CD review: Ratatat, LP4 (XL Recordings)

Less dense, throbbing and overtly druggy as LP3 -- with the exception of a rhythmic and dance-y track called, well, "Drugs" -- LP4 manages to be both lighter and more complex than its predecessor. Tunes like "Grape Juice City," "Bare Feast," "Mahalo" and "Bob Gandhi" incorporate upbeat exotic rhythms to create a sort of worldly ethnic block-party vibe without alienating Ratatat's signature subtle synth weirdness, while the stately full-string-section coda to opener "Bilar" is perhaps the pair's most evocative and cinematic passage to date. Elsewhere, the bright, sinewy, slithering guitar lines longtime fans expect swoop and dive to surprising effect, and bouncy keyboard lines nearly fit for '70s kids' TV shows uplift while organic percussion of all types thickens and plays off the stark, click-y, deceptively propulsive canned beats that, if they didn't inspire the act's name, should have.

The fact that there are no set-in-stone protocols for indie-band development is unarguably a positive one. At the same time, though, it's great to put on the new disc by a familiar project expecting to hear a great mix of familiar and new sounds, and have that expectation succeeded.

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