On today's mix...
Ratatat - LP3 (2008)
Tilly and the Wall - O (2008)

I'm still limping along the road to full foot recovery, so this really isn't a running playlist at all, but there are too many things coming out right now that I want to take a look at, starting with Ratatat's and Tilly and the Wall's third respective full-length efforts.

I've complained in the past about Ratatat's sound getting monotonous, and LP3's Crystal Castles-lite lead single "Mirando" (and the album's title, for that matter) gave me little to get excited about heading into their third effort. This massive leaps they make on this album, then, came as quite a shock. Their signature electro-baroque is still there, but they've learned how to mix it up this time and deliver a truly satisfying set of tracks, each distinct yet distinctively theirs. In a key twist, they've added far more instruments and noises this time around, digging deeper into their Casio presets with each track and rarely repeating or falling into the predictability of their debut. Every track has a few tricks up its sleeve: "Imperials" mediates between sparse, frantic harpsichord, and a deep, rolling beat; "Brulee" literally drives away a thunderstorm with bright piano chords; and "Mumatz Khan" is the album's big-screen summer blockbuster wrapped in electro-woodwinds. The tracks here seem to be in ascending order of greatness, which can make for an incohesive album at first, but it's hard to complain when you're left with "Black Heroes", the impeccable closer you never knew they had in them. Ratatat have work hard on LP3 to live up to their early hype, and it shows.

Tilly and the Wall are another indie band with a pretty delightful shtick--in case you haven't heard, their drummer's actually a tap dancer--but their studio outings have never quite matched the joy of catching one of their shows. They put themselves back on the map this year by releasing what is easily one the year's most delightful songs (and music videos), the bright, silly "Beat Control":



It's strange, then, to hear that they've left "Beat Control" off their latest full-length. Of course, other than the delightfulness, it's a pretty atypical Tilly and the Wall song--namely, the beat in question is being controlled by a machine--and its exclusion does make some sense upon listening to the relatively darker, more organic O. Unfortunately, the album could use a stunner like "Beat Control". Opener "Tall Tall Grass" is lovely, and the band have never sounded like they're having more fun than when they're trashing a rival on the spoken-word bridge to "Pot Kettle Black", but the rest of the album leaves you wanting a little more. It's not that I would ever want Tilly and the Wall to settle down, but you do wish they could focus a little more on some of the melodies here and produce something a little more substantial than the choppy repetitions that dominate the album. They're best, in fact, on the relatively more straightforward "Chandelier Lake", and hopefully in the future, they'll find a better balance between their uncontainable energy and their songwriting. Tilly and the Wall have an irresistible sound, and I can hardly imagine a person not enjoying this or any of their albums, but I'm still waiting for more.

LP3: 9/10
O: 7/10