3

Certain artists stamp their work with an indelible brand. You hear some country song, and suddenly you *know* Mark Knopfler did the guitar work. Same with Ratatat; you hear some piece in the background of a Youtube video and the maker's mark is utterly unmistakable. Only once have I been fooled: when I asked a composer about a song, their response was, "It's my original composition, but I wanted it to sound like Ratatat."That's pretty high praise.Ratatat keeps up the good work with this album. I can't really say whether LP3 is better or worse than Wildcat or Classics, since Ratatat's music really defies that kind of thinking. Asking whether a particular Ratatat song is better than another song is like asking whether this lemonade is better than that tree; they are unique items with unique characteristics, and while some characteristics might objectively be viewed as making a positive or negative contribution, they can really only be viewed as parts of a broader soundscape. Each song contributes *richness* in different ways, like the layers of cake, and the total is greater than the sum of parts.What I can say, definitively, is that a world with 14 more Ratatat tracks is better in every way than a world with fewer Ratatat tracks.I rated this album 4-stars for only one reason: a few of the tracks use non-musical sounds as part of the basic rhythm (splashing water or scratching guitar strings, for example), and I feel like a few of these choices were distracting and did not fit with the whole composition.Edit added: I was composing a playlist recently and realized why Ratatat is so important to me. As I dropped ELO's *Yours Truly 2095* and a track by Daft Punk into the same playlist, I got to thinking that in decades of musical development, way too many things have stayed the same. Honestly, you could drop early-80s ELO into a club today and it would sound perfectly at home. You could send My Chemical Romance back in time, and they could do a double-header show with Cheap Trick and nobody would think it sounded strange. Eric Burdon of The Animals could sing right along with Rob Thomas and you'd never think that Mr. Thomas was the result of 40 more years of musical evolution. Don McLean and Beck could mix a new word salad, and the common thread would be unmistakable.That's why Ratatat is so important. It's unapologetically, unmistakably *new*, and breaks ground in musical sound. We need more of it.

This is an absolutely perfect instrumental album to listen to basically any time.

Lp3...What can I say? throw this on in some headphones and you'll be good for about an hour.Unless you've listened to another ratatat album right before, then your ears may hurt.If my hearing is gone when I'm old because of this, I think that's ok. I'll have heard enough by thenHUH?!

Occupies the musical niche that exists somewhere between Beethoven, Bob Marley, and Daft Punk. The concept sounds pretty impossible, but I can't really think of specific genre of music this album comes closer to. The mood of the songs tends to veer between slightly dancey, slightly melancholy, slightly angry, but when they pull out all the stops (as in Shempi, which I think is track 7) the effect is absolutely epic.So overall, as weird as it is, I can't recommend it enough.

Heard this on YouTube and just had to have it. Shempi is my favorite track on here, but I like most of them which is unusual. Most times I only like one or two songs, and the rest I skip over. No so on this album.

This album is the next stop of Ratatat's evolution. For those that are fans & love their style and great craft, this is Ratatat 2.0. LP3 is a buffet of fantastic sound that will send you on a journey of ah. For those that are just getting into this band, you'll probably really enjoy LP3 if you're already into (what I like to call) elecro-rock, but one might start with their album before - Classics, which really is classic.

I was first introduced to Ratatat when my friend brought his iPod and docking station into our class in order to play music - radio in Boise isn't too great. I instantly had to find out what that was ("Lex" on Classics). I then bought that album and loved it.This one is better. They've gone more for a hip-hop feel on some of the songs, but some are completely different. They have more beeps and clicks, and a lot more variety between songs. If you want a good sampler of the album, listen to track 2 (Falcon Jab) and track 11 (Mumtaz Khan).

The CD is great, and exactly what I wanted. But the shipping/ delivery time was TERRIBLE!! I started to wonder if I was going to even get my purchase. But alas, it came...17 days later. I was a little worried when it hadn't come, as it was getting closer to Christmas. But it made it on time. So if you're ordering from this seller for a gift for a certain date, be sure to allow PLENTY of time for delivery.