Lollapalooza 2011: Ratatat / by Doyle Armbrust

While threads of music tailor-made for network hospital dramas slipped between the branches enshrouding the Google+ stage from over at Budweiser, techs scrambled to disassemble the handbell choir...er, OK Go set to make way for the 8:45pm slot. NY riff-mongers Ratatat would not take the stage till 9pm, teasing the crowd with an occasional synth flourish to test the monitors, and leaving a beer-ed up crowd antsy for confirmation that its bypass of Muse would not be in vain.

Wasting no time with the gathering’s waning patience, guitarist Mike Stroud and and bassist/keyboardist Evan Mast breached the underwater-sounding synth-loop intro with instant charmer "Loud Pipes." Suggestive squirts of digital water erupted on a pair of 12-foot high plexiglass shields, flanking the stage and acting as secondary, see-through screens. Next up, percussion-centric "Grape Juice City" which sent Mast for the mallets, working over the drum machine with clap-inducing verve. The mesmerizing, and subtly disturbing, video accompanying the drum break features mirrored rows of unwitting fowl, dipping crowns and beaks in a kind of feathered choreography that’s as weirdly captivating as a roadside pileup. Using simple footage, Ratatat’s on-screen antics continue to be an essential element to the show, such as with Stroud and Mast headbanging in tandem to nuclear explosions detonating in front of the be-mulleted pair. Or for the lead-in to crowd favorite “Wildcat,” in which some poor devil looks to be battling Dengue fever (and losing), Max-Headroom style.

There’s something simply gratifying about watching a band on stage set marginally apart from the milieu, as the nearby riffraff grows more intoxicated, experiencing sounds with no interruption of lyrics. Anthemic meditation from guitar/bass duos that slay on command? Sounds like the perfect end to the first day of Lolla. Now to beat those Coldplay minions to the El...

- Doyle Armbrust

published on the Time Out Chicago Audio File Blog on August 5th, 2011