[.uk] A Place To Bury Strangers

This One Goes to Eleven:
"I'll just wait until you turn around / kick your face in!" That lyric from this band's visceral track "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" pretty much sums up the sonic intentions of A Place To Bury Strangers. On their debut LP, they deliver ten sharp kicks to the cranium in static-laden doses of ear-shattering distortion, pulsing drum machine beats, and reverb-saturated baritone vocals. While they are certainly indebted to the shoegazers of yore (My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Catherine Wheel), their treble-soaked clatter and ominous, sometimes downright malevolent lyrics are equally informed by the goth-dance of New Order and Joy Division and the mechanized doom of late '80s industrial. Still, I've never heard an indie rock band indulge in the shrill high-end extremes of guitar hiss quite as liberally as these guys. Upon the first listen, it almost seems too much, as if they forgot to smooth out those nasty squealing overtones before they released this thing. But it doesn't take long to realize that these brittle, unnerving sonic qualities are the defining characteristics that give these songs their power and beauty. But hey - let's not over-analyze it any further. Let's just crank it up and forget our ear plugs!

Great Album:
If you like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine, you should like this album. It is great!

heir to the shoegazer throne:
Within the first seconds of the album, I knew this is the band I've waiting for. The opening track, "Missing You," erupts with a quick, rhythmic fury. The brooding vocals are quickly lost in a sea of distortion and static. And this precedent established in the first track is maintained through the album. "Don't Think Lover" blends frantic guitar riffs reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's "Isn't Anything" with the polish of The Jesus and Mary Chain's later work. Next is "Don't Fix The Gash In Your Head" fueled by a machine gun-esque electronic drum beat. The hissing and fuzz shooting through the background is done without any concern for the listener's ear drum. It's loud. It rocks. And most importantly, it's genuine. I still can't believe that this record was released in 2007. I won't go through a song-by-song review here, but the point is that this is the best shoegazer since "Loveless." A Place To Bury Strangers uses everything that was great about the genre and the result is stunning; an absolute must own for any My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Jesus And Mary Chain, etc. fan.

Total Sonic Annihilation:
That's what it says on their MySpace page and its a good description of their music. They sound like a mix of Joy Division, Jesus & Mary Chain and angry goth music, the kind people who wear black lipstick used to listen to. Really good stuff. "Breathe" and "I'll See You" are getting heavy play on my mp3 player right now. My only complaint is that much of it is so loud and distorted that I keep having to wonder if my speakers have some loose wiring or if my music player's output is too high.

Gazing?:
No, this group doesn't gaze at their shoes, they attempt very hard to detonate a nuclear explosion with their shoes. This is the best album of any genre this year. They explore a discordant, melodic take on psychedelic pop that transcends anything out there. Along with December Sound, they have taken this genre to another level. This is the next generation and anyone who doesn't experience this album is simply missing out. It will be as important in ten years as Loveless was, only this band has an attitude that group was seriously missing. 6 stars.