An iconic Italian alternative rock band is coming to our island, from the deepest reaches of the Romagna province: Cosmetic, the fathers of the "italogaze" sound, active for over twenty years. This weekend, they'll be playing for audiences in Cagliari and Turrita at the first edition of the No Sleep Fest. Supporting the band in the capital on Friday the 24th will be hardcore punk band Riflesso, while on Saturday the 25th, they'll be backing up with Pioggia and Fenech in Ossi.

The band

The Romagna-based group—currently comprised of Emanuele Bartolini (aka Bart, lead vocalist and bandleader), Alessandro Straccia (co-writer, guitar and keyboards), "Alien" (bass and female vocals), and Carl Gei (drums)—formed in the late 1990s by three Nirvana-obsessed young men: the then-young Bart and his friends Balz and Ico, who were joined in 2000 by Cava, thus officially forming Cosmetic. After years of concerts and various demos, the group set to work on their debut album, "Sursum Corda," released in 2007 on two small labels and the first fully realized example of their neo-psychedelic, pop-noise, and, above all, "shoegaze" (an alt-rock genre centered on walls of sound of distortion and reverb, with ethereal and dreamy overtones). Despite the subsequent departures of Balz and Ico, following Cava's in 2006, Bartolini decided to continue by involving new artists: and thanks to their partnership with La Tempesta Dischi, Cosmetic rose to prominence with "Noi siamo di qui" (2009) and "Conquiste" (2012), giving full lustre to the existential irony of their lyrics. Reinventing themselves with the lysergic lo-fi of "Nomoretato" in 2014 and then moving to another exceptional label, To Lose La Track, they honored their new label with the American-style emo of 2017's "Core." Two years later, the album "Plastergaze" saw a return to shoegaze, which continued with "Paura di Piacere," and after a double single in 2024, the prolific Cosmetic have another album waiting to hit the island stages this year: "Normale," a new echo of "big, strong noise pop."

The two island dates
Fabrik in Cagliari will be the first venue to host the group after their Tyrrhenian crossing, on the evening of Friday the 24th. The music will begin at 9:30 PM, and Cosmetic will be preceded by Riflesso: a hardcore punk band from the capital, combining the genre's Italian vocal tradition with American influences, featuring furious introspection, fast-paced rhythms, and explosive climaxes. This is almost a preview for the No Sleep Fest inaugurated this year, which in Sassari will find a more suitable setting: on Saturday the 25th, at the Alex Bar in Ossi, not only will two bands precede the guests from Romagna, but there will also be art exhibitions to accompany the concerts. Starting at 8 pm, Sassari bands Pioggia, whose dark, visceral post-punk music features pulsating rhythms and essential sounds—as in their recent live session "Aria/Malaria," recorded at the Alex Bar—will take turns on stage, as will Fenech, a shoegaze quintet with indie and electronic influences, making their studio debut this year with "Fragile," released last June. Artists Emanuele Gutierrez, Ivan Pes, Giuseppe Fancellu, Crabiols, and EVR Studio will be exhibiting their works.

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