Monday, July 06, 2015

Album Review: Downtown Boys- Full Communism


The Clash was my favorite band from 1979 to 1983.  Hip-hop and Cut the Crap made the Clash a far less important part of my life in the mid-’80s.

Full Communism, the new album by Downtown Boys, provides me with the same sort of jolt I once received from a new album by the Clash.

I don’t necessarily concur with the Providence band’s politics, but exposure to tear gas in South America last month has made me more receptive to radicalism.  Strident Full Communism songs such as "Wave of History" are balanced by amusing tirades like “Tall Boys.”

Punx not dead.


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I reviewed Failure’s concert at Liberty Hall.

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I featured the AM Trio on KCUR’s weekly Local Listen segment.

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Justus West, a Kansas City, Kansas, teen, remade “Alone Again (Naturally).”

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I listen to a lot of Red Dirt country acts.  Most are interchangeable.  Jered Deck, formerly of Green Corn Revival, has tapped into something both vital and traditional with ”17 Miles”.  The hearty song is RIYL: Will Hoge, Gaslight Anthem, Joe Ely.

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Mark Guiliana’s Family First doesn’t do much for me.  RIYL: drummer-led jazz albums, Kamasi Washington, solos for the sake of solos.

(Original image of a mural in New York City by There Stands the Glass.)

1 comment:

bgo said...

I reckon if you are going to compare someone to Will Hoge, Gaslight Anthem, and Joe Ely, I better check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

bgo