LP3 : Ratatat : Review : Rolling Stone

Over the past few years, this Brooklyn duo have been hand-picked to open for Franz Ferdinand, Daft Punk and Interpol, earning a reputation as stylish electronic music gurus in the process. On their third album, the stylishness is back, along with a certain elasticity of sound: LP3 sounds alternately appropriate for indie dance clubs and late-night chillouts, banking on both mildly cool electro-grooves and more pensive tracks that touch on mild psychedelia and Eno-esque pastoralism. Too bad the good ideas here rarely coalesce into anything that hijacks eardrums. Some beats, including the blippy stutter-step and tabla riddims of “Mirando,” would make a fine hook for a broad-minded singer like Santogold. But many grooves stick to unspectacular drum-machine bounce, and the mellower cuts often feel undercooked: tracks like “Bird-Priest,” full of lounge-y pleasantry that sets calliope-like keyboard stabs over buzzier synths and low-end swooshes, feel too laid-back for their own good. LP3 is no doubt meticulously composed, but too much of it just feels like background music.