If my memory is correct, it’s been nearly ten years since Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin were last in NYC with The Drones, having made stops at Union Hall and The Bell House in 2009. But good things come to those who wait and now the pair are back with their new mushroom cloud of a band, Tropical Fuck Storm. The album, A Laughing Death in Meatspace, is nothing less than the antidote to a twisted, doomed world, with song topics spanning chess to cell phones to nuclear weapons in as many moves. With bandmates Lauren Hammel and Erica Dunn, Tropical Fuck Storm have been touring the U.S. opening for Modest Mouse, only taking a break to play this headlining set at Elsewhere’s Zone One. Beyond playing most of the tracks from A Laughing Death in Meatspace, they play Lost Animal’s “Lose the Baby,” Kitschin sings The Divinyls’ “Back to the Wall” (which was released as a b-side to “You Let My Tyres Down”), and the band closes with The Drones song “Baby Squared.”
The Tropical Fuck Storm tour with Modest Mouse continues in Montclair tonight (October 10)—tickets are still available and you’ve definitely got time. Go on down early to catch TFS. Check the TFS website for further dates.
Download: MP3/FLAC
Tropical Fuck Storm
2018-10-08
Elsewhere Zone One
Brooklyn, NY
Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com
Soundboard + MBHO KA200N/603A (at SBD) > Naiant PFA >> Sound Devices MixPre-6 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (mixdown, compression, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (tracking, tagging) > FLAC (24/48, level 8)
Tracks: [1:00:41]
01. Chameleon Paint
02. Lose the Baby [Lost Animal]
03. Antimatter Animal
04. Soft Power
05. You Let My Tyres Down
06. Back to the Wall [The Divinyls]
07. The Future of History
08. Rubber Bullies
09. Two Afternoons
10. Baby Squared [The Drones]
Folks, you won’t find better misanthropic skronking anywhere on Earth. Dig.
Thanks so much for making and sharing this recording! “Lose the Baby” was also released as a b-side to the TFS single “Soft Power”.