"Oh had I written that book that I was talking about! / All I’ve done is looking for a title that I still haven’t found! / Oh messy life, messy life, I’m Cristiano Ronaldo / But I’ve never ever ever had a ball..."
Open the door to the lively raw smoke filled underground club that is "Ronaldo" by Bologna, Italy's post punk outfit Leatherette and the raucous sonic mayhem begins right away. This potent quintet features angular guitar attacks, lead guitar lines that appropriately resemble Italian Police Sirens, huge heavy eruptions of sound, slapping heavy bass / drum side steps and super cool swelling proto-punk sax drones that made me think of artists like James Chance & The Contortions. Vocally, at times the vocals feel like an amalgam of vocalists like Joe Strummer (The Clash), Paul Weller (The Jam), Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers) all from their halcyon days.
"I didn't write the book that i was talking about!
All I've done is looking for a title that i still haven't found!
Oh I'm losing my temper and i'm not gonna miss it!
I ain't gonna miss you neither if you don't want me to!
But I’ve never ever ever had a ball!"
"Ronaldo" exists as a pulse pounding, mosh pit of a song that you will likely not leave from without a bloody nose. The emotional bloodletting, calmer at times and rabid at other times offers unfettered fury whether you can read between the lines or not, whether you follow soccer or not. From Leatherette's sophomore album "Small Talk", dropping November 3rd (2023) via Bronson Recordings, the sound, within today's landscape, is unique, is singular.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4nAQf14Uz5C0uSACkrNwIW
https://www.instagram.com/leatherette.band
Leatherette are, by their own description, “five shy guys who sometimes get off the stage and punch people,” a quintet whose car-crash of jagged noise, twisted love and dark, anguished melody has delivered a remarkable – and eminently combustible – debut album.
The group are based in Bologna, but all hail from different towns in Italy. These five young men – singer/guitarist Michele, bassist Marco, drummer Francesco, guitarist Andrea and saxophonist Jacopo – are united by a profound need to make music, to express themselves naturally and honestly.
The group bonded over wildly differing influences – everything from midwestern emo gods American Football, to Berlin-era Bowie, to James Chance & The Contortions, to rap and electronic music – to create a dense, passionate, articulate sound of their own.
You can file them near fiery post-punk kindreds like Shame and Squid, or unhinged 90s noisers like Unwound or Hoover, or squalling No Wavers like James Chance, but the truth is there are few bands like Leatherette that walk this Earth.
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