After rat tat tating about my desk to one or two tracks off the Brooklyn electronic outfit’s latest record, it’s as if, welp, we were in a bit of a time warp.

The conveniently and uninspired titled long player is a follow up to their 2008 record Lp3 and all that work in the past year with Kid Cudi seems to have done them serious good but left nothing to creating new tracks. How is this, you ask, if they drop their latest record, Lp4, on 6/8?

All of the tracks featured on the new album were recorded during a memorable session for 2008’s Lp3. Sensing a trend here? Let me expound.

While humble blogger adores Ratatat’s ability to create some synth dripped bass and drum pumeling tunes, nothing feels all that inspired with their latest go around. The tracks aren’t really “new”, just in the sense that we have yet to hear them. What’s more, you’d think they would have used all that time working with Kid Cudi in the last year to create something left of field for Ratatat and inspired. Instead, we get more of the same, despite an intriguing opening German dialogue of indecipherable quality (mainly because humble blogger speaks zero German save for memorization of a few of my favorite Kraftwerk tracks) on “Drugs” and a catchy synth rhythm.

The only new sounds include a track with a bit of a Latin, salsa-inspired beat, and some slight softer tracks with strings. “Bilar”, the kick off, sounds a lot like a rip off of favorite tune “Imperials”, or perhaps an extension of it that doesn’t ebb and flow quite like its original, but its certainly the standout track on the album. Take that with all the salt you need…

…and a shot of tequila, too.

Is Ratatat going to become one of those bands that finds a “signature” sound and never bends? Perhaps its too soon to tell…

You can stream the entire album until the release date over here. Decide for yourself, as always. For me? It’s shelved; if you want some Ratatat, keep staple LP3 on cycle.