Ratatat is f*ckin awesome.  They're great for zoning out hardcore, great for parties, great for getting pumped, and great for just about anything else.

If you've never heard of them, think bass-heavy space guitar rock from old nintendo game soundtracks with caffeine heavy hip-hop beats and no vocals.  You can't imagine that, can you?  I wouldn't be able to.  Words don't really describe it.  All you need to know is that they'll get your heart beat in sync with their infectious hooks and bass lines.

Some of you may recognize them as the band that plays that song in those weird embryo montages in Knocked Up.  If not, then you're hopeless because I can't think of another way to familiarize you with them.  Here's one of their music videos for their new song "Mirando."

In my opinion, this isn't the best representation of their old music, because their new album LP3 has proven to be more experimental than previous releases; however, it's close enough.

That was a rough intro, but here it goes.

I was lucky enough to go to their show at the Paradise on Monday evening (9/28). 

Let me just say that it was amazing.  Everybody was going nuts, or at least those in my immediate radius.  You cannot help but bounce to their infectious beats--and I must note that although I was unable to smell the crowd due to the cold that I am currently suffering from, people were complaining at the end of the show of an intense smell of body odor.  I don't know about you, but that's usually the sign of a good show for me, because it means that people were dancing their asses off.  This is a good thing.

Throughout the entire show there were some trippy as hell visuals playing, a lot of colors and weird imagery--I think I saw Arnold Schwarzenager on the screen at some point.

Even though I have not taken the time to familiarize myself with their new album--bad, I know--I was still able to enjoy the crap out of all their songs, especially their classics, which included my all-time favorite "Seventeen Years" in the encore.

I was also surprised to notice the new addition to the band.  They had this skinny guy with a giant afro working some keyboards and dancing around.  Interestingly enough, I met him today on my way to Anna's Taqueria.  He was filling up his car at the gas station across the street, and his hairdo is unmistakable.  I approached him and thanked him for a great show.  He was very gracious, and for bonus points, he hopped into his car with New Jersey license plates (my home state--and screw you to all those who will most likely make some disparaging remark about the Garden State--I don't care what you think). 

The one downside to the show was that it was rather short.  Maybe it wasn't really even that short, I didn't really pay attention to the time.  Maybe I was just having such a good time that it went by in a blur.  Who knows.