December 27, 2010

In Ratatat’s Dreams

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The first time I saw Ratatat live, the energy of the music prompted me and my college friends to sing through most of the experience—not an unusual reaction for a concertgoer, except when you take into account that Ratatat’s songs have no lyrics. A combination of rhythmic force and the lyrical personality of the central riff made us feel encompassed by a rock or hip-hop ballad—soon the entire room was shaking along to the beat.

The duo, made up of multi-instrumentalist Evan Mast and guitarist Mike Stroud (who’s also played with Dashboard Confessional and Ben Kweller), carves songs out of electronica, hip-hop, and heavy-metal grains, though what sets them apart is their ability to provide clear shape and definition to their instrumental melodies. With their LP4 album, relased in June, they dish out more of these imaginative-yet-controlled tracks—”Party With Children” and “Drugs” being the most climactic. I recently emailed Stroud to ask about his favorite music, guilty pleasures, and fantasy venues.

Mother Jones: What’s the latest song, good or bad, that super-glued itself in
your brain?

Mike Stroud: “In Dreams,” by Roy Orbison (good)
“I Don’t Want the World to See Me,” by the Goo Goo Dolls (amazing)

MJ: Shuffle your iPod and name the first five songs that pop
up.

MS: 1. Metallica, “No Remorse”
2. Led Zeppelin, “You Shook Me”
3. Electric Light Orchestra, “Do Ya”
4. Sam Cooke, “Having a Party”
5. Lou Reed, “Perfect Day”

MJ: Three records you never get sick of listening to?

MS: The Kinks, Arthur
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Slayer, Reign in Blood

MJ: Name a guilty pleasure—something you like to listen to but don’t like
to admit it.

MS: “Angel” by Aerosmith; “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo

MJ: Favorite holiday song or album?

MS: Phil Spector’s Christmas Album

MJ: Ratatat was the first group to play a live show inside the Guggenheim. What’s another dream location for you?

MS: The Condom Museum in Amsterdam

MJ: Of all the instruments you play, which one comes to you most naturally?

MS: Harmonica

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

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