The Boroughs
THE DELI
Issue #15, Volume #4 Summer 2008
Writer: Kenneth Partridge
The Boroughs(Self-Titled)
The Boroughs rarely write topical music - their songs tend to be about getting dumped, hanging out and playing rock 'n' roll - but their full-length debut is a de facto treatise on local politics. Owing an obvious debt to hometown heroes the Ramones, the Queens-based trio is the antithesis of Brooklyn gentrification, trendy noise bands, silly fashions and the intellectualization of indie rock.
With the exception of several stylistic departures - the garage stomp of "Good Time" and haunted-house ska of "Another Sad Song," most notably the band follows in the footsteps of the Dead boys and early Social Distortion. The music is familiar, but the energy is infectious, and the songwriting is more consistent than repetitive. To say the Boroughs are dependable sounds like an insult, so better to phrase it this way: They're inheritors of a proud punk rock tradition. -K.P.
www.theboroughs.net
