Interview with Ratatat's Mike Stroud

Mike Stroud: Where’s your neck? Hiding hickies under there?

Litter Paragon: Uh…I just thought I’d wear my cat scarf to your show. Which was great by the way.
MS: Thanks. I hope I don’t smell too bad. I’m really sweaty.

LP: Haha, everyone is, I think. How do you like it here? Have you or Evan (Mast) ever been to Oberlin before?
MS: This is our first time. It just seems really small. I don’t know. I was just in the bus and then in this building here, and then that ‘Sco place. It seems good. Do you like it?

LP: Yeah, I love it. You and Evan met at college, right?
MS: Yes, at Skidmore, but we hardly knew each other really. And we didn’t really play together until 2001 or something like that. I was a classical music major, and then I realized the whole college thing is kind of bullshit and I left after two years. Like, it’s so motherfuckin’ expensive, you know? And as a musician, you just have to do it. A lot of music business you can’t learn in school.

LP: How did you first cultivate your highly recognizable sound?
MS: What do you mean?

LP: Usually, with both your remixes and your original work, you can immediately recognize it as Ratatat.
MS: We just make music. The new record was mostly recorded in two days. There was no time to plan ahead. Evan had some beats or whatever, and then we just slammed through the rest of it.

LP: How much of the melodic content is charted out, or planned before hand?
MS: None of it. It’s mostly improv.

LP: Where do you find more inspiration, in hip hop or in electronic music?
MS: I kind of hate electronic music. And I hate modern hip hop too, actually. The kind of music that influences me most in making the melodies and everything is classical music. All the remix shit, all that stuff – that’s Evan’s thing, not mine. If I listen to hip hop, it’s stuff like Wu Tang.

LP: Funny you should mention Wu Tang. GZA was here a little over a week ago.
MS: You get a lot of good music here, don’t you?

LP: Yeah; it’s amazing. You’re touring with some great artists yourself – how is tour going?
MS: It’s so good. The guy from Panther and I have become really tight over the past couple weeks. It’s crazy. My favorite band to tour with, ever, probably.

LP: A lot of people expect to see two traditional DJs, bent over laptops when they see you live, which is not at all what you do. How do you decide which parts to play live, which parts to sample…?
MS: We were never going to be just some laptop band. I don’t know. We just play what we think will bring more energy to the show.

LP: You said you don’t like electronic music…but the new Animal Collective remix of your song “Mirando” is being called a 10-minute techno masterpiece. How do you feel about that?
MS: Honestly I couldn’t care less.

LP: Really? It’s a milestone for Animal Collective to be remixing. Do you like Animal Collective?
MS: Uh…I don’t know. I just don’t really care.

LP: Do you even like the remix albums that you guys have put out?
MS: I guess they’re ok. But that is Evan’s thing. I don’t have much of a say in it.

LP: You’re a big part of the Brooklyn music scene. How do you like it there?
MS: I love it. We’ve been focusing on our own shit lately, but it’s a good place to be for music and stuff. Where do you live?

LP: Colorado. But I’ll probably end up in Brooklyn like most other Oberlin graduates.
MS: Oh yeah? Where in Brooklyn?

LP: I’m not sure –
MS: Oh, ok, I get it, I get it. You don’t want to tell me where you live.

LP: No, I just don’t kn-
MS: Well, I’ll give you my exact address – I’ll tell you exactly where I live. I live at ________ in Williamsburg. You can come party with us. Why so mysterious? Just tell me where you live! Where do you live?!

LP: I don’t know yet!
MS: Ok. I’ll give up. Any more questions?

LP: Yeah! Your music has been featured on TV, in movies, in Louis Vuitton fashion shows, and even in hospitals where new mothers are giving birth, according to Pitchfork. How does this kind of ubiquity feel?
MS: I mean, I guess we just don’t really pay that much attention. It’s kind of weird, I guess.

LP: Well, it was a fantastic show. Congratulations on the new album and the international tour. Where are you most excited to go?
MS: We really like Switzerland, Europe in general I guess.

LP: Very cool. Well, it was nice meeting you. Have a good tour.
MS: You too.

Ratatat Kicks it From Their Heads @ the 'Sco

There were only two surefire ways this show could have gone down: gloriously, majestically, energetically as familiar beats and intertwined melodies caressed our welcoming eardrums, or with an unpleasant fire alarm due to the significant amounts of marijuana being consumed within the ‘Sco directly before Ratatat came on stage as impatient potheads looked around nervously, muttering “Where’s the weed at?” As the sold-out audience filtered out of the ‘Sco a little after 1 AM, saturated in sweat and thoroughly bruised, exhausted, and euphoric, I was thankful only that, wherever the weed was at, only a few bowls were consumed.

The highlights derived not only from the headlining Ratatat, but also from openers E*Rock and Panther, both of which performed as headliners would. E*Rock, one of many DJs out there going for the masked look, is prolific in many respects as the founder of Audio Dregs Records in Portland, OR as well as a visual artist and illustrator. Although the gritty sound of textured electronic layers and distortions may be immediately comparable to DJs such as Boys Noize or other masked DJs, the Bloody Beetroots, E*Rock’s usage of acoustic samples, toy instruments, and live percussion set him apart from other “bangers” out there. The overall effect of the black mask was one of complete emersion, allowing the audience to experience the live music as an entity in and of itself instead of as an aesthetic companion to recordings, which allowed for instantaneous energy, the culmination of which consisted in panoramic, neon explosions taking place in the background as E*Rock writhed and thrashed about on stage with a small, white device in each hand delivering intense deconstructions of sound and electronic mayhem. The usual milling around and gradual build of interest in the show certainly did not apply here – many loyal Ratatat fans found their spots during E*Rock’s set and danced their asses off until the very end.

Perhaps a tad more accessible to fans of both electronic and indie rock, Panther, also from Portland, took the stage by storm. Opening with the catchy tune, “Puerto Rican Jukebox,” Charlie Salas-Humara hit it with an infectious stage presence complete with a cutesy dance he calls “floor dancing” (he fancies himself the originator of said dance) and a slightly blemished singing voice which echoed with an undeniable charm around the ‘Sco. Using everything from guitars and drums to create a more traditional rock n’ roll sound to samplers and voice distortion, sleigh bells, and bongos to add the trademark Panter quirks, Salas-Humara was on top form. He even tipped his metaphysical hat to us during his set, calling the show the best he has had so far. Although the first song was perhaps the best of the set, the gusto of the audience kept steadily increasing as dreams of Ratatat shifted like sugar plums in our collective one-track mind.

It seemed like hours before Ratatat made their appearance on stage, but the audience certainly bemused themselves in the meantime, shouting different variations on the word “Ratatat” at various intervals (I heard “Rat Tits,” “Tatatar,” and “Rata-tata-tat” the most often, as well as the occasional “I’m going to Ratatat on you”). As soon as guitarist Mike Stroud and producer/synthesizer wizard Evan Mast meandered on stage with friend and big-haired touring accessory, Jacob Morris on keyboards, the crowd shared in a moment of frantic excitement, some people being knocked over even before any music started.

The set opened with a downtempo number from their new album, LP3, entitled “Brulee.” Despite the relaxed nature of the song and the delightful, twinkly piano samples, people were already being pushed to and fro and back again. Ratatat has been known for their live performances, which is mainly a product of cleverly designed set lists. Because there are sometimes a dozen or more parts occurring simultaneously in a given song, an entirely live performance would be practically impossible. Therefore, Ratatat sticks to formula, choosing three parts to focus the audience’s attention on, relying on samples for the rest of the work. The result is predictable, yes, but organized in a way where one cannot possibly feel a drop in energy. Opening with songs like “Brulee” and the next tune, “Mi Viejo,” Stroud and Mast captured our attention with live Latin percussion and Spanish-inspired minimalist melodies. Many eager fans had already lost their front-row status at this point, some people being pushed almost entirely on stage by the swelling masses wishing for a better look.

By the third song, and second single off of LP3, “Mirando,” chaos had ensued within the ‘Sco. This was perhaps the most interesting song to see performed live, as it is one of the more melodically complex tracks off of the new album. The band members themselves seemed more in-touch with their music during this and other newer tracks such as “Bird Priest.” Crowd favorites were undeniably “Lex” and “Wildcat” (which actually uses a sample of an actual wildcat roaring), although I couldn’t help but notice that, when I closed my eyes, I could have been just be listening to Classics on high volume in a room full of sweaty, dancing college students. Innately energetic as progressive songs, the fact that the band members seemed slightly bored or tired during these performances did little to diminish the overall effect. Jacob Morris, however, seemed to become more comfortable on stage as time went on, occasionally humping their stage crew or Mike Stroud during less active musical sections.

“I've been rapping for about seventeen years, okay? / I don't write my stuff anymore I just kick it from my head; / you know what I'm sayin’? / I can do that. / No disrespect, but that’s just how I am.” Thus opened what seemed to be the decisive crowd favorite, “Seventeen Years.” As the Baroque-inspired guitar riffs and powerful hip hop groove led into a single note jam, and finally to a chilled-out, simple beat accompanied by chorale-style harmonies, the energy finally subsided. Despite a few missed notes, this encore was a perfect sendoff for the most successful show the ‘Sco has seen lately. They can do that. No disrespect, but that’s just how it was.

Ratatat - "Mirando" (mp3)
Ratatat - "Seventeen Years" (mp3)

WOBC Fall Preview

If you are like one of the 125 lucky recipients of a radio show on 91.5 FM WOBC, Oberlin Community and College Radio, congratulations! You can now put your hundreds upon hundreds of gigabytes of virtually unknown music to use, serenading friends, families, professors, stalkers, and mysterious international listeners 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

As the second largest student organization on campus, WOBC is a medium through which Oberlin students and community members can express themselves through whatever brand of strange music they’re into. Shows on WOBC really do run the full musical gamut. Everything from rock/pop to classical, from electronic to jazz, from metal to freeform…it’s all on the air, helping to make WOBC Princeton Review’s #6 college radio station.

This year in particular marks a few milestones for WOBC. Two of our staffers have started working with a newly added genre – R&B and soul, which has inspired a certain degree of divergence from old trends in programming, adding more from this genre to the mix. Programming Director Matt Friberg also commented that he has been surprised by the amount of shows focusing on blues this year in particular.

Fluctuations in programming like this could be due, in part, to the many eager first-year DJs. Although much of the selection process for shows is based on seniority within WOBC and past commitment to the station, the first-years play an important role, helping to make the station one of the few smaller college radio stations able to broadcast at all hours. So when you hear your roommate’s alarm going off for their show at 4 AM, roll over and go back to sleep, thinking of how noble they are in their efforts to play music for anyone who happens to want a radio fix in the middle of the night. Yes, children, there are people listening. In fact, I once got a call-in request for Depeche Mode at 5 AM.

This year, a main goal for the station is to “broaden exposure,” Friberg informed me, “so it’s not just DJs in a booth anymore. We want to interact and engage with the college and community.” One of the different ways WOBC plans on branching out is through WOBC nights at the ‘Sco. These will feature station DJs playing some of their favorite music on Friday nights once or twice a month, the first of these being Friday, October 3rd with R&B and soul night. Another exciting development is Studio B, which is a fully functioning space for bands to record reel-to-reels, perform live on air, and for WOBC DJs to interview speakers or bands that are stopping through.

Some of the most innovative and unique shows come from Oberlin community members. This year, on a show called “Heist School Musical” (Saturdays, 10 AM – noon), an Oberlin High School class plays some of their favorites, the tag line being, “We're gonna take WOBC back from all you college punks, and bring it to some high school-aged lovers of radio. We've listened to your shows for a long time now, so hear what we've got to say.” The Oberlin Unitarian Universalist Fellowship also has a show. This talk show, entitled “Connections” (Thursdays, 10-11 AM) brings in members of the fellowship as well as professors and other community members to “explore issues of local and global consequence in our post-modern world.” Another interesting addition this year is “Spirals of Everlasting Change” (Thursdays, 2-4 AM), which is a freeform show focusing on the roots of experimental and industrial music brought to us by Chang, who was involved with seminal 70s noise music, having been in an important noise group called Non. And these are just three of the approximately 125 shows you could tune into.

In order to get shows, students and community members have to propose a cohesive idea. This could be something enthralling that could bridge the gap between genres and make something avant garde or under-the-radar a little more accessible, something that throws you back in time, something thought-provoking, or maybe even something a little silly. Despite some common stigmas about the station, WOBC is not necessary a pretentious institution. As Friberg put it, “To be pretentious is not the goal of the WOBC DJ. To have the attitude that ‘Oh, I win. I’ve heard this song before and you haven’t’ is not the intent. You’ll hear a lot of pop shows that aren’t what you’re going to hear on top 40 radio. It’s a learning experience.”

So listen to your friends’ shows, wake up to some new music, or turn on the radio while you’re trying to finish up that essay late at night. Who knows, if you listen enough, you could maybe even start figuring out your friends’ Shakespeer nicknames. You can listen at 91.5 FM, or from the webcast at www.wobc.org.