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Four full length albums in, along with two fantastic hip hop remix albums, and production credits for some Kid Cudi tracks to boot, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, the duo behind Ratatat, have established themselves as easily recognizable, incredibly consistent wall of sound to be reckoned with. Blending electro-pop with instrumental hip hop and about a billion layers of pan-genre hookiness, their screaming guitar riffs have become a sort of brand unto themselves. And it’s here that they find themselves upon the release of their fourth full length, the obviously titled LP4 — a group both elevated and perhaps shackled by their remarkable consistency.

This will be a polarizing album for their fans. Naturally, there will be the diehards who will celebrate it as an unbridled masterpiece. And then there are those who hate everything that becomes popular, and naturally, they’ll hate LP4 too. Truthfully, what this album deserves is a reaction favorable, but not quite ecstatic, between the two extremes. It’s another solid effort by Ratatat, full of hallucinogenic, head-bobbing tunes. And while they expand into new territory with the addition of ambitious string arrangements and lush orchestration, I can’t help but feel like it’s just more of the same.

Granted, some of that is likely due to the fact that, despite the increasingly diverse range of instrumentation and international influences, the boys are still following the same formula. They’re trying new things, but in the same old way. And that’s not to say that there’s anything on LP4 that’s even worthy of the adjective “bad”… but even the best tracks, like “Drugs” (posted below), don’t pack quite the same punch that their earlier work on Classics did.

NOTE: “Drugs” has been removed due to a copyright claim by XL Recordings. The album’s single, “Party with Children” has been posted instead, because I bend over for the man.

That said, “Drugs” is still a great song — and there are many more to be had on this release. But like real drugs, after too many doses, the user starts experiencing diminishing returns. I suppose their experimentation on this album was not nearly experimental enough — the novelty factor is gone. At this point, Ratatat has ceased to be groundbreaking. However, they are still interesting, and nothing if not sonically pleasing. One thing’s for sure, you’ll be hearing plenty more of these beats in the weeks and months to come, as a horde of less original producers latch onto the new material to fuel this year’s crop of hip hop mixtapes.