Downtown Boys : Public Luxury
The history of Downtown Boys could be reserved for a screenplay. It’s been nine years since the excellent Cost of Living, before which they were decreed “America’s Most Exciting Punk Band” by Rolling Stone after forming out of a hotel union group, became viral stars after flamboyantly handing in a work notice, launched a zine, denounced festivals, scored an award-winning soundtrack, and been involved in a New York public defender’s office.
That reading alone shows there’s a lot going on in their lives, as in our own, all reflected sonically in the effervescent Public Luxury. Politics has always been the fire for band founders Victoria Ruiz and Joey La Never DeFrancesco, almost as if their formation of a punk band in 2012 was a foregone conclusion. Still, their prior production work with Guy Picciotto comes across evidentially in both intention and sound here; hardcore punk tinged with Latin groove, sax solos, and the utopian dream of Public Luxury—“everything for everyone”—where Fugazi’s low-fee all-ages shows also seem, more than ever, another utopian dream never to be recaptured.
But it’s not for the want of trying. Ruiz, DeFrancesco, multi-instrumentalist Joe DeGeorge, bassist Mary Jane Regalado and drummer Joey Doubek all chip into a kaleidoscopic display that manages to juxtapose the group’s more hopeful disposition against the realities of American life. “No Me Jodas,” with its translation “Don’t Fuck With Me” and sludge-depth intro, sounds as confrontational a rallying punk call as possible, despite being inspired by Peruvian chicha culture; a musical representation of a work hard, play hard mentality. That comes across with its pulsating fit-to-blow outro after DeFrancesco’s characteristically shimmery tones that paint a more laid back atmosphere to “Yellow Sun,” just as ebullient in its proclamation that “the trees grow in every direction, and so heavy with love.”
Largely though, as to be expected from their revolutionary motivations, the record largely flows with urgency. The fun curveball of “Yellow Sun” precedes the claustrophobic “The City Begins”—“it hurts my lungs to breathe in this air, and it hurts when it crushes bone and skin,” Ruiz sings, even before reaching the breathlessly titled “Albuterol.” And while DeGeorge’s saxophone feels vibrant, even optimistic, he himself sounds like huffing to burst while soloing over the speedy “Public Works.” In fact, every player goes all in on the skittery “You’re a Ghost” for it to sound videogame-like, calling to mind Ichiro Agata’s playing at Melt-Banana’s most frenetic. “Mi Concha” works similarly. As a reworked track from Ruiz and DeFrancesco’s synth-punk side project Malportado Kids, it makes full use of the band to succinctly channel the feel of dancing away the frustrations and hardships of modern trappings, with syncopated rhythms aplenty.
There’s a tangible concerted effort from all involved, bursting with frivolity and passion that it’s hard to not get swept away with the waves. Downtown Boys are a band whose lived experience says a lot about the state of where we are now, backed by an evolving sound that’s throttling down other colouful avenues to bring their causes to light. It reflects how, even when the weight of the world feels too much to handle, there can be some joy left in connecting with music and art. In a perfect world, that has a more profound influence than the bad shit that dominates our headlines, and goodness knows how much we have to face them daily.
Label: Sub Pop
Year: 2026
Similar Albums:
