Ratatat

"Falcon Jab"

by Drew Lazor

The triumphant "Mirando," which sounds something like Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto playing each other in Street Fighter 2, is the one track off Ratatat's recent LP3 (XL Recordings) that's garnered the most attention. But "Falcon Jab" deserves its own nod, and not just because it conjures the miraculous image of a really muscular bird breaking the jaw of a hapless NYU freshman in tapered black jeans. The song features big honkin' chunks of what the Brooklyn duo does best: maximizing the blast radius of electro tropes that come off tired and overly Daft Punk-y in hackier hands. It sounds like their résumé probably reads: Four twitchy minutes of playful narrative synths, masterfully trimmed droplets of rhythm guitar and, of course, the requisite beeps and boops that remind you not to take this too seriously. A somber cooldown wraps things up nice and neat for those pulling into the driveways of close-minded people who like hearing the Good News from reverends, not robots.