Stream: Cola Boyy, ‘Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood’ (feat. The Avalanches)

Kevin Bronson on May 26th, 2021

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“I wanted a mix of the Beach Boys, French disco, house keys and a hint of the ‘Cheers’ soundtrack for good measure,” Cola Boyy (aka Matthew Urango) says of the single that introduces his new album, “Prosthetic Boombox,” arriving June 18 via Record Makers/MGMT Records.

Wow, that’s a lot. But like his effusive ambitions for the song, “Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood” puts a smile on your face.

It features the Avalanches, returning the favor. Cola Boyy (along with Mick Jones) was featured on the Australian group’s track “We Go On,” from last year’s album “We Will Always Love You.” “What a tune,” the Avalanches’ Robbie Chater says of the new Cola Boyy song. “One of the coolest and most inspiring tracks we have ever worked on, with such a heartfelt message.”

Indeed. The song is the follow-up to “Kid Born in Space,” which speaks to his experience growing up with spina bifida and scoliosis. Now he celebrates his home turf, Oxnard. “This is one of my favorite jams on the record,” he says. “It’s a message to everyone: Don’t get lost in the petty capitalist dream that has us abandon the people and places that shaped us. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the masses of Oxnard, and no flashing lights can outweigh that.”

The album announcement notes that “Prosthetic Boombox” was written over six years in the U.S. and Paris, between live dates at Coachella, Pitchfork Paris and on tour with Mac DeMarco and MGMT. Its range — like “scanning between stations on a car radio, landing on all these different sounds and styles,” Urango says — owes to Urango’s eclectic upbringing. The singer-songwriter/producer has white, black, Hispanic and Native American heritage and grew up in a majority-Mexican neighborhood; his grandmother was a lounge singer, his father a keen music fan; and Urango got his start in punk bands.

The album, which also features collaborations with Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, John Carroll Kirby, Nicolas Godin of Air, Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift and Corentin “nit” Kerdraon, is the follow-up to Cola Boyy’s breakout 2018 EP, “Black Boogie Neon.”

There are guests in the David Numwami-directed lyric video, too.

||| Stream: The video for “Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood” (feat. The Avalanches)