Ratatat WHEN: Sept. 19, 8 p.m. WHERE: First Avenue TICKETS: $11 Ratatat, masters of the bootyshakinâÄô hook line and sinker, have embarked upon an American tour in honor of their new album, âÄúLP3.âÄù The Brooklyn duo mixes dance-worthy bass lines with an assortment of samples and interesting sounds ranging from psychedelic to borderline spiritual. The act, which is comprised of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, released their third full-length album âÄúLP3âÄù in July of this year. âÄúLP3,âÄù which followed RatatatâÄôs 2004 self-titled album and their 2006 sophomore work âÄúClassics,âÄù is some of the groupâÄôs best work to date. It succeeds in many of the ways that the first two albums fell short. RatatatâÄôs love of trunk thumpinâÄô bass is still present, yet has been turned down to accentuate the intricate and complex mélange of other instruments now present. They have improved upon most aspects of an already unique sound to transcend the status of novelty and parade into something interesting, artistic and even beautiful. A&E caught up with Stroud of Ratatat to have a quick word about the tour and ask him a number of super cliché interview questions, which he was very nice about. What are you listening to right now? I lost my iPod, so I havenâÄôt been listening to much of anything. The Beach Boys a lot. I got this record called âÄúHawthorne HighwayâÄú and thereâÄôs all this crazy a capella stuff on it. Do you like it when people remix your stuff? Yeah. I mean itâÄôs OK. I donâÄôt like some of the remixes I hear, but itâÄôs cool. ItâÄôs funny sometimes if itâÄôs a rapper or something. There are a couple of videos on YouTube of all a capella versions of our songs. ThatâÄôs funny. American Public MediaâÄôs âÄúWeekend AmericaâÄù did an article about womenâÄôs soundtracks to giving birth. What do you think about that woman who decided she would like to give birth to your song âÄúWildcatâÄù? We did an NPR interview about it around eight months ago, but yeah, itâÄôs pretty cool. I donâÄôt know why she chose that song, but itâÄôs pretty awesome. WhatâÄôs your favorite drink? Pineapple juice. We drink a lot of whiskey on this tour though. Where do you stand on the nachos vs. grilled cheese argument? It depends on how extreme the nachos are I guess âĦ grilled cheese is pretty good. WhatâÄôs your favorite place that you guys have ever played in? Probably Istanbul. ItâÄôs an awesome city. How long have you been playing music? I started playing piano when I was 10 and IâÄôve been playing guitar for 16 or 17 years. WhatâÄôs your favorite beer? Um, I donâÄôt know âĦ I like Stella; I like Leffe. But you know, whatever; IâÄôll drink any beer. Have you been having fun on tour? Yeah pretty much. I ended up getting sick from having too much fun. [Laughs.] WhatâÄôs your favorite place that you have played on this tour? San Francisco was pretty awesome. We played at the Fillmore, and it was cool. I donâÄôt know; thereâÄôs been a gate at the last two shows and that always makes it kind of hard to get into it. I like playing the West Coast because itâÄôs just friends.