Diandra Reviews It All

Downtown Boys’ Sub-Pop debut, Cost of Living, can mean two things. On one hand, the cost of living on this earth has sky-rocketed in price. I am positive that I am not the only human being praying over their monopoly board-game money, and asking The Lord to make it real. Yet, the cost of living has gone beyond material into a spiritual weight. Our pockets may be getting emptier, but our hearts are getting heavy with the rise of hateful structures, speeches, and persons. Once, again Downtown Boys rise as a band willing to confront hate in a world that can be too scared to do so.

There is certainly a feeling “in the air” that things are going downhill, which is why Downtown Boys have grown their raucous punk sound into a maturer, more purposeful sonic. If in their EP, Full Communism, they just wanted to start a riot and burn a building, in Cost of Living they are planning a revolution which takes a more poetic, meticulous approach. Thus, they bash together the sounds of bands like Public Enemy and The Sex Pistols to create a space for Latinx rising against the tide of prejudice rising against them. Tracks, like “A Wall”, “Promissory Note”, “Heroes”, and “Bulletproof” are like the Latino versions of “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. Loud, blazing guitars that can breathe as much fire as Daenerys’ Dragons just pummel through listeners’ minds to say, “It is going to take literal hell to bring down this oppressed community, and still will not go under”. Actually, it is going to take literal hell to destroy a lot of communities that Downtown Boys have taken the mantle to fearlessly defend against fear like, the LGBT and poor. Their boldness will make people want to crush social walls for “Violent Complicity” or anyone who say you are a “Tonta”. Song after song proves there is NOTHING about Downtown Boys that goes “gently into the wind”. Instead, they are like carbon mindfulness; trying to invisibly kill the stupid that leads to hate.

Victoria Ruiz’s voice is like an enormous, middle finger to all those that choose to hate. Lyrically, Downtown Boys have no “compassion” for those that believe physically or verbally bullying a person for who they are is apart of their “cause”. Moreover, the notion of “hurt people hurt people” is blown out of the water in tracks “Somos Chulas”, “Because of You”, and “Lips That Bite”. When you know pain as a victim, and, still choose to inflict it as a victimizer, than you are inescapably horrible. The “take no prisoners” approach is refreshing in a world that, at times, does not realize that evil is not always born from feeling “lost”; sometimes, it truly is malice. Hence, Ruiz HAS to approach her lyrics like they are a mud match between verse and vocals. She tears, takes, and tackles her words with the prowess of a wrestling champion, of which hate is always going to be something to fight. Personally, I am happy that Sub-Pop chose to sign this band that I love. They are so perfectly punk, and grasp that this genre is not about being “loud” in sound as much as being “loud” in statement. For More Information On Downtown Boys And To Buy Cost of Living On August 11 Click Here.