May Mix

Here's a few of our favorite tracks of late, strung together in a shoddy mix. What it lacks in fluidity it makes up for in substance, and riboflavin. Tracklist below.

Walter Meego - Forever
Ratatat - Shempi
Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)
Ninjasonik - Tight Pants
Hot Chip - Hold On
Bloc Party - Flux (JFK Remix)

- BA

RATATAT release new single, announce album

Well, that pretty much sums it up. And it seems everyones been writing about this today. Nonetheless, just a quick line to inform those who haven't heard yet that RATATAT have just released a new 7" entitled 'Shiller'. To add to the excitement, they have also announced that their third album, 'LP3' will be hitting the streets July 8th! Unfortunately for some, the 7" is only available on vinyl. But it does contain 'Mahalo', which is a preview of 'LP4'. As the guys describe it, it's from the future. From what they have been busting out live recently, 'LP3' is going to have some of you're favorite tracks of the summer. Get the 7" here for the low price of $3.00.

RATATAT - Shiller (zshare)
RATATAT - Shiller (ysi)

...And stream 'Mahalo' here at the 'Saul Sierce' Blog.

-Matty B.

Live : RATATAT in Sydney

As I was cruising around the world wide web the other night, I decided to randomly check out Ratatat's myspace page and see what they were up to. To my surprise, they were playing in Sydney the very next night! There wasn't an option here, I immediately got my hands on some tickets, not caring about cost. I was amazed that I hadn't heard even a whisper of the Essential Festival '08. A day long festival hosted by Myspace, Drumbeat Media (Australia's equivalent to Exclaim! for our Canadian readers) and several others, to showcase rising Australian talent in this new wave indie-rock scene we all seem to know and love.

Before I get into the awesomeness that would ensue, honorable mention goes to Sydney's Grafton Primary. Even though singer Joshua Garden was at times a bit overly eccentric for my liking, they kept up a high energy performance with catchy synth songs. Gotta love that keytar. Next up on props is Bluejuice. I had been loving their 'Vitriol' track for some time beforehand, and the rest of their set did not dissapoint. These boys came out swinging with their upbeat style of indie rock with a little bit of hip-hop thrown into the mix. The harmonies between the two main vocalists combine to form one very stylish single voice.

Ok, now onto my main boys. There was no introduction, there was no explanation, Ratatat simply got on and began to own the stage. The crowd was packed in front of the main stage, but I was also surprised both before and during the show how many Australians were not familiar with the awesomeness that was Ratatat. Needless to say, they are now. This year's festival was apparently the first time an international band was added to the line-up. Did they ever make a great pick. Accompanied by visuals that included everything from abstract images to scenes from 'Predator', the boys performed some of the greatest songs from both albums, as well as a slew of new tracks. There was no time for talk or banter in between songs, not like I had expected it from these guys anyway. They used every minute to cram in as much as they could, leaving the crowd chanting and begging for more. I talked to the guys briefly after the show, curious about what was in the works for them. They were only willing to mention that the Bjork remix was their latest work, but assured me that newer originals were on the way. It's too bad they had to make way for Regurgiator, a fan favorite of Australians for years now, but certainly not of mine. These guys have been around since the early 90's and it shows. Compared to the other great acts of the day, their sound was stale and made me feel like I was 14 again at some pop-punk show, complete with little girls being pulled up on stage by the guitarist. Dude, lame. The majority of the crowd seemed to enjoy it, as many of them seemed to have grown up with the tunes. But to an outsider, it seemed out of place with the new age sound the festival was trying to promote. Check out some of the pictures below and some short clips (sorry they are so dark..it's the sound that counts!) of the new tracks, I'm sure people are now getting annoyed by the fact my camera only takes about 20 seconds of footage at a time, I will try to remedy this situation for the Black Kids show this week!

Bluejuice - Vitriol

-Matty B.

RATATAT Remixes Vol II available for free

That's right, RATATAT's excellent second hip-hop remix album is now available from the boys' website for free. Self-released and previously only distributed at live shows (for $5), the album has recently been made available online in its entirety as a free download. The 14 tracks include mixes of vocals from artistis such as Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West, The Game, Ludacris, Memphis Bleek, T.I., Young Buck, Juvenile and Jay-Z with beats from a leaked instrumental album and other material. Grab the album here and read more about it here.

Check out some of the original instrumental tracks sans lyrics:

RATATAT - four
RATATAT - one
RATATAT - two

Oh yeah, and according to Wikipedia, "it has been rumored that they will be signed by Star Trak as the understudies of the Neptunes." WTF Wikipedia? How do you know this shiz?

- a.m.p.m.

Remix Sunday - Heart It Races

Okay, so it has been around forEVER, but I'm still loving the Dr. Dog cover of Architecture in Helsinki's 'Heart it Races'. I was aready having trouble deciding which I liked better, the original or the Dr. Dog version, and now to complicate things even further along comes Spruce Lee's bounce-tacular remix. The Australian DJ caught my attention last year when he dropped a spot-on mashup of Ratatat's 'Wildcat' with Spank Rock's 'Backyard Betty' and has supported the likes of DJ Mehdi, A-Trak and Ghislain Poirier. Keep your eyes (and ears) on this guy.

As for the the new Architecture in Helsinki album Places Like This, on the whole it's pretty darn good. Standout tracks include 'Like It Or Not', 'Hold Music' and 'Nothing's Wrong'.

Architecture in Helsinki - Heart It Races (Dr. Dog cover)
Architecture in Helsinki - Heart It Races (Spruce Lee remix) [Grâce à Fluokids]

Etc:
Wildcat vs Backyard Betty (Spruce Lee refix)
Architecture in Helsinki - Like It Or Not

- a.m.p.m.

RATATAT - Gettysburg @ Guggenheim

'Gettysburg' is one of my favourite RATATAT tracks, and when the guys played it live at a show here in London a few months ago, I lost my freakin' mind. In my humble opinion, the live version is stronger than the Classics cut. This video is from their set at NYC's Guggenheim Museum last year and it illustrates the shenanigans the boys get up to, as well as the searing guitar duel outro (versus the album version's fade-out).


'Gettysburg' was recently used to soundtrack this excellent and informative clip on Nuclear Weapons Transparency:


- a.m.p.m.

Bonus:
Biggie Smalls - Party and Bullshit (RATATAT Remix)
Z-ro, Devin the Dude & Juvenile - The Mule (RATATAT Remix)
Ghostface ft. Jadakiss - Run (RATATAT Remix)
Jay-Z & Notrious B.I.G. - Allure (RATATAT Remix)

New Kanye West Album Just Days Away

Graduation, Kanye West's third effort, is to be released in the UK on Monday and the US the following day. The album has already garnered all kinds of critical praise from Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and AllHipHop.com and the first two singles, 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' and 'Stronger' have both proved commercial successes. The Chris Martin-backed 'Homecoming' is to be the third single.

Although I'm not the biggest Kanye West fan in the world, I did enjoy The College Dropout and Late Registration and it looks like Graduation will have a few gems to rub shoulders with classic Kanye cuts like 'Jesus Walks', 'School Spirit', and 'Gold Digger'. Grab the tracks below and judge for yourself; you can also stream the whole album here thanks to Power 105.1.

- a.m.p.m.

Kanye West - Flashing Lights
Kanye West - Homecoming
Kanye West - Good Life

bonus:
Kanye West - Young Folks (freestyle)
Kanye West - Diamonds (Ratatat remix)

Edit, Copy, Paste

DJ Copy started to get noticed when he dropped his Diva Mixtape Vol. 1, where he remixed the R & B stylings from the likes of Destiny's Child, TLC, and Mariah Carey into tracks that sound like they were produced on that Commodore 64 in your basement. Next, he performed similar remixes with some of the most notable tracks from Bone Thugs N Harmony's East 1999 album, and I couldn't have been more excited. I was reliving the days when I would constantly play this cassette on the bus ride to school, but now with an electro dance rock spin on it. Now, with the release of his full length album Hair Guitar, DJ Copy demonstrates that his knack for making danceable 8-bit remixes carries over amazingly well to his own solo creations. The result is just over 40 mins. of some of the best hip-hop electro beats you've heard. One of the great things about Copy is that he keeps things relativley simple. The tracks don't get lost in multiple layers or overdone effects. Copy takes his beat, a few lines that work, and leaves everything else. Hair Guitar has been compared to the likes of Ratatat, M83, and Justice, for his ability to make tracks that you'll want to bob your head to over and over again.
Be sure to order your copy of Hair Guitar at Audio Dregs, and if you're quick enough, you might still get that Bone Thugs N Copy CD free with your order.

- Matty B.

DJ Copy - This is Promotional (YSI)
DJ Copy - See you around maybe (YSI)
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Can't Give it up (DJ Copy Remix) (YSI)

Remix Sunday - Sharing and Caring

This is, in my opinion, one of the best remixes of 2006. Ratatat takes The Knife's disjointed, frenetic and slightly disturbing 'We Share Our Mother's Health' and restructures it into something much more comprehensible. I particularly like what is done with the rearrangement of the vocals, and where the original is cold and downright creepy the remix is much more user-friendly, encouraging the listener to shuffle their feet and bob their head if not dance outright. As much as I love the original, I love the remix for all different reasons.

The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health (Ratatat Remix)

-Andrew M

Fine Beats

The creative forces behind Bridging the Atlantic are big fans of electro/guitar duo Ratatat. That being said, it should come as no surprise that we’re all waiting with bated breath for Remixes Vol. II. For those unfamiliar with Ratatat’s Remixes mixtape project, our boys take classic and contemporary rap tracks, strip away everything musical to render them a cappella, and add their own brand of beats and riffs. The results are glorious. Volume I included reworks of tracks by Method Man, Kanye West, G-Unit and Missy Elliott, among others.

When a mysterious collection of 9 Beats attributed to Ratatat surfaced in October of last year, we couldn’t help but think that these tantalising samples were destined for remix greatness. Now, as completed compositions from Volume II begin to hit the streets, it would appear that we were right.

'Track Six' from the 9 Beats leak backs '3 Kings' to great effect:
Ratatat – Track Six
Slim Thug, Bun B. & T. I. – 3 Kings (Ratatat Remix)

Remixes Vol. I was self-released by the band and sold at live shows; expect the same protocol for Vol. II. If that alone isn’t reason enough to catch Ratatat in concert, rest assured that they put on an absolutely killer show. They rocked the house at Madame Jojo’s here in London last month, and I’ll be catching them again with CSS on April 23rd. Once is never enough.

Bonus:
Notorious B.I.G. - Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)

- Andrew M