''Internationally Unknown'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English musician Rat Boy. It was released on 25 January 2019 through Parlophone under exclusive license to Hellcat Records. Recording sessions took place at Shiprec Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Production was handled by Tim Armstrong and Rat Boy.

Critical reception

''Internationally Unknown'' was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 69 based on ten reviews. The aggregator

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

has the critical consensus of the album at a 6.6 out of 10, also based on ten reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Neil Z. Yeung stated: "there's no need to search for deeper meanings or enlightenment on ''Internationally Unknown''. Instead, Cardy and Armstrong invite listeners to let go and enjoy the ride, which is an energetic, wild blast". Rachel Aroesti of '' Q'' called the album "a raucous, irresistibly melodic collection of songs that ring with indignant, apathy-infused joie de vivre". Phil Mongredien of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' wrote: "Cardy's lyrics are still a slight disappointment, however, consisting too often of ill-defined "us v them" sentiments (witness "So What"'s "they don't care about us so we don't care about them"). Still, that's a minor quibble—it's hard not to enjoy an album as full of energy as this". In mixed reviews, Emma Finamore of '' Clash'' wrote: "collaboration with Rancid's Tim Armstrong, huh? Sounds right up plenty of people's streets. But that "sweet spot" (in the main) seems to boil down to some cheesy scratching in amongst the ska pop (see 'My Name Is Rat Boy') and

Jamie T Jamie Alexander Treays (born 8 January 1986), better known by his stage name Jamie T, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, guitarist and record producer from Wimbledon, South London. Jamie T released his debut album, '' Panic Prevention'' ...

-style vocals. But all is not lost. The keys of 'Follow Your Heart' are dreamy and unexpected". Sophie Walker of '' DIY'' stated that "Rat Boy works best on this record not giving the fans what they want--but something new". Brad Garcia of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' pointed out: "with every moment on ''Internationally Unknown'' I find odd, I ask myself "was that intentional?" Because I usually have no idea. ... ''Internationally Unknown'' is fun and probably not intended to be examined too far past the surface". Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' resumed: "Rat Boy's international profile might be growing, but he's not ready to conquer the world just yet". Zoe Camp of '' Pitchfork'' wrote: "a little bit of retrospective absurdity goes a long way--if only the rest of ''Internationally Unknown'' wasn't so pale and redundant".

Track listing

Personnel

Jordan Cardy Jordan Cardy (born 21 February 1996), known by his stage name Rat Boy, is an English musician from Chelmsford, Essex. Early life Cardy was born in Chelmsford, England on 21 February 1996. He studied at Chelmer Valley High School in Chelmsford an ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, illustration * Tim Armstrong – featured artist (track 8), guitar (tracks: 1, 3, 5-9, 11, 12), bass (tracks: 1, 3, 5), producer *

Aimee Allen Aimee Allen is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. She is currently the lead vocalist for the ska-punk band the Interrupters under the moniker Aimee Interrupter. As a singer-songwriter, she has collaborated with Mark ...

– featured artist (track 10),

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(track 11) *Dash Hutton – backing vocals (tracks: 5, 10) *

Kevin Bivona Kevin Bivona (born November 8, 1986) is an American musician and audio engineer best known for his work with the Transplants and Tim Armstrong. He is currently the guitarist for the ska punk band the Interrupters. Early career In 2005, Bivo ...

– backing vocals (tracks: 8, 11, 12),

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(track 11), piano & bass (track 12), mixing *Harry Todd – guitar *Liam Haygarth – bass *Noah Booth – drums,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, additional producer *Jason A. Bonner – bass (tracks: 1, 2, 6, 10), organ (tracks: 2, 5, 10), drums (tracks: 2, 10), piano & guitar (track 10), layout *Mike Parvizi – programmed

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(tracks: 4, 10) *Sean Toomey –

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

(track 4) *Ruben Durazo –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(track 5) *Mark Bush –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(track 5) *John Morrical –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

(track 7), organ shuffle (track 10), engineering *John King – engineering, additional producer *Paris Minzer – mastering

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2019 albums Rat Boy albums Parlophone albums Hellcat Records albums