Rat Boy

★★★ Internationally Unknown PARLOPHONE. CD/DL/LP

Bratty, funny punk/hip-hop from Essex lad in LA.

Rat Boy, AKA Jordan Cardy, has come a fair way since his first SoundCloud mixtape release in 2014 – being sampled by Kendrick Lamar and temporarily decamping to California to make this second album with Tim Armstrong of Rancid. Nonetheless, the echoes of Cardy’s skater-boy record collection remain strong (The Clash, Beastie Boys), while on the mike he delivers in the chewy vowels of Joe Strummer via Jamie T. The punky thrash of I Wanna Skate might not make much sense to anyone over 17, but there’s a wider sonic range here than in 2017 debut Scum: roots reggae in Night Creature and, in Follow Your Heart, something akin to a great lost Big Audio Dynamite single. While a smidgen of originality wouldn’t go amiss, there’s plenty to compensate for it in the way of exuberance and humour.