by JAY WATTS III

Masters of counterpoint Ratatat, who’ve made waves with both their debut album and their remixes (which deposited a-cappellas from Kanye West and Missy Elliott, amongst others, on a deadly, synth-heavy base, complete with dive-bomb guitars!), return with that gargantuan-sounding, crunchy synth ’n’ guitar rock that suggests a hybrid between that Justice/MSTRKRFT sound, pulled down to a head-nodding pace, and the chromatic wizardry of tech-metalheads the Fucking Champs. The closest visual approximation of that sound I can think of would be the lumbering gait of one of those MekWar robots…

The two songs leaked here, “Lex” (www.hootiehoo.org/lex.mp3) and “Wildcat” (www.hootiehoo.org/wildcat.mp3), from their new album Classics, don’t break the mould—which is fine. But I was hoping that the remix album would result in some interesting collaborations, because while it seemed that they were unable to crawl out of the indie ghetto, with the ubiquity of droning analog synths in contemporary, chart-topping rap production (to say nothing of a real mania for gerund rhyming schemes), it shouldn’t be no thing for them to make a name producing, and hopefully end member Mike Stroud’s unfortunate moonlighting with MySpace heartthrobs Dashboard Confessional. I’m crossing my fingers.

Go download it: Ghislain Poirier’s remix of Jay-Z’s “Dirt Off My Shoulder” (www.ghislainpoirier.com/mp3/13JayZGhislainPoirierRemix.mp3) is so new that, as of my writing this, I haven’t even had a chance to listen to it, but I’ll bet it’s spectacular!

JAM ON IT! goldkicks@gmail.com

>> Music Listings