The Drones

Australia’s the Drones make the kind of rough and tangled garage rock that doesn’t mind missing a few notes along the way, so long as their searing soulfulness makes it through. Their second album, Wait Long By the River, is a blistering amalgamation of the down-under psych garage of the Scientists, the sunburned songbook of Nick Cave, and the rough-hewn yelping of Jon Spencer. All this still doesn’t prepare you for the infectious beer-soaked jeering of album highlight, "Baby,” nor does it attest to the emotional investment these guys so obviously instil in the music they make. The Drones ooze intensity and broken hearts, and dealing with both after you’ve had a few too many drinks and the bars have all closed on you. They’re a band you need to break up to.