The Drones, live at T. T. the Bear's Place, March 29, 2009
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 30, 2009
VIDEO: The Drones live at South by Southwest
Seeing Australian musicians in North America is like seeing stars in the night sky: their light has traveled so far for so long that you're getting just a ghost of the original.
It was a wet Sunday night, and as I stood opposite stage left on T.T.'s roomy, uncrowded dance floor and my ears were assaulted by the spiky squall of the Drones' twin-ax attack, this spectral analogy came to mind, and I thought further about the tincture of isolated longing that always seems essential to the music of even the most chipper Aussie exports. The Drones follow a long line of prickly compatriots whose music tethers salvation, sin, and armageddon to the one balloon and lets it fly wherever it may. Drummer Michael Noga and bassist Fiona Kitchin trudge through each tune with a water-treading inevitability that on its own might sound plodding and morose. Within the complex architecture of the Drones' material, however, each bass plunk, each cymbal wash, feels foundational.
The set leaned heavily on their 2008 Havilah (ATP), with obligatory "let's bring it down" moments inserted to showcase the strained vocalizations of singer/guitarist Gareth Liddiard, a skinny bearded man wearing pointy leather dress shoes who sounded like David Johansen with a particularly stifling head cold. But the real star of the show was the series of lengthy guitar excursions played by Liddiard and recent addition Dan Luscombe — mid song, the two would detonate the band's sound into a fireball of echoing phantasmagoria, like twin screaming firebirds chasing each other's tails far and away into the stratosphere. And though I'm sure the sheer thrill of the band's attack spreads its wings more naturally across European festival stages and the staggering throngs of their Melbourne home-town gigs, it was still a charge to see them clamor and clang with such fury in front of that same old cityscape painting that still adorns the back wall of the T.T.'s stage. Kind of like spotting a peacock hanging out in your living room.
Related:
Folk yeah, White Denim | Fits, Photos: Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents at TT's, More 
- Folk yeah
For years now, T.T. the Bear's Place has boldly addressed the problem of what to do on Monday nights, when one's brainmeats are still tender from all that weekending.
- White Denim | Fits
Even more than on last year’s auspicious digital-only Exposion , Austin’s White Denim stomp down the fine line between fertile versatility and iffy uncertainty. More often than not on Fits , this works out awesome.
- Photos: Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents at TT's
Photos from Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents at TT's
- The irresistible force of Dexter Romweber
Many would argue that, in the world of creativity, there is a fine line between genius and insanity. The best artists, so the argument goes, usually straddle the line, often relying on the latter to achieve the former.
- Miniature Tigers | Fortress
Charlie Brand's head is a strange, fanciful place.
- Ten local shows to break the ice in early 2011
If 2010 was the year Boston re-acquainted itself with its local music scene, then 2k11 should be one big party, right?
- Tribute: Friends remember Billy Ruane
Billy Ruane died on a Tuesday night.
- Franz Nicolay reboots
I’m a little worried that this interview could kill Franz Nicolay.
- Friends of E
Last month, Central Square hosted a memorial party for the late Billy Ruane, who at 52 years old, pretty much everyone agreed, had lived a full, rich life. This Saturday, T.T. the Bear’s is once again the site of a show in someone’s memory.
- Cut Copy | Zonoscope
The most difficult thing about releasing a near-perfect album has to be the follow-up. People flipped when Cut Copy dropped 2008's In Ghost Colours , which saw the Aussie dance trio ramping up the formula of their debut LP with unrelenting momentum, strobe-light synths, and a shitload of robot voices.
- PhDisasters
I knew a man pursuing a PhD in literature. His dissertation had to do with humor as a form of dissent in 20th-century literature. And how enthused he was at first! How passionate and excited.
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Music, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Music, Australia, David Johansen, Gareth Liddiard, Gareth Liddiard, T. T. The Bear's Place, T. T. The Bear's Place, Less
