Tropical Fuck Storm played Great Scott – 9/19

Aussie exports Tropical Fuck Storm sold out their first headlining show in Boston last Thursday with support from locals Banana. 

With a name like Tropical Fuck Storm, what could possibly go wrong?

The Melbourne four-piece, headed by former Drones mainstays Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin and rounded out by guitarist/keyboardist Erica Dunn and drummer Lauren Hammel, have unleashed two LPs of end-times art-punk since forming in 2017 and quickly risen to prominence among connoisseurs of songs about the assassination of immortal Nazi witches and other discerning ears. Which is to say, TFS are not your average buzz band.

Fresh off the release of August’s Braindrops, the quartet found an eager crowd packed in for their first Boston appearance on Thursday (they opened for Modest Mouse at the Palladium back in October of last year, but as anyone who’s ever driven to Worcester from here can tell you, that doesn’t count). Emotive, delirious and heavy, the live set was the engrossing corollary of the group’s cerebrally maze-like records – the sound of this supergroup of the Australian underground proving themselves among the most vital bands around anywhere.

Check out photos, including Boston sludge-pop trio Banana, below.