Comprised of Evan Mast and Mike Stroud, the duo of Ratatat met when they were both students at Skidmore College; however, they didn’t begin working together musically until 2001 when they recorded a number of songs together under the name of Cherry; however, by 2004, the duo had officially gone by the name Ratatat and recorded their self-titled mostly instrumental debut, which was released by XL Recordings. They also received national attention for a collection of remixes titled Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1 and Ratatat Remixes Vol. 2; for collaborating with Kid Cudi, CSS and Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren; for each member’s individual work with the likes of Ben Kweller, E*vax, King Pang, Dashboard Confessional and others; and for being the first musical act to perform at the Guggenheim Museum. 

The duo recently played at Coachella – in what was the first live set the duo performed in over four years, During that set, Ratatat debuted material which will appear on their forthcoming fifth album, slated for a late summer release, including the album’s funky first single “Cream on Chrome.” Dimly sounding as though it were inspired by old school hip-hop breakbeats, the song begins with angular, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, sinuous bass, precise four-on-the-floor-like drumming, swirling electronics and a blistering guitar solo at the hook. Although the track possesses the slick production style of contemporary electronic music, it manages to sound (in a very subtle way) as though it could have been released in the early 80s around the time of Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”