the record FULL COMMUNISM by the punk rock band DOWNTOWN BOYS

i saw these guys for the first time in a tiny ethiopian bar in 2012 and was like "....my god they need a bigger room"

this record will finally get them one, i think. horn-driven loud ass bilingual left wing punk. saw them play a bigger place last night, and as far as i can tell people had their heads knocked off--the kinda show that leaves you breathless and babbling to everyone the next day about why you can't stop dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnTHH3pUqg

love it

related: the singer victoria ruiz also works as an organizer in NY and i met her at a conference for work last month (where she gave me some great ideas) and then fanboyed the fuck out in an elevator

last night the intro for dancing in the dark was something along the lines of

"our languages so often make blackness, darkness, into an evil thing, a dirty thing, a negative thing--well we're here to make darkness the brightest most beautiful thing you've ever seen, and we're gonna do it with dancing, so get the fuck up" and people were literally crying through the song

also this is old but it FUCKS ME UP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyvKWyxgq_Y

I opened for them once (on the EMA tour) and they were super nice kids, Victoria was awesome. Their energy & optimism made me feel old but that's not hard to do.

i want to be all of their friends, they're so posi

I like that explanation and take on "darkness," mentioned above. Read a story somewhere where they praise Springsteen's lyrics about that.

Singer Victoria and Joey's cumbia-punk project is kinda fun. Its on soundcloud.

http://remezcla.com/music/meet-cumbia-punkeros-malportado-kids/

yesss my malportado shirt is one of my prizest posessions

New Malportado Kids album and tour

TOUR DATES:

6/5 Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn ^
6/6 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Museum
6/7 Philadelphia, PA @ Lava Space
6/8 Washington DC @ Union Arts
6/9 Cincinnati, OH @ TBA
6/10 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
6/11 Chicago, IL @ 20/40
6/12 Columbus, OH @ The Mint

6/13 Providence, RI @ Aurora

6/21 Boston, MA @ Smash It Dead Fest

Oops, its an ep not an album. Total Cultura

Ironic communism is the new neofolk?

who says it's ironic?

definitely not ironic

I find it very hard to believe they're not using the communism label for shock value.

Dude, they covered Springsteen, they're pinko as fuck

dudes it's just an album title

it's not like they're branding themselves "communist rock" or something, come on.

I find it very hard to believe they're not using the communism label for shock value.

― Siegbran, Friday, May 29, 2015 8:09 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i know their politics through my day job. they may be taking advantage of shock value, but they're sincere.

First: they're fantastic, and it's great to see them getting the press they deserve recently. (That Dangerous Minds writeup!)

Second: their practice space was a block from my house for a long time, and I've watched them from their very first shows... they are Crass-level serious about their politics.

What are their politics, then? "Communism" obviously doesn't mean anything. To me, without really knowing the substance of their material, they read like workers's rights, civil rights, anti-racism (in the wide sense), etc.. But if they're really on to some cadre-type bullshit, that something else entirely... But they're not, right?

they read like workers's rights, civil rights, anti-racism (in the wide sense),

plus maybe they dream of their ideal fantasy world with pure Full Communism (it's just an album title) and none of the authoritarianism that happened in practice

Yeah, "full" as in true, pure or similar. Thing is, though (and I know I am making too much out of this presumably innocent title), utopic ideals are often ultimatelty authoritarian in practice.

Pretty great band, however

Don't get me wrong, I like this record a lot, it's rousing stuff. But yeah I read them more as your regular community activists for worthy social causes, not some anti-revisionist nostalgics for the Comintern, Ceaușescu or Shining Path. It's always tricky to figure out what's actually behind it when bands start throwing around heavily loaded phrases or symbolism.

if i wanted to get into some punk, would this be a good place to start? sorry, don't mean to intrude. i've just been thinking about it lately.

ok wait its just now occurring to me that not everyone itt (...maybe *only* me?) is familiar with 'full communism' as an internet-leftist gag

You hear it everywhere, these days, if you walk within a certain activist milieu. It’s a token demand, a given. FULL COMMUNISM- I wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less. It’s a joke, a dumb joke. It’s a communist meme. Like all good memes, it’s pretty much devoid of meaning, in terms of content. But its use denotes something else– a Zizekian uber-demand, a demand which goes beyond. FULL COMMUNISM is both a lack, in a very real sense, but also a pointed lack, its very meaninglessness a cry for meaning.

cf https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/full-communism

so no, they're not pining for the politburo--but they're sincere anti-racist anti-capitalist feminists of the modern young left.

and the fact that their organizing work keeps them focused on working class issues i think actually signals an importance class has in their politics that you don't see in a lot of the broad ~social justice~ left

Ha, ok thanks Hoos. I had no clue about the context of the phrase.

IT'S AN ALBUM TITLE

i apologize for my bleating, perhaps i'm being rather U.S.-centric (in terms of references to communism appear relatively abstract compared to how they could be perceived in other parts of the world)

cool band imo

my o also

what's your fave song(s) of theirs that aren't covers?

This is fantastic but I only really listened in the first place because it's called FULL COMMUNISM so A++ branding there Downtown Boys.

haha same here but it turns out i still don't like punk rock

i'm sure the lyrics are very rad but i can't hear any of them

it is weird to see people getting all "but how RIGOROUS is their POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY" about the title

Yeah, "full" as in true, pure or similar.

"full communism" is what they used to say was down the road, theoretically, after a few more transitional years of the dictatorship of the proletariat, of bureaucracy, of distastefully necessary privilege; even in propaganda it wasn't something that existed but a future destination (and present justification). in a way it is an eschatological phrase, like "the second coming", which is not to be taken at face value when used as a title either. anyway yeah this album's good!

Finnegans Wake ‏@finnegansreader 3 minutes ago

You punk me!

I think for Surm this is a pretty good place to start, the horns give even the most aggressive songs a melodic edge and the singer has a boatload of presence.

what's your fave song(s) of theirs that aren't covers?

― Mistah FAAB (sarahell), Monday, June 1, 2015 5:42 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uhhh the grab bag probably includes life ain't fair, slumlord sal, maldito, big cop, wave of history, 100% inheritance tax, tall boys

I like the horns and momentum of Full Communism, but so far prefer Total Cultura en totale, mostly because it's got what I think of as cut tunes: flexible, melodic segments fit into the sharp-edged textures of synths x hard beats and vocal attack ( as on one of my faves, "Bruja Cosmica"). Also "cut" in the desirable-physique sense. And I think she usually sounds better in Spanish, though love the way "I'm On Fire" is seen x raised, by the way she sings *those* words in English. Also dig the fateful synth here; the other shoe keeps dropping. On Spotify* and still on Soundcloud for now, for those who prefer it: http://bit.ly/1H6dxwK
*Although the Spotify web player had no prob playing TC, it kept hitting speedbumps in FC, which might be one reason I def. prefer the former, initially.

Whether they're for real communists or not, the most interesting thing about this band is their politics. And that isn't saying much.

cool thx

I think some folks who don't like the speedy punk of Downtown Boys, might like the offshoot group Malportado Kids cumbia-punk more. Record is on Soundcloud as mentioned above. Tour list posted upthread above too --NYC gigs tonight & tomorrow, then on to Philly & DC and...

the boys are back downtown

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/18877-downtown-boys-somos-chulas-no-somos-pendejas/

man i gotta admit the new record has grown on me slowly

i was loathe to leave behind the loud-fast stuff for more ponderous guitar lines and instrumental breaks but i can start to feel the influence of Fucked Up & proggy-punk stuff here and now i'm ready to like it

I need to give it another try, it left me a little cold on first listen

Yeah I was the same - thought it was OK, but a step down. I'll definitely give it another go because Downtown Boys are one of my favourite punk bands of recent times