Sound tracking the revolution. Out June 26th on Sub Pop Records.
Downtown Boys are a proper US punk-rock band. Joey La Neve DeFrancesco met vocalist Victoria Ruiz in a hotel in Rhode Island at a union event for workers. Their earliest songs were about exploitative labour and workplace conditions. Their previous couple of albums were entitled Full Communism and Cost of Living. They also helped to soundtrack a film called Miss Marx about Karl Marx’s youngest daughter. They are now a five-piece completed by saxophonist-synthesist Joe DeGeorge, bassist Mary Jane Regalado, and drummer Joey Doubek. They do not muck about on their new album. The title Public Luxury is a strongly communist sentiment meaning everything for everyone. That a better world is possible.
“This record is bigger and more expansive than anything we’ve done before,” says DeFrancesco. “In writing this music, I tried to get closer to the feeling and sound of our live shows, which is where Downtown Boys is best experienced. When we perform, the guitars, keyboards, saxophones, the singing and intros, and the crowd yelling along with us all blend into a beautiful, cathartic energy. We wanted these songs to carry the depth of that live experience onto the recording itself.”
The album mixes pure punk with more indie-guitar sounds. It also mixes in a wide range of other musical styles, fragments of Latin, drum machines, the saxophone is implemented in a wide range of different ways. Lyrics are a mix between Spanish and English. This album arrives almost a decade after their previous one, so they have had plenty of time to think about and perfect their plans.
The end result is a thrilling set of guitar sounds. Not pure punk, but an absolute capturing and distillation of the genre’s inherent energy and spirit. This an album to play loud whilst contemplating a better form of capitalism.
Essential Tracks: ‘No Me Jodas,’ ‘The City Begins,’ ‘Sirena,’ ‘Viva La Rosa,’ ‘Mi Concha’ and ‘Public Works.’
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