Today, Friday, June 26th, Downtown Boys have released Public Luxury, their enthralling new album, out now worldwide from Sub Pop. The band is celebrating the album’s entry into the world with a poignant new video from animator Romy Matar for album standout “Yellow Sun,” which The Skinny notes, “there’s a melodic softness that reveals a fragility under the surface, something which might even appeal to fans of The Killers.”
Band member Joey La Neve DeFrancesco elaborates further on the song and visual: “‘Yellow Sun’ is a song for Lebanon, written as Israel’s ongoing invasion and occupation of the country began in 2024. The lyrics were inspired in part by the work of Lebanese poet and painter Etel Adnan, especially the poems “Beirut 1982” and “The Arab apocalypse,” which she wrote during Israel’s earlier occupation of Lebanon from 1982-2000. As with Ednan’s work, the song is meant to name the horrors (“phosphorous skies,” “every day an angel explodes”) while also insisting on the possibility of a new day: “The trees grow in every direction / I’m still heavy with love…
“The accompanying video by Lebanese animator Matar is a fable-like tribute to the decades of displacement and hostility faced by the indigenous shepherds and rural communities of Palestine and Lebanon since 1948. It also contains visual references to Adnan’s paintings.”
Downtown Boys are announcing a new UK and EU late fall/winter headlining tour, which begins on December 4th in Amsterdam, NL at Paradiso, and runs through December 21st in Rome, IT at Monk. Tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Downtown Boys’ previously announced US live dates for summer and fall 2026 are underway, with an album release show and benefit tonight, June 26th, organized by Willimantic Records for the Covenant Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the band’s second “hometown,” Willimantic, CT. The band’s US touring schedule continues through Saturday, September 26th in Mississauga, ON at Second Summer Festival.
Please find a current list of dates below.
US, Summer 2026 Fri. Jun. 26 - Willimantic, CT - St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Sat. Jun. 27 - Portland, ME - State Theater* Sun. Jun. 28 - East Greenwich, RI - Odeum* Wed. Jul. 15 - Columbus, OH - Spacebar # Thu. Jul. 16 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records # Fri. Jul. 17 - Chicago, IL - West Fest Chicago Sat. Jul. 18 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog # Sun. Jul. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Bottlerocket Social Hall # Tue. Jul. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s # Wed. Jul. 22 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub # Thu. Jul. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right % Fri. Jul. 24 - Somerville, MA - NICE, A Fest Sat. Jul. 25 - Burlington, VT - Foam Brewers
Fri. Jul. 31 - Pratsville, NY - Pratsville Arts Center Fri. Sep. 25 - Buffalo, NY - Rec Room Sat. Sep. 26 - Mississauga, ON - Second Summer Festival
* with Gang of Four # with Pop Music Fever Dream % with Ratas en Zelo
UK/EU, Late Fall/Winter 2026 Fri. Dec. 04 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Sat. Dec. 05 - Nijmegen, NL - Zeitgeist Fest Sun. Dec. 06 - Diksmuide, BE - 4AD Mon. Dec. 07 - London, UK - Moth Club Tue. Dec. 08 - Cambridge, UK - Portland Arms Wed. Dec. 09 - Edinburgh, UK - The Mash House Thu. Dec. 10 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo Fri. Dec. 11 Nottingham, UK - The Old Bus Depot Sat. Dec. 12 - Bristol, UK - Exchange Bristol Mon. Dec. 14 - Paris, FR - Le Chinois Tue. Dec. 15 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Wed. Dec. 16 - Trier, DE - Mergener Hof Thu. Dec. 17 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn Fri. Dec. 18 - Ravenna, IT - Bronson Sat. Dec. 19 - Verona, IT - Kroen Sun. Dec. 20 - Busto Arsizio, IT - Gagarin Mon. Dec. 21 - Roma, IT - Monk
Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring and three acclaimed albums, including Full Communism in 2015 and Cost of Living, their Sub Pop debut in 2017, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers.
Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the band’s second LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we can all feel.
Public Luxury was co-produced by DeFrancesco with recording engineer and longtime Downtown Boys supporter Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz) at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry.
What People Are Saying About Downtown Boys Public Luxury: “A decade in the making, Public Luxury is an unashamedly political exercise that never strays into preaching to the converted. Delivered mostly in Spanish, it’s a blast of heat and light in dark times. Imagine early Pixies but they’re only playing Isla de Encanta and Kim isn’t letting Black Francis near the mic.” ★★★★ The Skinny
“Recalling the late, great Poly Styrene at times, frontwoman Victoria Marie radiates fearsome charisma, switching between English and Spanish on several tracks, from the thunderous garage-punk beast “No Me Jodas” to the feverish tropical synth-metal jam “Mi Concha”. The fury running through these songs is mostly the joyous, exhilarating kind, while the incongruously melodic guitar-jangler “Yellow Sun” already sounds like an arena-rock anthem. Anger is an Energy.” UNCUT
“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 colorful avenues to bring their causes to light.” Treble
“The guitar-driven ferocity of ‘Sirena’ is intermittently cracked open by a synth line used perfectly and unexpectedly, illuminating a new dimension. ‘Yellow Sun’ reveals a tender core and a different kind of strength that sparkles from the vibraphone. A gargling version of a ‘Neat Neat Neat’ bassline, crazed saxophone and feral drumming run riot in ‘You’re A Ghost’. This album is essential listening for any music venue looking to correctly prepare to host this kind of energy.” Electronic Sound
Downtown Boys Public Luxury
1. No Me Jodas 2. The City Begins 3. Sirena 4. Yellow Sun 5. Viva La Rosa 6. Enemy Without 7. You’re a Ghost 8. Albuterol 9. Mi Concha 10. Public Works 11. Public Luxury
Downtown Boys are sharing “Sirena,” the empowered-by-the-ancestors new single from Public Luxury, today on all digital streaming services. It is accompanied by an official video directed by Sarah Elawad, a visual artist known for work responding to issues including Sudan’s ongoing and underreported war, and who created the immediately iconic blooming-flower early-voting animation for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign.
“Sirena” is often translated as “mermaid” or “mythical temptress.” Here on Public Luxury, it is about a literal calling: a siren, a voice, a compass to help navigate an incredibly complicated and messy world. “Sirena” is inspired by one of singer Victoria Marie’s late grandmother’s favorite songs, “Gema,” written by Los Dandys and reenvisioned by many, including Javier Solis and Vicente Fernández.
Band member Victoria Marie elaborates further on the song and music video:
“Sirena” brings together both earthly and divine concepts of what drives, moves, and calls us to action bigger than ourselves. Sirena is often translated from Spanish into English as “mermaid”. The idea of a sirena as a guiding body essentially bending gravity and drawing one to the liminal space, whether it is where water meets sand or where our desire for a world where we are all free meets the reality that we have a lot of work to do. We are honored to have a video by Sarah Elawad that takes sublime archival footage that beautifully bends the mundanity of the time it takes for a flower to grow or a horse to race. We envision this song as a reminder that all of us have that siren in the form of a person, idea, dream, or gem that reflects light in darkness. The lyrics are an ode to the siren:
La gema La joya Divina Preciosa
Las olas no se mienten Las ojos no se engañan Ya tenía en la mente Hacia atrás al frente
The gem The jewel Divine Precious
The waves never lie The eyes don’t deceive I’ve had her on my mind And she goes back to front
Downtown Boys’ live dates for summer 2026 begin Tuesday, June 23rd in Hamden, CT at Space Ballroom and run through Friday, July 25th in Burlington, VT at Foam Brewers. The band supports Gang of Four in June, followed by headline shows in July. Downtown Boys have also scheduled two shows for September in Buffalo (Sep. 25th) and Mississauga, ON (Sep. 26th). Additional shows will be announced soon. Please find a full list of dates below.
Tue. Jun. 23 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom* Wed. Jun. 24 - Holyoke, MA - Holyoke Media^ Thu. Jun. 25 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater* Fri. Jun. 26 - Willimantic, CT - St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Sat. Jun. 27 - Portland, ME - State Theater* Sun. Jun. 28 - East Greenwich, RI - Odeum* Wed. Jul. 15 - Columbus, OH - Spacebar # Thu. Jul. 16 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records # Sat. Jul. 18 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog # Sun. Jul. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Bottlerocket Social Hall # Tue.Jul. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s # Wed. Jul. 22 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub # Thu. Jul. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right % Fri. Jul. 24 - Somerville, MA - NICE, A Fest Sat. Jul. 25 - Burlington, VT - Foam Brewers Fri. Sep. 25 - Buffalo, NY - Rec Room Sat. Sep. 26 - Mississauga, ON - Second Summer Festival
* with Gang of Four # with Pop Music Fever Dream ^ with Perennial % with Ratas en Zelo
Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring and three acclaimed albums, including Full Communism in 2015 and Cost of Living, their Sub Pop debut in 2017, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers.
Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the band’s second LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we can all feel.
Public Luxury was co-produced by DeFrancesco with recording engineer and longtime Downtown Boys supporter Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz) at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry.
What People Are Saying About Downtown Boys: “…an incendiary dance-punk jam with cranked-up industrial drum machines and guttural riffage.” [“You’re A Ghost”] STEREOGUM
“…a strident, anthemic ripper.” [“You’re A Ghost”] BROOKLYN VEGAN
“‘No Me Jodas’ is the kind of cry that we need in these dark times, and Downtown Boys delivers the message with a rebellious sneer and shout-along energy. “ Remezcla
“defiant new single.” [“No Me Jodas”] DORK
“…a snarling rager and playful pit-starter simultaneously.” [“No Me Jodas”] FLOOD
“…packing their incandescent energy into a three-minute blast.” [“No Me Jodas”] CLASH
“It begins slowly, suffocatingly, with the saxophone pressing on the chest, like a dark omen of what’s to come. But it soon transforms into a trotting, Costelli-esque surf-punk that carries you on the waves with that touch of optimism the band refuses to lose. That’s where urgency and a certain hope join hands, defiantly.” [“No Me Jodas”] Rockdelux
Downtown Boys Public Luxury
1. No Me Jodas 2. The City Begins 3. Sirena 4. Yellow Sun 5. Viva La Rosa 6. Enemy Without 7. You’re a Ghost 8. Albuterol 9. Mi Concha 10. Public Works 11. Public Luxury
New 2026 US Shows Include Support Dates With Gang of Four In June, And Headlining Dates For July
Downtown Boys are sharing “You’re a Ghost,” an anthemic, industrial dance-punk track, which is out today on all digital streaming services. It is accompanied by a powerful animated official video directed by Lebanese artist Khalil (@palpable.image).
Band members Victoria Marie and Joey La Neve DeFrancesco say of the visual: “‘You’re a Ghost’ took shape in the context of the previous and current administrations’ violent suppression of pro-Palestine and anti-ICE protestors, and ICE’s recent, depraved escalations within the always-horrific U.S. deportation regime. In such a time, as a bare minimum, we must continue to demand freedom of migration, movement, and everything for everyone. They can’t distract us with clouds of hate. Our bodies and our history are not a game; this is a power structure. ICE out.”
The “You’re a Ghost” visual is the latest offering from Public Luxury, their new album out worldwide on Friday, June 26th, 2026.
Photo Credit: Naomi Yang
Downtown Boys are also sharing new 2026 live dates supporting Gang of Four in June, and headlining shows for July. The tour begins Tuesday, June 23rd in Hamden, CT at Space Ballroom and runs through Thursday, July 23rd in Brooklyn, NY at Baby’s All Right. Additional shows will be announced soon.
Tue. Jun. 23 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom* Wed. Jun. 24 - Holyoke, MA - Holyoke Media^ Thu. Jun. 25 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater* Sat. Jun. 27 - Portland, ME - State Theater* Sun. Jun. 28 - East Greenwich, RI - Odeum* Wed. Jul. 15 - Columbus, OH - Spacebar # Thu. Jul. 16 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records # Sat. Jul. 18 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog # Sun. Jul. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Bottlerocket Social Hall # Tue. Jul. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s # Wed. Jul. 22 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub # Thu. Jul. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right %
* with Gang of Four # with Pop Music Fever Dream ^ with Perennial % with Ratas en Zelo
Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring and three acclaimed albums, including Full Communism in 2015 and Cost of Living, their Sub Pop debut in 2017, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers.
Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the band’s second LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we can all feel.
Public Luxury was co-produced by DeFrancesco with recording engineer and longtime Downtown Boys supporter Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz) at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry.
The fierce and mighty Downtown Boys will release Public Luxury, their incredible new album and the follow-up to Cost of Living, their acclaimed Sub Pop debut, worldwide on Friday, June 26th, 2026. The new longplayer features highlights “The City Begins,” “Sirena,” “Viva La Rosa,” “You’re A Ghost,” its title track, and today’s offering, the massive “No Me Jodas.”Public Luxury was co-produced by Downtown Boys’ Joey La Neve DeFrancesco and recording engineer Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz), at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry.
In the “No Me Jodas” video, Downtown Boys perform with explosive energy for an enraptured crowd at a small club in Brooklyn. The visual was directed by John MacKay (Nation of Language “Inept Apollo,” “I’m Not Ready For The Change”), and also stars Mariachi Internacional Tapatio De Alvaro Paulino. Watch here.
Singer Victoria Marie offers this on the music 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).”
Downtown Boys are also sharing a few 2026 headlining shows happening this Thursday, March 26th, through Saturday, March 28th. Additional live dates will be announced soon.
Thu. Mar. 26 - Providence, RI - AS220 * Fri. Mar. 27 - Boston, MA - Deep Cuts ^ Sat. Mar. 28 - Portland, ME - Space 538 #
* w/ Black Eyes ^ w/ Whyte Lipstick # w/ Red Eft, Bait Bag
More on Public Luxury by Pierce Jordan (of Soul Glo):
Todavía creo en un futuro Todavía veo nuestros muertos Ya quemé la silla Ten fé en lo que ves
I still believe in a future I still see our dead I already burned the chair Have faith in what you see
Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about their organizing efforts and exploitative workplace conditions. The quintet is completed by saxophonist-synthesist Joe DeGeorge, bassist Mary Jane Regalado, and drummer Joey Doubek. Through years of creating and touring, Downtown Boys continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers. Now, Downtown Boys have arrived with Public Luxury on Sub Pop Records, an enthralling new record that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date.
“This record is bigger and more expansive than anything we’ve done before,” explained DeFrancesco. “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.”
The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the second Downtown Boys LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we all feel.
Victoria Marie asserts that Public Luxury means that, “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.”
Sentiments like “everything for everyone,” and “we will have it all” perfectly represent the cathartic, communal live experience this cadre of multi-instrumentalists create. These sentiments also encapsulate the inclusive, joyful fusion found in Downtown Boys’ sound: punk and indie roots mix with Latin traditions, drum machines blend with acoustic drums, saxophones both support and interject between riffs, and layers of synths blend with guitars, doubling or tripling melodies to create blankets of melodic texture. The amount of ground covered on Public Luxury can’t be overstated. Public Luxury’s opening song and lead single, “No Me Jodas,” is a massive track whose thundering drums signal the beginning of Downtown Boys’ new era. “No Me Jodas,” “Sirena,” “Viva La Rosa,” and the rework of “Mi Concha” by Malportado Kids (a project started by Marie and DeFrancesco) add to the already robust catalog of Downtown Boys tracks sung entirely in Spanish. Songs like “Yellow Sun,” with its twinkling vibraphone, as well as “Albuterol” hit with all the emotion and sophistication of Sam’s Town-era The Killers. The industrial punk breakbeat of “You’re a Ghost” is unlike anything the band has done. Anthemic punk songs like “Viva La Rosa,” “The City Begins,” and “Enemy Without” are reminiscent of Downtown Boys’ earlier music, while “Public Works” and “Public Luxury” sit awash in a dreamy bath of synthesizers.
Years in the making, Public Luxury comes nearly a decade after Downtown Boys’ previous album, Cost of Living, their acclaimed Sub Pop debut, which included the fan favorites “Somos Chulas (No Somos Pendejas)” and “A Wall.” But the Downtown Boys never stopped: they were touring throughout, always organizing, and they composed the soundtrack for the Italian motion picture Miss Marx, which won awards for best score at the 2020 Venice Film Festival and the David di Donatello Awards.
In more ways than one, Public Luxury is a revisitation of Downtown Boys’ past for the sake of their future. Co-produced by DeFrancesco and recording engineer Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz), the band created Public Luxury at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets, not far from the band’s first home of Providence, RI. Years prior, Machines With Magnets hosted a number of the first Downtown Boys performances. Manchester watched the band grow from these early days, making their time in the studio one of two homecomings that would define the production of the album. The other came in May of 2025, before production, when Victoria Marie’s grandmother—a monumental figure for the entire band—passed away. The songs “No Me Jodas” and “Sirena” particularly channel her influence, serving as crystallized representations of the love between a woman and her ancestor.
“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,” Victoria Marie says, “a world that will be awkward, inconsistent, yet truly free when it comes to all that matters.”
Downtown Boys Public Luxury
1. No Me Jodas 2. The City Begins 3. Sirena 4. Yellow Sun 5. Viva La Rosa 6. Enemy Without 7. You’re a Ghost 8. Albuterol 9. Mi Concha 10. Public Works 11. Public Luxury
The Downtown Boys have contributed their arrangement of communist anthem “L’Internationale” to the Italian film Miss Marx. Directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli, Miss Marx is a biopic about Karl Marx’s daughter, who was an important but often overlooked organizer and writer. She led many women to take up their/our rightful power in socialism. The band recorded this version of “L’Internationale,” as an ode to the global struggle and passion for a freedom bigger than themselves.
Miss Marx recently premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where Downtown Boys and Gatto Ciliegia contro il Grande Freddo won the Soundtrack Stars Award for their work on the film.
About the song and film, Downtown Boys said:
“This year, we saw people throughout the globe come together amidst the pain of and struggle against police brutality, and the loss of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. We have lost over 200k people in our country from a global pandemic exacerbated by greed. And, throughout this all, we have seen people collectively fight back. We hope this video is a reminder of the vessel that brings us together to scream, shout, cry, or rest. Miss Marx would rally women socialists against patriarchy and global capital, and this video shows outtakes of Miss Marx and her comrades singing. The upcoming election and these continuing moments of collective power need to be vessels for our voices. In the spirit of Eleanor Marx and the current moment, please please go anywhere you can to sign up to vote or support others in voting, both by the ballot box in a few weeks and by all the ways we see people picking the side of freedom.”
Go here to register to vote, find out how/where/when to vote, and to support free and fair elections in the US this November.
To celebrate their European tour next week, Downtown Boys have shared their rendition of “Fotos Y Recuerdos”. Originally recorded by The Pretenders as “Back in the Chain Gang,” the song was later covered - with Spanish lyrics - and further popularized by the late Tejano queen, Selena.
Downtown Boys, in a group statement, say of the track: “Fotos y recuerdos translates to photos and memories. The original singer of this version of song, Selena Quintanilla, reminds us that, while it often feels like history repeats itself, our mystic chords of memories - even memories of thoughts - become part our protection. Our most gracious fotos and recuerdos break history repeating itself by being endless. And yours can be for you and no one else.”
“Fotos Y Recuerdos” was recorded during the Cost of Livingrecording sessions with Guy Picciotto and Greg Norman at Electrical Audio in Chicago.
Downtown Boys will resume their European tour schedule in support of Cost of Living next week. The dates span June 1st in Düdingen, Switzerland at Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival through June 9th at Hilavrenbeek, Netherlands’ Best Kept Secret Festival.
Jun. 01 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival Jun. 02 - Trento, IT - Urma Festival Jun. 03 - Milan, IT - Zuma Festival Jun. 04 - Brescia, IT - Latteria Molly Jun. 05 - Torino, Italy - Blah Blah Jun. 06 - Ravenna, IT - Beaches Brew Festival Jun. 07 - Genova, IT - Teatro Al Trove Jun. 09 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret Festival
Produced by Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, Downtown Boys recently released their highly anticipated and critically acclaimed third album, Cost of Living, on Sub Pop. Listen here, and buy it here.
What people are saying about Downtown Boys: ”Cost of Living, Downtown Boys’ third full-length, was written before this year’s inauguration, but its battle cries over centuries of injustices for marginalized people who have been left out of historical (and musical) narrative feels timeless” [Cost of Living, 8.5/10] - Paste
“a fierce offering that takes aim at fascism, queerphobia, capitalism, and racism in a howl of cathartic energy.” [Cost of Living, 8.5/10] -Loud & Quiet
“Downtown Boys are an antidote to 2017, to Trump’s America, to oppression of all marginalized groups. The bi-lingual Chicana, queer and Latino outfit are also a punch to the larynx of tired, white-washed punk rock that’s turned so far towards its own privileged naval.” [Cost of Living] - Under The Radar
“Like a cross between X-Ray Spex and Rage Against The Machine as reinterpreted via US hardcore.” [Cost of Living] - Uncut
“Nobody writes like Ruiz and Joey DeFrancesco, who espouse strength in the face of oppression.”[Cost of Living, 4/5] -MOJO
”Cost of Living is refined, an example of a band who can still make an album sound angry and alive under its surface sheen.” [Cost of Living] - Stereogum
”Cost of Living, the band’s third full album, does more than just chronicle what it’s like to be a non-straight and/or non-white working class person in America. It’s a declaration of war against the status quo.” [Cost of Living] - Uproxx
“It’s a pure punk attack, with driving guitars, bulldozing drums, Victoria Ruiz’s uninhibited shouts of anger for the oppressed, and of course the sax.” [Cost of Living] - Brooklyn Vegan
“Downtown Boys are an antidote to 2017.” [Cost of Living] -Under the Radar
“They craft a punk record that finds perfection between raw energy, handfuls of talent and something to say.” [Cost of Living, 8.0/10] -Northern Transmissions
”The Cost of Living feels so vital because it’s not just a document of the times, or a surface level scanning of issues. Unlike so much modern ‘political’ music that falls into a sardonic appreciation of the world, Downtown Boys are on the streets, marching, rioting, singing. They want to be in the thick of it, because that’s the only way things will change.” [Cost of Living, 4/5] -Spectrum Culture
Cost of Living is a testament to our need for Downtown Boy’s spirit, and to the possibility of compassion in the quest for equality.” [Cost of Living] - The Fader
”Cost of Living will likely be remembered as a document of its time. However, Downtown Boys have done an admirable job of placing the specifics of their messages within the context of history, and infusing the record with a rich new musicality.” [Cost of Living] - SPIN
“A shot of pure adrenaline, Downtown Boys are an antidote to the carefully posed, cynical window of modern life. No time for frills, they’re true to their core. Start the riot.” [Cost of Living, 4/5] - Upset
