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Evan Mast and Mike Stroud first met as students at Skidmore College, but they did not work together until 2001, when they recorded several songs under the name "Cherry". Their 2004 debut, Ratatat, was written and recorded in Stroud's Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment on his PowerBook.[1] The album is entirely instrumental with the exception of vocal excerpts at the beginning and end of selected tracks. The group debuted by releasing the single Seventeen Years on Mast's and his brother E*Rock's record label Audio Dregs in the US and Rex Records in the UK. They then signed for XL Recordings, releasing their debut album and the single Germany to Germany. Ratatat occasionally remixes others for collected release on Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1 (which garnered the attention of Rolling Stone), as well as the later second volume, both of which were self-released in co-operation with Audio Dregs.