Live Review: Tropical Fuck Storm, Sugar Fed Leopards, School Damage

Tonight's eclectic selection of bands finds School Damage warming up a wet and rather soggy crowd. We catch the tail end of Melbourne's post-punk popsters reeling the punters in with their angular hooks that have a kind of '80s feel.

Melbourne's Sugar Fed Leopards are essentially a surf-rocking outfit blunted on disco and funk, and overdosed on glitter, mirror balls and sweet, sugary treats. Although kitsch in their conception, these party-starters come on like The Three Degrees with three-part female vocal harmonies that recreate the sophisticated glamour of '70s discotheques. Tonight's set offers a delightful assortment as we are treated to the vibes of Mi Querida and the funky strut of Shut Up! (Show Me With Your Shoes).

It is totally appropriate that Melbourne is experiencing stormy weather on the day Tropical Fuck Storm decide to drop their hotly tipped first album and throw a party to celebrate. The heaving crowd in the bandroom seem to come with high expectations of Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin who, reaching beyond their work with The Drones, unleash the full effect of their sweltering-hot Tropical Fuck Storm (TFS). Showcasing their new album A Laughing Death In Meatspace, TFS just blow the crowd away, barely breaking into a sweat. Moving on from The Drones, TFS embrace a broader palette of sound and shift subtly away from heavy rock to experiment with heavy, grinding funk and Afrobeat while taking a psychedelic bubble bath. The angular dissonant guitars are completely out of control, delivering a wild and brutal squall of noise to wash away the travails of the week. There is no denying that this lot come with some of the best and most compelling riffs imaginable. Angsty and nihilistic, Liddiard comes out of his corner swinging with astute observations on life in Australia with a sense of humour so black that we know we are headed to the gallows. It's fear and loathing, frustration and desperation that fuels Liddiard's lyrics.

In this context, The Divinyls' Back To The Wall is a well-placed cover that leaves us wishing Tropical Fuck Storm's gritty and literal take on Stayin' Alive was also on the setlist. As the band scream, "Your politics ain't nothing but a fond, 'Fuck you'," it feels like Liddiard's lyrics are pretty blunt tools with which we are being bludgeoned. But Liddiard's intense presentation has gravitas. When he rails against marketing and advertising, we know why the message needs to be dumbed-down for the lowest possible common denominator. Chameleon Paint sounds even better live and the maddeningly heavy You Let My Tyres Down just feels good. As we disappear into one apocalyptic crescendo after another, TFS eventually break hearts when their somewhat short-but-lusciously formed set comes to an end.