A Place to Bury Strangers - "A Place to Bury Strangers"

A Place to Bury Strangers - Ocean (Killer Pimp 2007)

A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers / Killer Pimp

It's been an exciting few weeks here at Audiversity. Starting with a trip to Chicago that I thought was for apartments and a job turned into WLUW being taken over by Loyola turned into Michael losing his job down the line turned into we're getting the former editor of Punk Planet and a guy who basically lives the dream of every half-bit blogger this side of Brooklyn Vegan. When Ronnie said you never seem to find anything on a regular basis here, his words in retrospect seem especially appropriate. We don't just mean the music. We mean everything.

But just as times change and people move in and out of a frozen Antonioni frame, there are constants and these constants deserve their split second in said frame just as much as the brightest new supernovas. New York City's A Place to Bury Strangers is one such band. This is only their debut album, but a rich history informs an album that would otherwise have many Jesus & Mary Chain fans scratching their heads at what the big fucking deal is.

There is one, and its name is Skywave. Lead singer and modern guitarchitect Oliver Ackerman's pedigree as one-third of the Fredericksburg, Virginia-based garagegazing group led to an almost legendary reputation. These were the same guys you might've read about who soundchecked at half-volume and then cranked it up to 11 for the fans when showtime came around. Synthstatic was also one of 2004's most fearsome albums: At low volume it sounded like My Bloody Valentine, but at full tilt it sounded like My Bloody Valentine from hell. A lo-fi shoegaze aesthetic that worked in their favor thanks to Ackerman's Supersonic Fuzz Gun and Total Sonic Annihilations, I still defy anyone to listen to "Don't Say Slow" and not be blown away. It's as close to God as Skywave ever got.

The primary concern for this band, then, is how it will measure up sonically not just live but on record. They are the self-proclaimed "loudest band in New York City," and while I cannot testify to this personally (unfortunately), have a quick look around the Interweb and you'll find reports of impossibly loud playing and wasted nights spent recovering from splitting headwounds and "bad EQs." This trio arguably has a lot to live up to, and though some of these songs have been around for over a year, putting them all together for the first time is something else entirely.

Or rather, it isn't at all. There's little doubt that Skywave placed a great deal of emphasis on Ackerman's tools (the latest of which is his company Death By Audio), and confirmation is given straight away here on "Missing You." It's uncannily like Skywave, in fact, and initially you may be confusing this for Ackerman's previous band. "Don't Think Lover" is exactly the kind of song that shows what made Skywave great while demonstrating that the basic formula and sound have not changed a great deal in three years. I could believe they're the loudest band in the Big Apple, and the sheer aural assault of the white noise in this track (and album) is a graphic demonstration why.

There's a certain tone and timbre to A Place to Bury Strangers that is unmistakable, and it's all in the effects pedals. It's like a sheet of noise, like static at a high pitch cranked to the maximum and unleashed on an otherwise innocuous song. It's like pre-Tremolo My Bloody Valentine or The Jesus & Mary Chain with a little echoing jangle in there for good measure. It happens virtually every time, and you know it's coming, and yet still you can't get enough. "The Falling Sun" crashes with different time signatures and Ackerman's decidedly Bauhausian vocals, rarely changing, rarely clear.

Gradually, A Place to Bury Strangers start to carve out their own niche. "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" is the earliest indication that this band is just as heavily indebted to the post-punk luminaries of the late 70s as any shoegaze or noise-pop group. "I Know I'll See You" also has a more danceable beat than most Skywave songs, and here is the critical difference between the groups: With Skywave, it was well and dandy to rock out, but dancing wasn't really part of the routine. Here it's almost a drum machine sound and Jay Space's straightforward skin-beating keeps the emphasis on the feedback frenzy of Ackerman's guitars and anchoring accompaniment by stalwart bassist Tim Gregorio (ex-Virus). Together these guys are bringing the old noise back in a new incarnation. They're still young and they've still got a lot of growing to do, hopefully out and beyond a sound they have clearly already conquered.

A Place to Bury Strangers is an ideal canvas for painting the dark portrait of a modern "American Gothic." They initially took fodder for having the band name of a bunch of angsty teenaged boys with ex-girlfriends and axes to grind; as their self-titled debut demonstrates, there aren't any lip rings or designer t-shirts involved here. It sounds like a graveyard, at night, in fog. That's rarely sounded like a better proposition than on these ten songs.