Spin (p.106)
- 3.5 stars out 5 -- "Guitarist Mike Stroud and multi-instrumentalist Evan Mast give their subtly textured, rockist electronica a more festive, uplifting mood on the duo's third album."Entertainment Weekly (p.67)
- "[T]he instrumental duo layer an eclectic batch of sounds -- Latin guitars and thumping tablas on 'Mi Viejo,' shimmering chimes and squealing synths on 'Mumtaz Khan' -- into their most dazzling patterns yet." -- Grade: A Q (Magazine)
(p.140)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "LP3 is electronica with a playful, anything-goes ethos. The disco squelch and vocoder melodies of 'Falcon Jab' recall Discovery-era Daft Punk..." Blender (Magazine)
(p.91)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[They] play instrumental rock propelled by a Nintendo-style tapesty of blips and blurbles....They also have an almost-Baroque sense of melody and counterpoint..." URB (Magazine)
(p.87)
- "Guitarist Mike Stroud shines like always, with dark, memorable melodies floating throughout each track." The Phoenix 9 of 10
After two albums of Queen-worthy guitars sighing and heaving over beats that sound like handclaps caught in a vacuum cleaner, the Ratatat ?sthetic should, by now, be exhausted. Classics perfected the instrumental glitch pop of the homonymous debut from Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, but it left little room for growth. On the deceptively titled LP3, however, Ratatat go outside their comfort zone, replacing a lot of the epic metal riffage with zither, tablas, harpsichord, and a host of assorted pianos and keyboards. The result is some kind of cosmic machine music, reflecting not just a stoner's world of internalized minimalist headbanging but an entire universe of culture, texture, and possibility. LP3 trips through Spanish flair ("Mi Viejo"), Indian groove ("Mirando"), and plenty of interstellar wake-and-bake ("Shiller" and "Imperials," with its space-prog organ) without ever losing the essence of Ratatat's plangent whiplash. The band sound prepared to go anywhere, as long as they're headed away from the novelty bin. - Zeth Lundy
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