Rata Negra (Black Rat) from Madrid, were there before you were, and when you go, they come back. A race to the death without brakes that took off in 2014 after the death of Juanita and Los Feos, and that has so far given birth to two LPs and two EPs on the London label La Vida es un Mus. Destined to bend the strongest of wills, forcing you to dance to a punk-pop crossover so honest it would bring Grant Hart to tears and Dan Treacy to his knees, so brilliant The Go-Go’s would cringe, and at the same time so dark and biting as to leave Chris Stein on sight and send the screenshot to Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre. And when you finally accept on second listen that right now they are more a part of your life than your mother or your partner, while you run your errands, something in the back of your mind reconsiders if the distinction between underground and mainstream ever had sense. There is no one more legitimate, there is no one more accurate. Rata Negra have toured several times in Europe and the United States, reaping a base of unconditional fans in the punk scene for whom, yes, Rata Negra is more important than anything else that happens, even in your city, even at home. Even the father of almost everything, Iggy Pop, played them on his BBC radio show. If you don’t know them yet, you’ll end up celebrating them because if you’re sad they’re fine, if you’re happy they’re fine, if you’re hating they’re fine, and if you want to dance and send everything to hell they’re fine too. And on top of that they sound like glory. *Bio taken from the Spanish label Humo Internacional, where you can find their records and more incredible ones. https://humointernacional.com/artistas/rata-negra/