I’m thrilled to bring you today the premiere of a powerful remix of ‘¡Radical!’ which brings together the incendiary international talents of New York Latin American collaborators Victoria Ruiz (Downtown Boys) and Ernesto el Defensor (multi-instrumentalist, producer, DJ), with Australian band Bloods. Victoria and Ernesto say they intend for this remix to be a “poem of diasporic revelation and rage”.

The remix simultaneously deconstructs the original melodies and reconstructs its rhythms to answer the original call to arms poised by Bloods: “Quien es radical?”

With each passing century of colonialism, the state’s monopoly on violence only tightens. Meanwhile, the diaspora has dispersed our culture across the globe and driven a wedge in our comradeship.

Victoria and Ernesto intend for this remix to be a demonstration and reminder of the collaborative spirit among Brown artists separated only by continents, but not cultural objective.  They say, to be radical means to acknowledge that our bodies are tariffed and taxed the same way our land and our labor is— disproportionately, and only to uphold the ruling class. 

I am a huge Downtown Boys fan, like, HUGE. It was such an honor to have Victoria and producer Ernesto Papaleo take this song and reimagine it in such an authentic and powerful way. The song was inspired by the traditional protest chants of Latin America and the fact this has become a huge Latino created steam roller of punk power warms my heart beyond words. Victoria’s voice is so commanding, it’s brought an entire new level of strength and urgency to the track.

Bloods’ frontwoman and main songwriter MC

The track is from Bloods’ deluxe edition of Together, Baby! Out on May 5 via Share It Music. A celebration of humanity and connection, and totally kickass punk licks. 

“This is definitely our most thought out record to date. It’s the album we’ve had the most time to flesh out and the first one we’ve made ourselves.” 

MC