Rat Boy - Move

One of indie’s noisiest upstarts, Rat Boy quickly became a welcome blip on the new music radar in 2015. Now, with the lion’s share of 2016 still on the runway, Essex’s finest export is set to claim this year as his own. His latest effort, ‘Move’, confirms how the UK fell for him. The track is brilliantly boyish throughout – rogue and distorted, too – and undeniably British. Bizarrely, and to its benefit, the opening is irrefutably Beastie Boys-esque and showcases Rat Boy’s elder-brother bravado: a strutting-into-town, no-fucks-given approach that we’re now all too familiar with. This is a notion that’s present in ‘Move’ from the get-go. It’s unapologetically noisy and in-your-face, with Rat Boy’s ironic adage “You know, I never say the same thing twice” confidently barked throughout. As the first verse kicks in and as that machine bassline churns, it’s almost as if he thought we’d forgotten him (far from it, mate), but as the obvious late-80s hip-hop influences ooze over the track, Rat Boy’s signature is still present and correct. “Everything’s free if you want-it-to-be” he riffs cheekily, “Take my MP3 ill-e-gally if you want to and move”. It’s this dancehall romance and juvenile excitement that will see Cardy – off the back of ‘Move’ and his progressive, off-beat brand of indie hip-hop (Indie-hop? No? Fine then) – strut those sun-kissed festival stages that are soon to come. ‘Move’ is a raucous and delightful celebration of all things immature and finds itself peppered with references of devouring Maccy Ds and ripping MP3s; itself an ode to our younger (and significantly more Rat Boy) years.