Tag: Downtown Boys

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Norlan Olivo, Mary Regalado and Victoria Ruiz, the Providence, RI-based punk rock quartet Downtown Boys have developed a growing national reputation for writing protest music centering on their own experiences as young, queer, Chicana and Latino artists, musicians and people within an extremely whitewashed, cis-male, heterosexual world — especially within rock; in fact, throughout the course of the band’s first two albums, they’ve called on their fans whether newfound or diehard to join the struggle to smash racism, homophobia, queerphobia, exploitative capitalism, fascism, ignorance and boredom and more that have closed people’s minds, hearts and souls off to themselves and others.

Produced by Fugazi‘s Guy Picciotto, the band’s forthcoming third, full-length effort Cost of Living, which is slated for an August 11, 2017 through Sub Pop Records will further cement their reputation for crafting serious, incendiary and cathartic yet fun music in which their youthful, urgent and passionate energy is paired with their sociopolitical ideals.   Lyrically inspired by Assata Shakur’s poem “i believe in living,” Cost of Living‘s opening track and first single “The Wall,” finds the band sonically drawing from The Clash, Wire and others while the chorus and hook is repeated mantra-like “A wall is just a wall/A wall is just a wall . . .” boldly calling out Donald Trump’s “Great Wall,” and his supporters for its blatant stupidity; but it also serves as a righteous and powerful reminder that though the wall is symbolically meant to crush the humanity, dreams and desires of an entire groups of people, that as long as people are people, brick and barb wire can never crush their humanity.

As much as we all may want and need to have mindless fun, the members of Downtown Boys are actively creating some of the most forceful and necessary material of the resistance.

The band will be on tour throughout the entire summer and fall and it includes two NYC are stops — June 9, 2017 at the Pitchfork Northside Festival Showcase at Saint Vitus and July 12, 2017 at House of Vans. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Tour Dates
6/9: Brooklyn, NY @ Pitchfork Northside Fest Showcase @ St. Vitus
6/16: Ashfield, MA @ The Ashfield Lake House
6/17: Providence, RI @ Aurora
7/12: Brooklyn, NY @ House of Vans
8/19: Omaha, NE @ Maha Festival
9/2 – 9/3: Philadelphia, PA @ Made In America Festival
9/15 – 9/17: Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
9/23: Los Angeles, CA @ Summer Happenings at The Broad
10/9: Leffinge, Belgium @ Cafe De Zwerver
10/10: Paris, France @ Le Point Ephemere
10/11: Brighton, UK @ The Haunt
10/12: Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
10/13: Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s
10/14: Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
10/16: Dublin, Ireland @ The Workman’s Club
10/17: Liverpool, UK @ The Shipping Forecast
10/18: London, UK @ Dome Tufnell Park
10/19: Sheffield, UK @ Picture House Social Club
10/20: Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
10/21: Bristol, UK @ Simple Things Festival
10/22: Birmingham, UK @ All Years Leaving Festival
10/24: Munster, Germany @ Gleis 22
10/25: Berlin, Germany @ Urban Spree
10/26: Hamburg, Germany @ Hafenklang

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Best known as a co-founding member and co-primary songwriter of renowned indie dance pop/indie funk act Rubblebucket, Alex Toth’s new side project, Alexander F, which features Steve Marion, Dandy McDowell. Christian Peslak and Noah Rubin as part of the project’s touring band, along with contributions from Kimbra is a decided change in sonic direction for him. Reeling emotionally after the suicides of a couple of musician friends and struggling with living as recovering alcoholic, Toth went to a Buddhist, eleven-day silent meditation retreat in Quebec. And during the silent retreat, a handful of Buddhist-themed experimental punk songs exploded in Toth’s head, which at the time was unexpected and surprising for him, as he’s a jazz trained musician.

While the songs manage to be aggressive, they also manage to be profoundly joyous, boisterous and frenetic  as thematically they focus on the Buddhist concepts of freedom from the self, freedom from ego and freedom from the illusion that we’re separate entities. And as you’ll hear on “Swimmers,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming self-titled, full-length album, the band specializes in an infectiously anthemic, frenetic and stompingly boisterous, pop-leaning take on punk rock — that also manages to be a playful and mischievous take on the concept of prenatal memory that imagines how it must have been to be sperm swimming towards an egg, just before fertilization.

And unsurprisingly, the project has quietly started to build up a local and national profile as they’ve shared bills with Speedy Ortiz, Perfect Pussy, Downtown Boys, Colin Stetson, Margaret Glaspy, Mac McCaughan, Delicate Steve and Reptar. So be on the lookout for them; in fact, they’ll be opening for Toth’s primary project Rubblebucket for the final show at Brooklyn’s Manhattan Inn, as well as a date at Gowanus’ Threes Brewing. Check out show dates below.

TOUR DATES:
Nov 11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Manhattan Inn (w/ Rubblebucket)
Nov 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Threes Brewing

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Appleton, WI-based trio Tenement have been beloved in the D.I.Y. punk scene, releasing a number of albums and split singles with the likes of Screaming Females, Used Kids and several others. And over the […]