 mes que descubrí la música de Ratatat; al principio no sabia cómo definirla pero, cuando escuché “Classics” en su totalidad me di cuenta que, no había por qué tratar de definir lo que hace Ratatat, uno simplemente tiene que dejarse llevar.
Esta es la segunda producción discográfica de este dúo dinámico de New York; Evan Mast y Mike Stroud son dos amigos que simplemente se reunieron un buen día a hacer música (tan simple como eso) y juntos han emprendido este viaje lleno de beats pegajosos, riffs de guitarras escandalosamente sucios, líneas de bajos con increíble armonía y lo mejor de todo es que, tanto en el disco como en vivo suenan igual. Si no es que mejor en vivo.
“Montanita” es la encargada de abrir el disco; este es un tema suave, no tan escandaloso como los demás, lo cual la hace brillar. Una de las cosas que me agrada de Ratatat es que usan los fade in y los fade out con sabiduría, simplemente nos dan la entrada a su mundo con este tema cargado de melodías que no sólo nos ponen a bailar sino que también, si cerramos los ojos podemos hasta visualizar los sonidos.
“Lex” y “Gettysburg” se caracterizan por el ritmo base; las secuencias rítmicas junto el sabor funkeroso del bajo hacen de estos temas algo inusual, la mezcla de los sonidos es brillante, perfectamente notables.
Después viene uno de mis tracks favoritos: “Wildcat”, fue precisamente este tema el que hizo que notara a Ratatat dentro de la escena musical actual; uno simplemente no puede evitar mover tan siquiera el pie cuando “Wildcat” esta sonando, los solos de guitarra simplemente realzan el de por sí ya bien logrado tema.
En “Tropicana”, el cello da un giro interesante al sonido Ratatatiano, tiene tantas frases pegajosas que uno no sabe con cuál quedarse, así que es mejor optar por quedarse con todas.
“Loud Pipes” es la encargada de ser la expositora del talento de Mike Stroud, toca la guitarra a su gusto ya sea creando melodías bonitas o riffs sucios y encantadores; por otro lado “Kennedy” es la portavoz de Evan Mast, cargada de líneas de bajo impecables, firmes y repletas del ritmo encargado de guiar durante todo el tema.
“Swisha” es, sin lugar a dudas, el respiro de “Classics”; es el corte más tranquilo, sereno, con una guitarra acústica que le agrega paz al disco.
Ya para llegar al final del viaje, llegan “Nostrand” y “Tacobel Canon”; “Nostrand” con su vibra súper Air (escuchen la línea de bajo por favor y díganme si no tengo razón) nos demuestra que sí se puede conjugar en un solo tema la melancolía y la alegría desmesurada, los aplausos y los gritos que adornan este tema no me dejaran mentir; por su parte, “Tacobel Canon” nos anuncia que el viaje está por finalizar, hasta parece de esos temas que salen al final de los videojuegos, cuando uno pasa el juego entero y salen los créditos. Bonita, entretenida y hasta cierto punto romántica.
Concluyendo, “Classics” es, definitivamente uno de los mejores discos del 2006, así de sencillo. ¿Por qué? Escúchenlo, así sabrán de lo que hablo.

Brissia González
Locutora de Bulba
Donde sólo entra lo Cool.
(Todos los derechos reservados)

Entrevista a RATATAT

Ratatat
New York, una de las ciudades mas importantes de Estados Unidos por muchas razones, una de ellas es la florida escena musical que se desprende de ella, ahora nos muestra a dos jóvenes que, simplemente se conocieron y empezaron a hacer música; Evan Mast y Mike Stround son los protagonistas de este viaje llamado Ratatat; de gira por Estados Unidos, Europa y Australia, estos chicos estuvieron en San Diego, California promocionando su nueva producción discográfica, “Classics” editado por XL Recordings.
Tuve la oportunidad de sentarme un rato con ellos y charlar acerca de la gira, el disco y más, mucho más.

Brissia: How did Ratatat started, give us a little background…

Mike: Well, Evan moved to New York and we just met up in the subway one day and decided to meet and just record for fun you know, it was really fun so we just kept doing it, that was in…2000?

Evan: 2001 I think...

Mike: Yes! So we just started making songs like all the time, and it just slowly turned into an album and now, the second album.

Brissia: Ok so, how many albums are out there?

Mike: Just 2 and we also have a mixed tape of remixes we did around the first record.

Brissia: Tell us about the creative process, what inspire you guys, how do you start a song, how do you make songs.

Evan: either we start with just a beat and then we sit down and start just playing keyboards and guitars over a top of the bit and we just play until we find something that sounds good and we just keep layering after that just adding more and more parts and then, the songs come together really slowly, it takes a lot, usually it takes weeks or months to finish the songs, it’s a lot of like, try a layer to see what works and se what doesn’t and editing, specially on the new songs, they have gotten like, kind of detail obsess, (Mike’s laughs) they take a long time.

Brissia: oh ok, so it’s like a jam?

Mike: Sort of, yeah, we just jam together over the beat; until like, one of us does something cool (laughs)

Brissia: So, how old are you guys?

Mike: 26

Evan: 27

Brissia: oh, you guys are young, that’s great... ok, now, about Classics, how would you describe this production to the public?

Mike: Like hip hop beats with lots of kind of rock guitar and classical elements, all instrumental, hum, just lots of layers and, I don’t know I think it sounds pretty happy, the music sounds pretty happy, compared to the last record it was a little more melancholic.

Brissia: ok, so let’s talk about the influences, like what do you guys listen to or where do you get the sound.

Evan: hum, I think we get obsess with different kinds of music and listen to, like we got really into dub for a while like 2 years ago or something before we started work on the new record we were listening to a lot of dub, but its weird like, that the new record took so long that we got into lots of different things a long the way so is kind of hard to like pin down on what was really the influence but we listen like, we are always listening to classic rock stuff , like the 60s and 70s, a lot of British bands like The Rolling Stones and The Kinks and The Zombies and then a lot of hip hop too...

Mike: like hardly any instrumental music (laughs) hardly any electronic music (more laughs)

Brissia: yeah, I heard in the first track like, congas there, I was listening to that track the other day and I noticed the conga beat and it felt more like a salsa rhythm...

Mike: yeah...

Brissia: so, do you guys listen to salsa, merengue or do you just find the beats you know? Do you like to use those instruments?

Mike: I don’t know that much about salsa...

Evan: I don’t know about that much, either, but I think it’s into more like, some merengue stuff while we worked on the record, I didn’t even know what it was but I had a mixed tape from a friend and it was just different, Hispanic songs...

Brissia: Because its cool you know, like, listening to this different kind of instrumental music, but finding those sounds like congas, more Latin American rhythms, is a good thing, so I thought like, Wow! These guys have rhythm you know? (Mike’s laughs) so it’s great! So, hum, now, like fans yourselves, what are you listening to right now, tell me your favourite bands.

Mike: we listened to The Ghetto Boys today (laughs) that was good

Evan: for about 3 hours

Mike: I like to listen to The Kinks a lot.

Evan: I got into the old Cardigans records the other day, listen to those, hum, a lot of reggae too, Bob Marley, I don’t know...

Mike: The Concretes... where are they from?

Evan: Sweden... is a Swedish band.

Mike: and the other bands that are on tour with us, we listen to them every day (laughs)

Evan: yeah, is good; we hate to miss their sets because they really are awesome bands.

Brissia: oh great, that’s nice. Ok, now, from your own perspective, how does it feel to be in a band, go on tour, what has been your experience as musicians.

Mike: It’s been like, slowly getting better and better over the last 3 years, (Evan agrees) I mean we left out with some good tours right away, like supporting other bands but hum, this tour feels really good because is like, you know, its hard work, it was a lot of preparation, the shows have been really good, the crowds have been awesome, its pretty encouraging and, I feel like we have a lot of momentum right now to keep, because we have other tours set up already and, we are happy.

Evan: we were recording for like, 2 years, it was really heard work and it was a really difficult record to me, and now its like, we finally have the record out and we are just playing shows and it feels like a huge relief and it’s really exciting.

Brissia: so, this is your goal you know, you’re experiencing your goal

Mike: yeah

Brissia: ok! That’s perfect!

Mike: we are not like, “o I wish I was home” we’re both happy to be touring (Evan agrees)

Brissia: For how long have you guys been in this tour?

Mike: 2 and half weeks?

Evan: yeah, something like that, I think we are about half way done actually, we are kind of right in the middle; its been really fun, I think this is the most fun tour that we’ve done so far, its been really amazing.
Mike: we went swimming today in the ocean

Brissia: really?

Mike: yeah, we kind of wanted to just chilled and watch a movie or something...

Evan: yeah it was amazing

Brissia: but it’s freezing! I mean the water!

Evan: wasn’t that bad, it was a little cold at first but you get use to it in a few minutes

Brissia: oh that’s great, you guys look happy

Mike: yeah!

Evan: yeah, it was a really good day, so sunny out; we ate pupusas (laughs)

Mike: is nice when you don’t have to drive so much, we only drove like two hours, sometimes that’s kind of a drag; you have to drive like 8 hours...

Brissia: it’s good that you have this cool attitude, you know for travelling, and you guys are so easy going and happy to be in San Diego and play, that’s great; and well for this last question, what do you guys think about Mexico, and have you played there?

Evan: I went there once because my sister lived there for about a year and half just recently and I went down there with her just to hang out and I had the best time, I really loved it there, we are suppose to play there in a couple of weeks, middle of October, is actually not totally confirmed yet but we are going to play in Mexico City on October 14th.

Mike: is going to be my first time in Mexico, I have never been in Mexico; I have seen like, Tijuana or something...

Brissia: I live in Tijuana.

Mike: TJ? (Laughs)

Brissia: yeah, that’s a famous shortcut (more laughs), well this is it, thank you guys, thanks for your time, I really appreciate it and I hope you still enjoy your tour.

Mike: thanks

Evan: yeah, thanks.