Did you know Downtown Boys were still going? They absolutely are. In the '10s, the Providence band came out with a hectic, impassioned, confrontation take on political punk rock. It's been nearly a decade since their last album, 2017's excellent Cost Of Living. Last year, I saw the band's name in a local club's calendar in Charlottesville, the town where I live, and I thought it was a misprint or something. But no, Downtown Boys were really coming to Charlottesville. There were only a few dozen people at their gig, but they were an absolute fucking revelation, and their new songs were sick. Now, Downtown Boys are finally getting ready to release another album, so you'll hear those new songs soon, too.
Since Cost Of Living, Downtown Boys have put out a few compilation tracks, covered Selena, and soundtracked the 2020 film Miss Marx. Band members have put out music in side projects like La Neve and Gauche. This summer, Downtown Boys are back with their new album Public Luxury, and I cannot imagine a better time for new music from this band. The band recorded the LP at Providence's Machines With Magnets, and band member Joey La Neve DeFrancesco co-produced it with engineer Seth Manchester.
In a press release, DeFrancesco says:
This record is bigger and more expansive than anything we’ve done before. 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.
Here's how frontwoman Victoria Marie describes the record's meaning:
We as the people have the power – and we will have it all. The ultimate burn to injustice is taking the dirt, the shards, the smoke of it all in the struggle for freedom and liberation — finding power in the mundane — I think that is the story to be told...
I think it is such a pivotal, desperate, yet desirous moment that our music is simply for anyone and everyone who believes in the new future we can make together, a world that will be awkward, inconsistent, yet truly free when it comes to all that matters.
Today, Downtown Boys share the the lead single "No Me Jodas," which goes from a screaming, stomping, honking into to a giddy, anthemic surf-punk party jam. It's both righteously ferocious and extremely fun. Here's what Marie says about the song's John McKay-directed video:
The video for "No Me Jodas" (translation: "don't fuck with me") is inspired by the aesthetic of "chicha" —a music culture out of Peru that is also about economics, work, partying, life, desire, and nightlife. The ethic, as put by one Chicha musician, Chacalón, is two words: chamba and vacilón (hard work and partying).
Below, check out the "No Me Jonas" video, the Public Luxury tracklist, and the dates for Downtown Boys' few upcoming headlining shows.
TRACKLIST:
01 "No Me Jodas"
02 "The City Begins"
03 "Sirena"
04 "Yellow Sun"
05 "Viva La Rosa"
06 "Enemy Without"
07 "You’re A Ghost"
08 "Albuterol"
09 "Mi Concha"
10 "Public Works"
11 "Public Luxury"
TOUR DATES:
3/26 - Providence, RI @ AS220 (with Black Eyes)
3/27 - Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts (with Whyte Lipstick)
3/28 - Portland, ME @ Space 538 (with Red Eft & Bait Bag)
Public Luxury is out 6/26 on Sub Pop.
