In Spanish, “Malportado” means “poorly behaved.” Trouble-maker. Miscreant. Malportado Kids hail from Providence, Rhode Island, and share a scene with fellow bilingual future punx Downtown Boys, who’ve released two singles off of their forthcoming Full Communism LP, both of which have ended up on our 5 Best Songs list. Downtown Boys’ Victoria Ruiz and Joey La Neve DeFrancesco make up Malportado Kids. Both of these outfits make music that negate all inclination to mimic any current hype band and still manage to sound like something easy to get behind. Ingest their unreserved political clamor and move, damn it. Like all of Malportado Kids’ songs, “Bruja Cosmica” (or “Cosmic Witch”) is entirely declaimed in Spanglish, its rhythmic tumult inspired by cumbia, a dance music genre that originated in Colombia but has since spread throughout Latin America. You will hear some hybridized version of its original form if you go to a club in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, but it probably won’t sound quite like Malportado Kids’ dance punk reformulation. The band will release their second EP Total Cultura in June on Dead Labour, a tiny label with a disparate roster that includes Big Ups, Bellows, and now, Malportado Kids. Check out the band’s two upcoming show dates and listen to “Bruja Cosmica” below.

Tour dates:
4/15 Washington DC @ Black Cat *
4/17 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
* w/ Ana Tijoux & Rebel Diaz

Total Cultura out 6/2 via Dead Labour. Preorder it here.