Hailing from Washington, Johnny Hoffman and the Residents are a lo-fi indie rock duo with heavy leanings towards grunge, punk and the blues. The song begins with a doom laden dirge, which any Nirvana fans will immediately catch onto and made me immediately think of ‘Heart Shaped Box’.

'Leather Face' is structured around the Pixies tried and tested quiet/loud aesthetic. The band mix things up with a wonderfully psychedelic solo, which reminded me of Black Keys.

As you may have guessed from the song title, the song is about a very unpleasant, malevolent, psycho killer and the song’s narrative is told from this person’s perspective. This is an effective method in highlighting the sheer brutality of the song. This technique has been perfected by Steve Albini in Big Black tracks like ‘Jordan Minnesota’. Whilst ‘Leather Face’ doesn’t reach the same level of horror, I’m glad to see that the ugly America preoccupation of so many 80s American underground bands is still alive and well.

‘Leather Face’ appears to be the sum of Johnny Hoffman and the Residents influences. Fans of more aggressive indie rock such as The Men, should find a lot to like here. I personally hope that Johnny Hoffman and the Residents can take on the other obsession of the great 80s underground bands and strive to create their own, unique sound.