Ratatat
Ratatat (XL Recordings 172)

If there were a Playstation game about going out to see indie rock shows, hanging out in hipster record stores, and knocking boots with mousy Ghost World girls, Ratatat would be the soundtrack. Bloopy synths and skinny beats are layered with great, crunchy guitar lines for a mellow but edgy sound that is like nothing else currently out there. This could well be the geekiest chillout record ever, but by all means, get your geek on.

Many critics seem to hear a restrained Daft Punk vibe in Ratatat, but to me it's pure Super Mario Bros. by way of Franz Ferdinand. The band they most remind me of is the seemingly now-forgotten Japancakes, with lots of coasty melodic fade-ups and fade-downs squirrelling in and out of the mix, like an old-school hypnotists's pocketwatch spacing you out and focussing you on your subconscious desire to just calm down. The sound is very subtle, but not indirect, with melodies repeating just enough to lure you in and get you to stop fidgeting while you organize your cult DVD collection into just the perfect order.

I like how 80s-leaning indie rock has moved forward in an unexpected yet logical way in the past few years, like one of those jagged foot-bridges in a Japanese garden designed to make you focus only on the present, but gradually and imperceptibly providing transportation to the future. First it seems like The Strokes are the be-all/end-all; then Interpol, then The Rapture; then Franz Ferdinand; then The Killers; then suddenly you take a step and it's Ratatat. You look back and realize that the sound has changed (there's not even vocals anymore!), but you can see how you got there. I wonder what's at the end of the bridge … I hope it's Kitaro!

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Review by Timothy Hay