The Drones - any good (also Tropical Fuck Storm content here)

Seconded on the Empty Bottle show. Friend said they started off slow, but I love how messy they made that "Lose the Baby" cover and I thought it was the best set of a very busy Chicago weekend that included Fontaines D.C., fwiw. They know what they're doing and it was worth my money, anyway.

They killed it in Boston at a sold-out show. Before the gig, Gareth was sitting at his laptop when some fans came up and chatted with him, asked for a photo, and he gladly obliged. Truly a hard-working, all-for-one spirit permeated the band. They looked like they were having a great time with each other and with the crowd. I made the mistake of slapping Gareth on the back after the encore, he was soaking wet!

I converted a mate of mine and he brought one of his co-workers who also has flipped for the band. They sound like the inside of my head when I read the headlines every day.

Tour postponed, obviously.

But...new single!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_Vs9k-cmg

As I've said: we've heard this exact songwriting style from them more than once already, but the sound is particularly incredible and I hope they further venture into this universe

If anyone's looking to give a little support to these worthy people, they've released a 4-volume live retrospective in time for the Bandcamp artists' day: https://thedrones.bandcamp.com

and now a fifth, a 2016 show from The Tote in Melbourne (these are like $10 each in America land) http://thedrones.bandcamp.com/album/live-vol-5-the-tote-melbourne-29-05-16

Volume 1 is pay-what-you-want, as a taster

Another new single. It's their best thing in a minute.

https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/products/legal-ghost?

yeah baby! this is good :)

interesting:
‘Legal Ghost’ originally appeared on Gareth and original Drones member Rui Pereira’s pre-Drones experimental home four-track recordings LP Bong Odyssey, recorded in the 90’s when Gareth and Rui were pot-smoking teenage morons.

I FUCKING LOVE THIS BAND SO MUCH

this one's good

Gonna need the outlet of their music this fall, hope there's more to come soon!

the last LP felt a bit rushed to me, I'm happy for them to take their time with this one

Kind of wish they'd ditch most of the processing and effects and go for something more raw and organic, but I doubt that's happening

Not quite the thread for it but this year I've been getting my 'punk blues' (whatever that means) kicks from Wailin Storms's Rattle, which partially fulfills your wish.

moodles it sounds like you may want a Drones record

they can take their time and leave the two preview tracks off it afaic

i mean neither are bad but neither hold a candle to like all of ALDIM

braindrops is def worth a revisit at some point tho

I wouldn't say no to a new, pandemic-grown Liddiard solo folk record

moodles it sounds like you may want a Drones record

I might!

But TFS, as a band, rips just as hard, it just sometimes gets lost in translation.

drones don't need to reform, they literally perfected what they were capable of, 'i see seaweed' is absolutely everything they could have been

I agree that was their pinnacle

i mean it's the pinnacle of rock music p much

I'm happy for them to take their time with this one

They... they're in Melbourne

as time goes I think Braindrops is really great and closer to A Laughing Death...

I do kinda feel Moodles a bit, I like the production but seeing them live they were so overwhelming and heavy

I wouldn't find if they camped out in Electrical Audio for a week and knocked it out w/Albini

if they camped out in Electrical Audio for a week

.............they're in Melbourne

albini plus tfs is too much to hope for from music

nah I reckon they're going to fly to Chicago this weekend and have a surprise release out next month, with a tour to back it

would be cool if they made it to london for a show this autumn

did you read that link

dude I'm just having fun

zomg imago revealed as ums sock

fair play m8

braindrops is def worth a revisit at some point tho

Braindrops is one of my favourite albums from last year. Just sounds as if they got super-obsessed with, like, The Slits and Sister

New song is good but doesn't knock me out.

Still love Braindrops. First album had more transcendently epic moments (Tyres, Soft Power, Rubber Bullies) but also dips here and there. Braindrops had a more sustained level of excellence even if its peaks were not as high.

(There has to be an ILM thread for that concept - the "higher highs/lower lows vs consistently great" album debate.)

ah Mike, how very sad. I love this one for the way the band pushes and pulls, Drones were so great with him behind the kit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVcTHq_C7j8

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9440627/mike-noga-the-drones-obit

I guess he was on every album but the last? Loads of heroic drumming. I'll check out his solo records for sure. RIP.

He joined in 2004 so he wasn’t on the first one (Here Come the Lies) either. But on all my favourites.

I revisit this performance vid at least once a year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbkDDSM2Gz4

oh man i wish i could go to this, gareth solo show with jim white on drums!!!!

https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/tropical-fuck-storms-gareth-liddiard-announces-solo-shows-2886316

just bought tickets for one of the sydney shows - they’re being joined in melb by chris abrahams!! - Jim is calling it a new band and gareth is saying they’re gonna record an album in may - so excited by this

also pretty psyched for upcoming ed kuepper / jim white shows - some pretty cool gigs happening in semi-post-covid year 2021, feels good to be looking forward to cool stuff

yeah i saw that announcement on the band's instagram, exciting! have fun at the show! #jealous

wooooah I didn't know it was a band, that's awesome

quoting the post here:

we haven't come up with a name decent band name yet but here ya go... Chris Abrahams of avant free jazz trio The Necks is joining Jim and myself for a couple of warm up shows at the brunswick ballroom before we all run off and make babies in the studio in May then put an album out

wow that's uh, quite a lineup

you not into it?

Understated enthousiasm I assume ;)

no I really am excited!!

me too :)

it will be interesting...TFS is very idiosyncratic and unique but it's still approaching a conventional rock band in a peculiar way

the other two i associate way more with "freer" playing though obviously that's not all they can do

I'm expecting/imagining a knottier cousin to the solo album.