Tropical Fuck Storm

Bloodlemons

Bloodlemons

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 16, 2019
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Tacoma, WA, USA
I've had A Laughing Death in Meatspace for several months and listened to it a couple of times but nothing clicked. A couple of weeks ago my Braindrops preorder shows up and I'm all like "ugh, why do I keep ordering everything?' But then, maybe the second spin, I caught myself being slightly *confused* by the album. As in, how canI be listening to *this* song right now when that last song was so *completely* different?

Anyway, I listened to it a bunch more after that and now I think it might actually be a really *great* album. Currently spinning ...Meatspace again and what do you know? It's actually pretty great too!

This reminds me of finally clicking with Sonic Youth back in high school; after a couple of years of only hearing the noise, I started hearing the music...

Anyone else into TFS? I think I heard of them through King Gizzard somehow, but I can't remember exactly how.
 
So glad to see this popping up! A Laughing Death in Meatspace was a Spotify suggestion for me. I loved the singles right away, and I listen to the full album regularly. I really need to hunt down vinyl at some point. Braindrops hasn't clicked for me as quickly, but I still have been pulling to frequently. They are playing a very small bar in town in a couple weeks. I'm strongly considering going to see them even though it'll leave me beat for work the next day. I'm a BIG fan of everything they've done so far, and I'm glad the made the move over to Flightless as their label. I really with they would have just been opening for Gizz on this US tour. They are hitting most of the same cities just a week or so apart.

Also very cool to be a mostly female band. I look forward to watching them continue to progress.
 
Bloodlemons said:
Anyone else into TFS? I think I heard of them through King Gizzard somehow, but I can't remember exactly how.
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I think they just generally got to know each other being in similar circles in the Victorian music scene. Pretty sure one of the first ever TFS shows was at Gizzfest; obviously by now they are signed to Flightless and have recorded together too.

Aside from checking out The Drones, Gareth also made a solo folky kind of album called Strange Tourist that is by far my favorite work of his, clicked much easier for me.
 
It was an intense show! Only about an hour long (e.g., no walk-off-stage-and-come-back encore), but everyone there felt completely satisfied by the end of it. Not a moment was wasted and this band gave every bit of themselves to the performance.

By the end, there were wounds: Gareth had a cut on a fingertip of his picking hand; Fiona asked him about it at one point and he shrugged and mouthed back to her: "it's okay." Both of Lauren's hands were dripping blood by the end, and she was the last to leave the stage (more on that in a moment).

The more "polite"/programmed songs on record, such as "Who's My Eugene?" and "Braindrops," went into much darker, heavier territory when performed with live instruments.

Between-song banter was rare, as they went from song to song to keep casting the spell on all of us. Only near the end did Gareth engage the crowd in a bit of banter, asking provocatively: "So all you do in Portland is brew beer ... and brew coffee ... right?"

Among the shouts back was someone who yelled: "We have a Nazis problem!" Among Gareth's response: "Hey Nazis: My grandfather killed your grandfather."

They did a Divinyls cover toward the end of the set.

We knew the show was over when Lauren intentionally tumbled out and over her drum kit, knocking half of it over. The rest of the band soon walked off, leaving Lauren to go back around to the kit in shambles and keep pounding on it, finally noticing her drum/programming machine was still making a noise, so she picked it up and started punching it with her bloody fist until it became quiet. Only then was the show over and she walked off stage.

My ticket last night was only $13. That's a bargain for a solid hour of rock music. "Recommended." :)

I might have taken better photos, but every time I had the impulse to pull my phone out I stopped myself, not wanting to break out of the groove the band had me in. I did manage to snap a few "meh" photos below, to give a certain sense of what it was like ...


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I have had people around here, such as @Enaz Fox, try to get me into TFS before but it didn't work. then with some of the lead singles from Braindrops I was very intrigued, so went back to check out Meatspace and finally all the noise started sounding like beautiful music. Braindrops is great too, even if it's a bit more subdued..."Maria 63" is so goddamn powerful, I fucking love it.

short answer, TFS is my current musical obsession.
 
If they were in Portland last night, that means I fucked up and didn't see them in Seattle sometime this week. C'est la vie.

I have been in a few bands, and punching a drum machine until you bleed either means terrible show or GREAT show. Looks like you saw the latter! Awesome.
 
Bloodlemons said:
If they were in Portland last night, that means I fucked up and didn't see them in Seattle sometime this week. C'est la vie.

I have been in a few bands, and punching a drum machine until you bleed either means terrible show or GREAT show. Looks like you saw the latter! Awesome.
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They are playing Seattle tomorrow night!

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UPDATE: I was able to make both shows last night. Mannequin Pussy were very good, but TFS were close to AMAZING. The albums make a lot more sense after seeing the live show. What if Sonic Youth and the B-52s were the SAME band? Tropical Fuck Storm! I definitely need to see them again on a not-Tuesday work night.

I did miss their opener, Reader. Haven’t checked them out yet.
 
Bloodlemons said:
UPDATE: I was able to make both shows last night. Mannequin Pussy were very good, but TFS were close to AMAZING. The albums make a lot more sense after seeing the live show. What if Sonic Youth and the B-52s were the SAME band? Tropical Fuck Storm! I definitely need to see them again on a not-Tuesday work night.

I did miss their opener, Reader. Haven’t checked them out yet.
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"The albums make a lot more sense after seeing the live show." --- I had that same thought during the Portland show.

Glad you liked TFS live so much, and were able to make both events!
 
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