Providence, RI’s Downtown Boys are back with new single ‘No Me Jodas’, the first taste of upcoming album Public Luxury (out 26 June via Sub Pop) – and it lands exactly as you’d hope: loud, urgent and completely uncompromising.
I’ve missed this band. Few do it like Downtown Boys; that mix of confrontational punk, sax-fuelled chaos and real-world activism that actually means something. ‘No Me Jodas’ is a rallying cry: furious, danceable, and impossible to ignore, with Victoria Marie’s vocals cutting straight through the noise.
And that “real-world” bit matters. This is a band that literally formed through union organising, writing songs about exploitative work and collective resistance because they were living it. They’ve always treated music as part of a wider political project – not just commentary, but action. That ethos runs right through Public Luxury, which is built around the idea of “everything for everyone” – a stubborn refusal to accept that things have to stay as they are, and a belief that people power can (and should) take it all back.
Their live shows are famously cathartic, that moment where guitars, sax, synths and a room full of people shouting back at the stage all blur into one. From the sound of ‘No Me Jodas’, they’re trying to bottle that energy on record this time – and getting pretty close.
Nearly a decade on from Cost of Living, they’ve not been idle – still touring, still organising, still making work that sits right at the intersection of art and politics. If anything, they sound more urgent now.
They’re one of my all-time favourites for a reason. And now they’re back, I’m just hoping (begging) they make it over to the UK again soon.
In the meantime, here’s some US tour dates for starters:
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
Find Downtown Boys on Instagram | Bluesky