Formal Criminal Complaint & Request for Investigation — Williamson County Jail (Systemic Medical Abuse, Torture, and Record Falsification)
Dear Travis County District Attorney’s Office,
My name is LeRoy Nellis, and I am submitting a formal criminal complaint and request for prosecutorial review regarding a pattern of unlawful conduct, including medical neglect, unlicensed medical practice, administrative torture, HIPAA violations, ADA violations, and evidence falsification that occurred at the Williamson County Jail during the…
Live Review: BODEGA at YES in Manchester 23 July 2025
Words: Andy Hughes
A year ago, on a sunny May bank holiday in Manchester, NYC collective BODEGA headlined a choice lineup at Band on the Wall, taking to the stage after the likes of Model/Actriz and soon-to-be chart threats Panic Shack. Ahead of the show, we managed to steal away guitarist and vocalist Ben Hozie for an hour where we interviewed him for our podcast ’60 Minutes or less’. Having…
On Broken Equipment, Brooklyn quintet Bodega comes out swinging, invigorated after a pandemic hiatus. Songwriters Ben Hozie and Nikki Belfiglio appear to have absorbed Antonio Gramsci’s theories about cultural hegemony as a strategy of control. Further, they’ve set them to the throb of early noughties DFA dance punk, delivering a set of withering takedowns of the city that never sleeps (because there’s money to be made). All good thus far, but Bodega have extended their musical palette and tightened their songwriting to produce an album that bristles with energy and intelligence.
“Thrown,” “Doers,” “NYC (Disambiguation)” and “C.I.R.P” are all fine additions to the Bodega catalogue. The music is, as expected, all declamatory sprechgesang, rubbery rhythms and razorblade guitars. The fun here is in the lyrics; the references to New York’s history, geography and self-image, the castigations of advertising, screen obsession and identity appropriation. The verses go beyond shooting barrel-bound fish to discuss personal complicity in the distractions of media saturation with caustic wit and bracing self-deprecation. Even, nay, especially the Radiohead piss-take “It’s making me bitter, harder, fatter, stressed out.”
They explore other musical territory with the same confidence. “Territorial Call of the Female,” takes its cue from The Au Pairs with Belfiglio dissecting female competition as Adam See’s bass line bounces around Tai Lee’s choppy drums; her challenge to God, “Statuette On The Console” is straight-ahead power pop with Dan Ryan laying down a propulsive guitar riff while “How Can I Help Ya?” channels the snotty swagger of Johnny Thunders. There’s even space for some classic old school soloing on “All Past Lovers.” Album highlight “After Jane” provides a poignant coda. Over an acoustic strum with minimal percussion Hozie traces the legacy of his relationship with his late mother. The directness and insight make it one of the finest pieces of songwriting you’ll hear this year. “Remember visit on Christmas Eve when you didn't recognize who I was … I could feel your ribs, you took an ocean of pills/Nervous for how you would act on me/Now that grace and that pain's passed to me now … I’m channeling your hurt when I sing my songs.”
With Broken Equipment Bodega have made an album that takes its cues from very specific New York sites and sounds, but speaks to common experience, makes you think a bit, dance some more and leaves you to ponder the fates.
WATCH: BODEGA announce new album and a UK/EU Tour via new single 'Doers'!
WATCH: BODEGA announce new album and a UK/EU Tour via new single ‘Doers’!
Words: Andy Hughes (Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana)
2021 and we’ve finally got a contemporary follow on from Daft Punk’s ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger‘. Very much capturing the current mood of just about everyone, on new single ‘Doers‘, BODEGA return with the choice refrain of ‘Bitter, Harder, Fatter, Stressed Out‘.
‘Doers‘ dishes up more helpings of the cucumber cool we’re-definitely-from-NYC…
