
Ratking left to right: Sporting Life, Wiki, Hak [Image via The Guardian]
RATKING have been grinding on the low for a minute, but if you haven’t been paying close attention to music that falls outside of a box or genre, in this case typical “New York hip hop,” you might have missed the lead up. Fast forward to April this year when they released their debut album
‘So It Goes’, and you can’t help but hear them now.
The group immediately followed up the album with explosive performances over the 2 weekends of Coachella 2014. (Coachella is the highest grossing music festival in the world, so whether you think it’s awesome, played out, or too ‘mainstream’, being put on the lineup is an enormous achievement and one that even some established artists wait half their careers for! – SHOUT OUT TO RATKING)
Over the next few months of northern hemisphere summer you can catch them throughout Europe and America doing anything from huge festivals to intimate grimy shows alongside punk groups.
The first time I saw Ratking play was last September at the Echo in Los Angeles. They were opening for one of my favourite artists, King Krule. Admittedly, because of this cosign they already had a slight advantage in my book. I’d previously heard a few tracks, including this remix of King Krule’s ‘Octopus’ and almost immediately connected with the beautifully contentious sound. Continue reading →