Evan Mast’s and Mike Stroud’s kaleidoscopic, pop-culture-saturated interests yield instrumental soundscapes that range from guitar-driven anthems to atmospheric tunes that could double as the soundtrack of a spaghetti western as directed by Wes Anderson.
The scruffy-headed Brooklyn duo known as Ratatat — Mast plays keyboards and crafts beats; Stroud plays guitar and various other things — released its third full-length, LP3, last summer. Eight months later they’re finally hitting our little corner of the world behind an album that tweaks the duo’s party-starting formula but still sounds like the best video-game score ever.
Mast threw out this list of LP3 influences in a recent interview with some British music mag: “Indian percussion; Afghan ‘war’ rugs; flugelhorn; Morris Louis paintings; (Ray) Harryhausen films; my piano; tostadas from the Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood; Maori folk stories; my sister’s art projects; watercolors; making music videos; birds — specifically their vocal systems — beer; girls; fun.”
They play Bogarts at 8 p.m. Get Sound Advice here.