Full Communism
This six-piece Rhode Island punk act gets its unabashedly Marxist-feminist message across in ways that are both fun and furious. The group’s first full-length album flies by in a boisterous, intoxicating rush, 24 minutes of saxophone-laced noise and radical slogans. On the hilarious “Tall Boys,” lead singer Victoria Ruiz threatens to castrate a pretentious concertgoer; on the bold, fizzy highlight “Monstro,” she repeatedly yells, “She’s brown! She’s smart!” in both Spanish and English. Downtown Boys‘ bilingual lyrics are a powerful statement in their own right, a key part of their mission to invade and upend the traditionally white, male punk scene. What’s more punk-rock than that?