San Francisco Bathhouse
November 21 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

NEW YORK duo Ratatat have had some big props in their nativeland touring with the likes of Tortoise and Interpol, plus also Scottish lads Franz Ferdinand. They’re a mixture of electronic and guitar work (plus a bit of Mexican), and sound a bit like a contemporary version of influential New York duo Suicide. Their show incorporated the elements which have made their name (their recent album Classics is recommended if you’re interested) – cinematic music, no vocals and excellent guitarwork. They also play well with loud/soft dynamics too – and capture this better (as is usually the way) in their live performance rather than in their studio work. The music was also hypnotic and it would have been fun to shine a torch on people’s zombie-like faces in the audience.

The show included a film projector too, as avant-garde films were played in the background. The filmmakers were clearly a fan of Stan Brakhage. At times the music was too melodic (which is rarely a bad thing) to really complement the films behind them. It was interesting, but ended up being a nice diversion as opposed to actually conveying some extra meaning.

That said, the music itself was excellent. What was particularly pleasing was the energy and action they put into their performance (particularly guitarist Mike Stroud’s Pete Townsendesque playing) – which belied the rather poor turnout to the gig. Also having witnessed tourmates Interpol sulk their way through a performance in Wellington, it could have been easy to ignore the audience and get worked up about the technical and sound difficulties they incurred. Which they didn’t, and their energy was quite infectious.

An interesting element of their performance was their pre-programmed backing. Ordinarily this could mean too rigid a performance, and at times, it would have been nice to have seen some improvisation, particularly since their music lends itself towards it. However, there was an enormous amount of skill displayed, and their beats (mixing in hiphop and electronic rhythms) were booming, dance-able and excellent. It certainly was a gig to dance to, however that wasn’t really followed through by the audience (with the exception of the cardboard cutout of Denny Crane). The gig flew by in a flash – what was an hour long set only felt like ten minutes. This was a concert where the band clearly gave back what the hardcore fans were after – it was just a shame San Fran wasn’t fuller.