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RECORDINGS Quick Spins
A musical odd couple? Thanks to fine supporting players, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis are well matched.
(By Danny Clinch)
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The duo's third album, "LP3," sounds as coherent as it does motley. Setting eight-bit gurgles and glossy guitar licks to a trim disco beat, "Shempi" is the only cut from "LP3" that approaches the schizophrenia Ratatat's myriad influences might suggest. The rest of the disc is impressively tidy, with prog-rock keyboards, trip-hop atmospherics and loping reggae cadences all happily coexisting in one utopian soundscape.
Of course, Ratatat's sonic signature is still firmly intact: harmonized guitar solos that find catchy common ground between the Eagles and Iron Maiden. (Stroud's talents on the fretboard come as no surprise -- he's done stage and studio time with the likes of Ben Kweller and Dashboard Confessional.)
Yet, despite the proggy six-string heroics, "LP3" still feels more Super Mario Bros. than Supertramp. The songs often suffer from elliptical arrangements, chasing their own tails like the music score of an old-school video game. (The middling "Bird-Priest" practically refuses to reach its conclusion until some errant turtle shell knocks Mario into a nearby pit.) Thankfully, that isn't the case with album opener "Shiller," a sleek, mesmerizing track that proves Ratatat's arcade is still certainly worth a visit.
-- Chris Richards
DOWNLOAD THESE:"Shempi," "Shiller"
