LP4 is the fourth studio album by Ratatat

Ratatat

Ratatat is a New York City electronic music duo consisting of Mike Stroud and producer Evan Mast .-History:Evan Mast and Mike Stroud first met as students at Skidmore College, but they did not work together until 2001, when they recorded several songs under the name "Cherry"...

, released on June 8, 2010. The name comes from the acronym for long play

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 (LP), as it is their fourth album. It is similarly titled to their third release, LP3

LP3

LP3 is the third studio album by Ratatat, released on July 8, 2008. It contains the single "Shiller" originally released on 7" vinyl. The duo experimented with different genres as well as synthesizer patches, percussion instruments, sound effects, and samples...

. A majority of the tracks are from the same studio session as their previous album.

Background

The album largely features material produced during the session of Ratatat's previous album LP3, recorded at Old Soul Studios in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Evan Mast of the duo stated, "A lot of the sounds and palettes are similar, but I think the songs change pretty drastically." Ratatat had purchased several Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

ern percussion instruments, which are featured in LP4. The album also features a string quartet, whereas previous Ratatat albums had used a Mellotron

Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

. The string sections were recorded at Glassworks Studios in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. Music videos were produced for the tracks "Drugs", "Mahalo" and "Neckbrace".

Reception

The album debuted on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

at #66 selling 6,700 copies in its first week.

Track listing

1. "Bilar" – 4:14
2. "Drugs" – 4:55
3. "Neckbrace" – 4:06
4. "We Can't Be Stopped" – 2:10
5. "Bob Gandhi" – 4:01
6. "Mandy" – 3:42
7. "Mahalo" – 2:00
8. "Party with Children" – 2:58
9. "Sunblocks" – 3:42
10. "Bare Feast" – 2:38
11. "Grape Juice City" – 3:56
12. "Alps" – 4:21

iTunes pre-order bonus track

13. "Biddang" – 3:21