DOWNTOWN BOYS - Public Luxury

Although nine full years have passed since their last studio effort, Downtown Boys remain the same angry kids they were at the start. With their new album "Public Luxury", the Rhode Island band keeps its communist, militant ferocity fully intact, giving voice to an anti-capitalism that, in the Trump era, sounds more urgent and worthy of attention than ever; it's no coincidence that the group seems to resurface every time the tycoon claws his way back to power.

It's easy to imagine the live impact of a band that has made its trademark a sharp, powerful sound, fueled by a deep social awareness and lyrical ideas that would merit a separate analysis altogether. Equally explosive is the energy of their hardcore–punk, capable of turning thunderous and unsettling on "No Me Jodas" or even playful and irreverent on "Sirena".
Compared to the sharp, decisive oratory that defined the old, seminal "Full Communism", on the new album Downtown Boys choose to alternate more harmonic openings — well-suited to a potential stadium anthem like "Yellow Sun" — with the shapeless fusion of metal and electronics on the very brief "Mi Concha", an overflowing barrage of "fuck" that definitely leaves its mark. The intercultural, interracial nature of the project adds further value to a band that lives out the bond between music and politics with total dedication, to the point of founding an actual union for workers in the industry.

Musically, Victoria Marie Ruiz's raspy scream and the frenetic interplay of punk-rock, funk, electro-rock and even house on the title track, combined with the alternating use of English and Spanish, confirm a versatility that gives the American band both grit and enough artistic coherence to turn anger into resistance.

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08/08/2026