The shuffler: Guitarist Mike Stroud,
half of rock-tronica duo Ratatat. When not cranking out hip-hop remixes with
multi-instrumentalist producer Evan Mast, the pair effortlessly create songs
filled with persistent beats, odd sound effects, and ethereal riffs, like on the
recent LP3.
Ratatat is touring behind LP3 through December.
RyanDan, "I'll Be There"
Mike Stroud: [Laughs.] Have you ever heard of RyanDan?
Really hilarious. They used to have this group called B4-4, a boy band from the
early '90s or early 2000. I'm not even sure. But they are so disgusting. I've seen
videos of them on YouTube and stuff; their hair is all bleached, gelled, and
they're all muscle dudes on the beach. Completely gay; it's pretty funny.
But this is their new
band, RyanDan. It's a cover of "I'll Be There." I remember when me and Evan [Mast]
were recording [LP3], we would listen to this once in a while. It's just really
funny, the singing. I'm pretty sure the singing [used] auto-tuners, 'cause he'll
just go down two octaves. [Imitates going from a high octave to low too quickly.]
I kept calling it "the golden staircase." It just sounds so perfect when he
goes down, it has to be fake.
My friend Dan is really
into listening to funny shit like that. He's definitely the one who introduced
me to B4-4. I'm trying to remember what their song was called. I think it's
"Get Down."
The A.V. Club: Oh, right. With the
unforgettable chorus: "If you get down on me, I'll get down on you."
MS: That's B4-4. Pretty funny song.
AVC: But they're completely serious.
MS: There is no joke. It's completely serious.
Ween, "Big Jilm"
MS: I haven't listened to Ween in a long time, but I
love this song. A lot of deep-voice stuff on this song. I want to see them
live. I guess they're supposed to be pretty good, but I'm wary of seeing them
with a full, professional band. I don't think that would be that cool. But I
don't know, maybe it would be.
AVC: Have you seen Dean Ween's Internet fishing
show, Brownie Troop F.S.?
MS: No. That doesn't surprise me at all.
AVC: You could hear pretty much anything about
Ween, and it wouldn't be surprising.
MS: You know the picture on the inside cover of Pure
Guava?
They're just posing with the craziest group of people in front of this house.
There's like 50 people. I don't even know how to describe it. They could have
been on a drug meditation retreat somewhere. [Laughs.] I don't think they could
surprise me at all.
Talking Heads, "Thank You For Sending Me An
Angel"
MS: I like this song, too. I remember my uncle Nelson
was visiting me in high school, and he showed me the Stop Making Sense movie. I didn't really
know good music; I grew up in Connecticut, barely exposed to anything. He
played me the Stop Making Sense movie, and this song was right in the beginning.
I was struck by it, I guess. That's kind of like a weird dance song, if you use
your imagination.
Devin The Dude, "Lacvile '79"
MS: He's from Houston. I haven't listened to him in a
while. Actually, I saw him play in Brooklyn like four months ago. It was
amazing. My friend Despot played before him, so we were watching on the side. The
club people [were] freaking out because he was smoking so many joints onstage.
[Laughs.] It made it really enjoyable. They were just like, "What the fuck is
going on?" Screaming at each other. You can't even smoke cigarettes in New York
[in clubs]. But Devin The Dude, he's amazing. He can sing really well, too.
He's got this really distinct, weird rapping voice. [Laughs.] I haven't
listened to this record in a long time, but I love Devin The Dude. He was just
so comfortable onstage. I'm sure he was stoned out of his mind, but he's so confident
and comfortable and laid-back. He'd be rapping, and then all of a sudden he'd break
into the chorus, singing perfectly, while, between every verse, trying to take
as many puffs on his joint as possible. Probably what impressed me most was
that every song he played was amazing.†
AVC: You guys have remixed stuff of his.
MS: Yeah, I think he's on a verse somewhere.
AVC: Does it blur together?
MS: Yeah, definitely. I can't keep track.
AVC: You have people for that.
MS: Not really. I wish I did.
T. Rex, "Oh Harley"
MS: Whoa. I don't really know this song. I've heard
it. I don't really know what I can say about that one. There's another song on
this album I really like. It's called "Salamanda Palaganda." I think this
record is—I haven't listened to this one in a long time either. I guess I
don't listen to music that much anymore.
AVC: Why?
MS: I don't know. Well, when we're touring and
recording, my ears are ringing all the time. I try and give my ears a break.
AVC: How?
MS: [Laughs.] They don't get a break. I've tried earplugs
and stuff, but it's hard to get into it. They feel weird. I got those
professional plugs, too. I don't know, I can't get into the show that way. I
haven't been listening to much music. And I don't listen too much when we're
recording either, just try and focus on making new stuff.
This is a really good song.
I've definitely listened to this song a million times over the past two years.
AVC: What about it keeps you coming back?
MS: I love all the guitar playing on it. It's just
nice, acoustic guitar playing. And his voice is just so weird. It sounds like
someone is shaking him back and forth. You know what I mean? I think this song
is written really well. I like the verses, the choruses; I love every part of
the song. I like that it's really pretty basic. He probably could have added
tons of stuff to it. To me, this song is way better than the rest of the
record. I can imagine that if I'd written it, I would have made it huge and
added drums and stuff, and I think it's cool that he just [kept it] pretty
bare-bones, really simple. So you can just hear the song, probably exactly as
he wrote it, you know?
Van Dyke Parks, "John Jones"
MS: This album, we actually listened to a ton when we
were making [LP3].
My girlfriend's mom is like obsessed [with Discover America]. She was a flight
attendant in the '60s; she would always go to Trinidad. I gave her this record
for, I think, Christmas this year. She was really excited. It's all calypso
songs. I love this record. There's a couple songs that I love especially, as I
love this one. So pimp and flow; the horn coming in and out. Last time I DJed,
I played this song. People seemed a little confused.
Van Dyke Parks. He did
like arrangements for—what is that fucking harp girl? What is her name?
Oh, Joanna Newsom. He did arrangements for her, that's pretty amazing. She's
like, trailblazing. I've never seen her play. I'd actually like to see that. I
don't have any idea how to play the harp.
Springwater, "Mary's House In The Rain"
MS: There was a hit on this record. It's an
all-instrumental record. There was a hit called, "I Will Return." Maybe I
should talk about that one. It's pretty similar to this other one. People
always write us e-mails or whatever, people from the label, "Oh, check this
band out, they sound like you guys. Blah blah blah." And I never think that it
does at all. I think someone sent Evan a link to a YouTube video for "I Will
Return." And Evan sent it to me, and we were both like, "Whoa, that does
actually kind of sound like us."
He's a guitar player, and
it's all kind of fuzzy, distorted slide. And he layers it. He had this one
song, "I Will Return," on this record that was a number-one hit in the '70s, which
was crazy. It's kind of melancholy.
AVC: It didn't bum you out that you sound similar
to it?
MS: No, I was pretty flattered, I guess. There are so
many songs on that record that I love.
Slayer, "Piece By Piece"
MS: Evan and I on tour would listen to Reign In
Blood
whenever we had to drive super-late. It's only like a half-hour long, just
blast that album. And we'd have to put it on again, because you can't listen to
anything else after you hear that album.
AVC: To stay awake?
MS: Definitely. It kept us more than awake. My friend
Dan got me into Slayer, too. I actually used to hate Slayer. He played me
Slayer in college, and I was like, "Uh, this is so annoying."
AVC: What changed your mind?
MS: I think it was Dan's birthday party. We were all
just drinking and stuff, and "Angel Of Death" came on. And at the end of that
song, he and his brother were doing the funniest air-guitar dueling. It was
like, "This song is pretty amazing." [Laughs.] Somehow that convinced me.
AVC: It's always the little things that'll change
your mind.
MS: That's true.
AVC: Are you into any other metal?
MS: Some. I don't really know that much. What do I
listen to? Nothing. I don't listen to anything anymore. I would say out of
metal records, that one's my favorite, Reign In Blood. I listen to some
Metallica here and there, but not really that much. I actually recently heard
some old Megadeth songs that I actually liked. I was shocked.
The Sugarcubes, "Birthday"
MS: Oh, I really don't like this song. Do I have to do
this? Well, it's okay. It's good, I guess.
AVC: What just changed your mind about it?
MS: I don't know. I used to like it. It's a good
song. It is
a good song.
AVC: Okay, you've talked yourself into it.
MS: [Laughs.] It's kind of cool to hear [Björk] singing
over guitars and stuff. My girlfriend works with her. She just did 18 months on
tour with her.
AVC: What does she do?
MS: She does makeup. Everyone onstage has some sort
of crazy, glow-in-the-dark makeup. [Laughs.] Yeah, some of those Sugarcubes songs
are pretty funny. She's singing, it sounds pretty amazing, then that dude Einar
[Örn Benediktsson] comes on, and he's just like [babbles throatily]. I don't
know. I guess that's probably the best song on that record, "Birthday."
The Kinks, "Victoria"
MS: I think there might be one song I don't like, but
I love The Kinks. I love Ray Davies' voice. I love the guitar playing on all
these songs. I remember sitting with the headphones on and learning every
guitar part on the record, just obsessing. I do that sometimes. Obsessing over
the whole record. I don't know. To me, there's nothing to not like about all
this stuff.
AVC: I don't think anyone's ever said, "I
fucking hate The Kinks!"
MS: [Laughs.] Yeah, everything about it is perfect.
Did you know they got banned from America for like five years? That's part of
the reason they're not as popular as The Beatles. Their first tour in America—you
know it's pretty important for bands to come over here, it's so much bigger and
everything. They were playing this TV performance, and they got in a huge
fight. I think they attacked someone who worked there. They were apparently
always getting in huge fights with each other, throwing guitars and drums at
each other and shit. They got in this huge fight, I think somebody ended up
getting hurt, and they got banned from the entire country for like five years. It's
kind of harsh, though, isn't it?
All those old Kinks
records are incredible. I remember when I was in high school, somebody
recommended The Kinks. "Oh, they're amazing." And I think I bought an '80s
album, like two '80s albums. "Man, this band sucks. The fuck?" But I don't
know. When I was in college, I heard all the older ones, like Arthur and The Village Green
Preservation Society
and all those. Something Else. They're pretty much perfect, all of them. At the
same time, I can't listen to them that much anymore.
AVC: You listened to them too much?
MS: I think I burned out.