Magnifique

The duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have stayed remarkably true to the sound they developed on Ratatat's first album, 2004's self-titled affair. Though there have been slight stylistic diversions on the albums that followed, especially on 2008's LP3, their core of neatly wound, double-tracked guitar melodies, thrumming basslines, and tight beats has remained intact. Though it was released five years after its predecessor LP4, a gap that might lead one to think that big changes were brewing, 2015's Magnifique delivers everything fans might expect from a Ratatat album. Stripping away much of the excess instrumentation and frills that adorned the previous two albums, Magnifique mostly sticks to the basics on the way to becoming the duo's most brightly immediate record yet, bouncing between sunny, hook-heavy uptempo tracks that have the kind of manic energy that could lead people to tear off their shirts and seriously lose it on the dancefloor and relaxed, soft rock-inspired songs that se