Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

LATTE+ (pronounced LA-TTE-PEW) is an Italian band that has been around for over 20 years, yet somehow I have missed out on them until now. Probably because I have spent more time exploring Italy’s cuisine than its music scene. It does explain though how come ‘Next To Ruin’ turned out to be such a smooth and accomplished album.

These guys aren’t trying to reinvent the genre on ‘Next To Ruin’, but having spent a lot of time listening to the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, the Queers and other bands cut from the same cloth, Chicco, Jay and Puccio come equipped with just the right three chords, tons of melodies and plenty of ooh’s and aah’s. They sing about everything from cats (‘Cookie’) and Melania Trump (‘Everybody Likes Your Wife’) to a sotry about a soldier feeling alone and scared during WWII (‘Lost In Berlin’) and do so over expertly laid out Ramonescore tunes.

Track listing:

1. Next To Ruin    
2. Phocomelic Boy    
3. Cookie    
4. Waiting For You    
5. I Miss You    
6. Good Looking Girl    
7. She's The Evil    
8. Everybody Likes Your Wife    
9. She Cracks The Whip    
10. Sleepyhead    
11. Lost In Berlin    
12. Hey Hey It's Dee Dee's Birthday Today    
13. Very Abnormal People