RATATAT
TEXT MELIS ALEMDAR
PHOTO EBRU YILDIZ
DATE JULY 13, 2004

Ratatat is Evan Mast and Mike Stroud, Brooklyn residents who met in college but didn’t really get together until they both, years later, moved to New York. Their self-titled album (XL), except for a brief rap, has no lyrics or vocals, just rich layers of baroque electronic music that recalls nature documentaries, flowers unfurling in hi-speed, or some old video game where pixilated balls bounce off walls and multiply into a kaleidoscope.
The strong influence of the hip-hop stutter is smoothly blended into the intricate guitar melodies. Evan also records electronic music under the moniker E*Vax, while Mike, who was once in a guitar quartet, has played guitar on tour for Ben Kweller and Dashboard Confessional.
The thing that a lot of people are really freaking out about, though, is the remix album that came out just a few months after I did this interview. Not really an official release, but more a CD-R that’s been passed around in hand-screen-printed sleeves, the recording mixes and morphs the unexpected and turned out to be an anthemic hip-hop, dance, rock soundtrack to that late-night drunken drive to the next party. Kids in L.A. and Kansas tend
The boys just came back from Europe and will be touring the U.S. in the fall. Check their website. Not just for a show near you. Check it for the surreal little tableaux that their devoted fanbase has painstakingly staged, photographed, and uploaded. This is not Spinal Tap, but with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, Ratatat might just get there.
Let’s start with how you guys met.
Mike: We met at Skidmore College, in ’99. He was two years ahead of me. We met on Halloween. It was very exciting. I’m pretty sure he gave me the finger. He was his dad. I had a weird costume, with dolls attached to my shirt. That’s where we first met.
Evan: I don’t remember it thus.
Mike: You don’t remember giving me the finger?
Evan: Nah. That’s probably a good thing, though.
Mike: I’m sorry. I was just being a dick (laughs).
You have no vocals in your music. Why do you think people make such a big deal about that? You could almost hear the singing through the melodies.
Evan: I agree with that. They’re sorta set up like pop songs. They build up, and then there’s something that comes out and returns, almost like a chorus.
Do people dance at your shows?
Mike: Sometimes, but not enough. The songs are so close to pop songs the way they’re structured, you’d expect singing, but it’s not there. We didn’t think it needed it. We’re not big singers (smiles).
Are you excited about the tour?
Evan: Yeah. We’ve gone on five tours before, but-
Mike: We’ve never done a full-blown U.S. tour. We did a West Coast tour last fall with Interpol, then we went out with the Stills for a week and did a couple of shows with Franz Ferdinand. This time we’re doing headlining shows on the West Coast. We’re pretty excited about that. We’re going to England after this tour with the Killers. We’re opening for some bands there.
How is the vibe different in each city that you tour?
Mike: The shows in California on the Interpol tour were really good. After San Diego, we got so many emails from people saying, ‘Come back!’
Evan: There were so many people excited about the show.
Mike: We had a good show in Seattle. We just had an awesome show in Pittsburgh on our last tour. We headlined the show and there were only fifty people there, but everyone was dancing.
Evan: People were into it. It was great.
Mike: And then we played New York, two days later, and it sucked.
You picked Ratatat because-
Evan: We were brainstorming, and it was the only one we both didn’t hate.
Mike: Yeah, we had this system: we had our potential album cover, we put the name on top, and that was the ultimate test. ‘No, that sucks!’ (Evan laughs) and it was the only one! Evan came up with it, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s not horrible.’ And there’s also the Dr. Dre reference ["Rat-a-Tat-Tat," from The Chronic].
In discussing your album, people have mentioned hip-hop, metal, and arena rock. What do you guys listen to?
Mike: Oh, that was all hip-hop. We love Jay-Z. Beanie Siegel. Wu-Tang Clan.
Evan: We listen to a lot of stuff, a lot of classic rock, the Kinks and the Beatles.
Mike: We reference Talking Heads sometimes in the guitar parts, and Queen. We’re getting into dub, you know, Augustus Pablo, King Tubby. I’m always looking for something new. I like classical music too. I love Beethoven. I even like country.
Why ‘even’?
Mike: Everyone’s always like, ‘everything but country.’
Evan: I kinda like country music, too.
Mike: We are the pinnacle of emo (laughs).
Mike: Seriously.
The pinnacle of emo, the saviors of modern rock.
Mike: Yeah. The Messiah of Emo. (More laughter)
You guys were describing your music. What kind of music would you say you make?
Mike: We were?
Evan: I don’t wanna do that.
Mike: I think we’re a punk band.
Evan: I think it’s post-emo.
Is there such a genre as post-emo?
Mike: There should be.
Evan: I heard that there’s now emo hip-hop. I haven’t heard the music, though.
Mike: Really?
Evan: It’s by white people.
Mike: Of course.
Like hardcore, but not as much shouting?
Evan: I don’t know, really.
Mike: Wait, isn’t Dashboard called screamo?
Evan: Is it?
Mike: I think so.
Mike: It’s just pathetic, feeling sorry for yourself. So bad.
Evan: It’s depressing. It becomes self-absorbed.
Mike: Self-absorbed, ignorant, stupid, and immature. It sounds like you’re writing your high-school diary. So annoying.
So that’s why there are no words in your music (laughs).
Mike: No, we’re not emo, dude (laughs).
Evan: He’s just kidding -
Mike: We’re not really the pinnacle of emo.
Evan: Have you ever heard of shotgunning beer?
Mike: You poke a hole in a can of beer -
Evan: He tried it the other night.
Did it work?
Mike: I don’t remember. I feel like it sprayed, though.
Evan: Sprayed a lot, yeah. It was being passed around.
Mike: I’ve seen flawless performances of the shotgun.
Evan: Yeah. It’s impressive seeing somebody drinking one beer in three seconds.