A while back my friend and I made a rule that we would no longer allow bands to be compared to My Bloody Valentine or Jesus and Mary Chain. The Killers? Sound like J&MC? What planet are you listening to these records on? Further amo to crush these comparisons is the fact that while so many bands site J&MC as an influence, no one has yet to take that inspiration and build on what made that band so important. Their ability to create an overwhelming blanket of noise, utilizing feedback as melodic music, and above all, using that noise and screeching to compliment pop songs, with singably recognizable choruses is what is lacking from so many of these bands.
For a band to cover 3 J&MC songs on their debut EP is a risky thing, but exploding out of Brooklyn with the loudest live show and most intelligent use of feedback around is A Place to Bury Strangers. Their cover of “Never Understand” on their self-produced EP To Fix the Gash in Your Head is fucking breath-taking. APTBS knocked Northsix on its collective ass on Friday night. Taking the stage at around midnight, Oliver Ackermann’s guitar feedback began the assault on the room. Tim Gregorio hunched over on the other side of the stage throwing down sexy bass lines propelling the songs melodically while Jay Space (a fucking monster behind the kit) drove the band to another world. The fourth member of APTBS that aesthetically added to the band’s presence was the mystery man working the projector at the back of the room. The band plays on a completely unlit stage except for the alternating blurry to uncomfortably clear images projected on the band. The intense lighting combined with the loudest show I’ve heard in that room since Guitar Wolf created such sensory overload, I completely lost myself in the show.
Seeing a typical rock shows combines watching the crowd, studying the band’s moves, appreciating the music, and holding a beer. Seeing A Place To Bury Strangers on Friday was much more visceral experience – I forgot about the friends I was at the show with, I forgot to drink the Bud in my hand, I didn’t notice as the audience came and went throughout the set. I stood in the sparse room completely enthralled in the spectacle I was a witness to. Check out APTBS music at their site for my favorite of their “new” songs “Never Going Down.” Watch their MySpace page for the next time they play live and work on convincing NYC that they are the new incarnation of the Reid brothers.
