A Place To Bury Strangers, KCLSU London

April 7, 2009

Everyone knows that A Place To Bury Strangers are the loudest band in New York. Who told them that? Were they tested by way of some sort of open audition? Is the statement/award temporally constrained or does it mean, like, ever? Well never mind that, this writer can’t work out whether she’s suffering from tinnitus or whether it’s the sound of her brain recoiling into itself.

A Place To Bury Strangers can be compared to Psychocandy-era JAMC and pretty much everything J. Mascis has spewed out not just in their choice of pedals and amps, but also in the way they grind through sound through Oliver Ackermann’s self-designed and built custom-effects pedals.

It’s giddying, constantly upending into a new cataclysm so as to completely take you in, only with more musicality than the Suicides and MBVs of the music world. There’s tender gothic undertones set against subman sonics, a megalomanical mixture of Television-style prog, New Order bass and Joy Division-esque startled drums.

‘Missing You’ has the sound of a world-sized kaleidoscope, framed by terrifying head-down concentration. ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head’ conveys the perfect amount of self-indulgence in its population of tantric, dense tremolos. And ‘Don’t Think Lover’ is accompanied by aurally imbalancing visuals, sounding altogether more inviting than anything on the self-titled LP.

All in all, the vocals are stronger and the elements come through in a far more pressing way than on record – it’s like a million opuses within one take, drum sticks vibrating in the air against hyperbolic strobe lighting. And the greatest shock of them all is the way the set evoks such a broad spectrum of artists: Kraftwerk, The Slits, The Cure and The Velvet Underground. It’s in a the bass lines, the groove.

The set gets heavier as it progresses, echoing what happens when you listen to the album in its entirety; an intense, often isolating yet all the more mesmeric experience. The drums get harder, the guitars are thrown around and projectile vomited back out to some almighty feedback and earth-shattering effects emit from the pedals. The band look deranged and it’s thrilling, a spectacle.

Don’t mistake A Place To Bury Strangers for sheer noiseniks – they’re melodists at heart, an all-consuming must-see.