Ratatat - LP4 (2010)

New York-based experimental duo Ratatat probably makes the weirdest music I have ever heard. Their instrumentals resemble sound mosaics, recorded and arranged beyond any musical style or convention. On LP4 they mix such contradictive genres as French house with cheesy 80's metal guitars and classical string orchestra arrangements with afro funk breaks. Ratatat tear pop music as we know it into shreds, just to put the pieces back together and finally turn its dynamics upside down again. Brilliant!

1.) Bilar

2.) Drugs

3.) Neckbrace

4.) We Can't Be Stopped

5.) Bob Gandhi

6.) Mandy

7.) Mahalo

8.) Party With Children

9.) Sunblock

10.) Bare Feast

11.) Grape Juice City

12.) Alps

Tortoise - TNT (1998)

Formed in Chicago in 1990 by Doug McCombs and John Herndon, Tortoise have been expanding their constantly changing line up ever since. They play cinematic instrumental jams influenced by Krautrock, Postrock and avant-garde Jazz music. This 1998 masterpiece is their most vivid and playful record, yet. Regardless of uniting a large variety of styles, TNT manages to be a surprisingly catchy and accessible work of genius.

1.) TNT

2.) Swung From the Gutters

3.) Ten-Day Interval

4.) I Set My Face to the Hillside

5.) The Equator

6.) A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

7.) The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls

8.) Four-Day Interval

9.) In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men

10.) Almost Always is Nearly Enough

11.) Jetty

12.) Everglade