You’ll need a shower after weaving through the dense, psychedelic corridor and intensely chaotic trip that is Tropical Fuck Storms sophomore album, Braindrops.
Never been one to adhere to the compartmentalisation of music, Tropical Fuck Storm pour punk, new wave, alternative rock, funk, pop, surf rock, even at times eerie gothic derivatives, and straight-up noise into a bizarre, yet alluring collection of sound and story. The melancholic drones of the bass and the sickening scratching of guitar in opening track ‘Paradise’ conjure a purposefully uneasy listening experience that stays in your stomach for the entire 48 minutes and 14 seconds, with the lyrical content throughout the nine tracks further adding to the unsettling nature.
As a follow on from their highly politically driven ode to our dying planet, ‘A Laughing Death In Meatspace’, Braindrops presents as a thought-provoking piece with uncomfortable undertones.
‘Who’s My Eugene?’ details the controversial case of infamous psychotherapist Eugene Landy, and his controlling relationship with Brian Wilson, while ‘Maria 63’ narrates a tale surrounding Nazi witches and aliens. ‘The Planet of Straw Men’ is an ecstasy heightened sociological and psychological dive into the comments section of social media.
Braindrops is a curated car crash; a flood of brain vomit that shouldn’t work, and doesn’t necessarily work to the musically trained ear, but achieves everything Tropical Fuck Storm set out to represent – a colourful mind-fuck of sound.
3/5
Flightless Records
Reviewed by Tammy Walters
