Austin BLXPLTN are a punk rock band who’ve paired their examinations of race, class, gender, and sexuality with incendiary music, which kicks hard at conventions and boundaries.
Their first two full length albums, and several standalone singles were filled with righteous rage, and this is expected to continue with their third album, which they’ve warned will be rougher, louder, more uncompromising and more punk than anything they’ve ever done before. First track is ‘No English’, and critics across the US are sittingup and taking notice.
‘No English’ shows the band as how they are: the lyrics spat out by frontman TaSzlin Muerte pull no punches in their appraisal of current politicians, alongside the manic riffing and overdriven guitar of Jonathan Horstmann. There’s also the powerful drumming from Jeremy Kivett, the most recent addition to BLXPLTN. The clip shows each of the band in equal measure, as well as other characters in the clip, including a shirtless, tattooed man, who runs in slow motion away from an armed ICE agent, on a hot Texas night. Headlights on parked cars throw shadows across the border crossing, and tree branches hand heavily over the performance area. The clip cuts between the musicians and the chase, all while providing a visual metaphor for the anxiety of the pursued. Ultimately he’s the quarry for a paramilitary force, and his terror is palpable.
You can find out more about BLXPLTN online on their official website.
