In my day -- (adopting older man voice) -- bands outside the mainstream were creepy and minimalist (Non, Throbbing Gristle), loud and fast (Napalm Death), and loud and blissed out (My Bloody Valentine, Loop). These days, a genuinely subversive sound is achieved by simply sounding like you don't give a fuck. Which is odd when the band's called Tropical Fuck Storm.
Deep States, out today on Joyful Noise Recordings, careens in on waves of ramshackle hooks, shouted vocals, and general sloppy indolence. These Aussies elevate not caring to an impressive level. While opener "The Greatest Story Ever Told" has a bit of Jim Carroll and Richard Hell about it, "Bumma Sanger" is shifty no-good-ness channeled (barely) by the players here. On this one, TFS momentarily recall The Fall, but the hooks are too diffuse here, the riffs too un-rock, for lack of a better term. Elsewhere, "New Romeo Agent" marries electro-pop up with noises that are pure Fad Gadget. If the vocals by the women in the group make this pretty for a second, things are thrown into chaos soon enough. On the other hand "Legal Ghost" wouldn't have sounded entirely out of place on side 2 of Combat Rock.
Whatever you want to say about this band, the truth is their music is beyond category. Like Dry Cleaning, TFS are charting a new path. And that means that for every moment of success, there's one that seems fruitless and without purpose. But I think that's almost the point here, as the players work to decimate rock-and-roll and rebuild it as they want. If the form is frequently unrecognizable then, that's an indication of just how radically unnerving this material is at its best/worst.
Deep States is out today via Joyful Noise Recordings.
More details via the TFS Facebook page.
[Photo: Jaime Wdziekonski]