Ratatat

First of all, do yourself a favour; listen to these guys and let them blow your mind. Formerly known as Cherry, they have been creating their tar-and-feathered instrumentals since 2001; Ratatat infuse stadium-sized guitars with Timbaland-sized hooks, a dynamic they have established and developed throughout their existance. Replicated live, it is fierce and larger than life and holds an imposing sense of scale onstage.

Stroud, Mast, and Bonventre man guitar, bass, keys, and samples in a New York rock-meets-electronica kinda way, crank the volume to "excessive" and release rhythm and texture with relentless fidelity, exposing the fluid simplicity of their music.

If you caught them a couple of years back, you will remember the showering sparks, flashing spheres and phosphorescent flames of the Ratatat set , frontloaded with hits and punctuated with white light laced machine-made smoke. Their songs sounded terrific, infused with a vital mobility even at a more languid pace, and you could feel that the room was longing to dance. There is a delicate beauty to their compositions and, at times, they possess truly magical moments when all of the elements of their sound combine, outlaying their robust fragility.

In support of the boys from Crown Heights, NY is the sweet kooky popness of Little Pictures and the hardcore, healing, easy-listening weirdness of kazaamBLAM! Fits together like Voltron!

Tix on sale now at Slow Boat Records - at the bl**dy affordable price of $22.50 + booking fee.