Political punk requires both rage and precision. NYC outfit Allapartus delivers both on “Choice,” a track that deliberately evokes early-2000s pop-punk aesthetics while addressing distinctly contemporary American crises.
The band—comprised of Adam Woodley (vocals), Danny Caro (drums), Kevin Dubois (bass), and various New York punk scene collaborators—uses irony as their primary weapon. When Woodley repeats “Freedom is the meds we have to ration/Freedom is the homes we can’t afford,” he subverts patriotic rhetoric to highlight economic abandonment. Each declaration of “freedom” becomes increasingly bitter, culminating in the devastating line “Freedom is Roe V Wade in ashes.”
What prevents “Choice” from collapsing under its political weight is the band’s commitment to musical catharsis. Their self-described “balance between delicate atmosphere and untethered catharsis” manifests in production that allows enough space for the lyrics to land while providing the requisite punch for moshing. The accompanying 35mm film video (directed by Tom Van Scoyoc) reinforces this duality, embracing DIY roots while channeling MTV’s pop-punk golden era.
The chorus shifts from ironic declarations to direct admission: “Free to be weak/Free to be poor/Free to OD/While we watch TV.” These lines contrast American “freedoms” with actual lived experience, particularly for working-class citizens. The parenthetical whisper “(Who is afraid of us living a life of dignity?)” poses the central question without didacticism.
Most effective is the tension between the track’s early-2000s sonic nostalgia and its contemporary critique. By invoking the sound of an era when American optimism still seemed sustainable, Allapartus highlights how much has changed. The instrumentation might beckon millennials back to teenage bedrooms, but the lyrics firmly root them in today’s housing crisis, healthcare failures, and reproductive rights battlegrounds.
“Choice” ultimately succeeds as both protest song and mosh pit anthem, proving political music still works when the rage feels earned.
B-Side Guys 
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