The Linda Lindas have come a long way since screaming about a "Racist, Sexist Boy" at the LA Public Library in 2021. And despite their impressive track record over the past few years — opening for rock juggernauts like Bikini Kill, Paramore and Green Day, being featured in the Amy Poehler-directed film Moxie and releasing a debut LP — the adolescent band are just getting started. On their sophomore album No Obligation, Bela Salazar, Eloise Wong and sisters Lucia and Mila de la Garza continue to bring angst-fueled punk and a Riot Grrrl spirit to a new generation of young feminists, embodying the essence of '90s female-led punk and rock groups whose anthemic staples still have a hold on audiences old and new today. In 30 years, who's to say grown up Gen Zs won't be blasting "Racist, Sexist Boy" with as much loud rage as they are now?
It's an attitude that kicks off the record's title track, a Runaways-style mission statement on not adhering to societal niceties: "You'd like me better if they didn't stare / You'd like me better if I grew out my hair." Fast and sharp, "No Obligation" drop kicks you off a ledge and doesn't let up until it's over. "All In My Head" takes a turn to bedroom rock, a peak young adult lament. Working again with producer Carlos de la Garza, who is also the father of members Lucia and Mila, their sophomore effort keeps the same rowdiness and candid songwriting from 2022's Growing Up, but it's the inclusion of these slightly softer moments for the girls to wallow and get caught up in their anxious stream of consciousness that give No Obligation some extra flesh.
The band aren't strangers to incorporating Latin influences or performing in Spanish, and this time around they got "Weird Al" Yankovic — the collab punk fans didn't know they wanted, but perhaps needed — to help them out on the accordion on "Yo Me Estreso," a tune inspired by corridos tumbados, banda and Duranguense music. Standouts include "Once Upon a Time," a sun-drenched skater approach, and the furious, pushing-in-the-pit energy of "Excuse Me," in which the girls implore a harmful nuisance, whether in the form of an individual or a patriarchal society, to, "Save all your gender essentialism crap." Ultimately, "Stop" is somewhat of a lackluster finale and seems better fitted to a middle track than the closer — "Resolution / Revolution," with its Judas Priest-inspired riffs and theatrical vocal embellishments and harmonies feels more deserving of the rousing conclusion throne — but it has the band doing what they do best: calling out shitty, spineless men, and its call and response chorus feels primed for live shows.
The Linda Lindas are a band that proudly wear their influences on their sleeve, refusing to filter their simple punk sound to strain and strip it of its potency. They aren't reinventing the wheel at this point in their career, but as young artists with explosive, disillusioned and wrathful emotions for the world and social conventions around them, there isn't a rock band more suited to the times.