Customer Reviews

Place to Bury Strangers

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To all the babies who pine for the Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine to reunite, I have one thing to say: move on. How can you whine when terrific artists such as Autolux, Liars and Voyager One exist? Now A Place to Bury Strangers, one of the purer, more nostalgic shoegaze outfits, competently picks up the discarded fuzzy, spaced-out, heavy pieces shattered by your heroes. The band cover its already gritty tinny-to-shrieking guitars, picked bass, post-punk-rhythm-spewing drum machines and reverb-soaked vocals with even more grit, volume (!) and otherwise raw production. The harmonies and solos are frugal yet meaningful, and the lyrics mysterious and hard to hear: in other words, it's the ultimate homage to the aforementioned legends. Unoriginality is rarely a pleasant compliment, but only because it never sounded this perfect!

"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!

This band has everything. Well-written tunes that are, at the same time, a perfect mix of noisy brutality and atmospheric catchiness.

As other reviewers, blogs, and hype-sters have penned: this band is a perfectly assembled mix of The Jesus & Mary Chain and New Order. Of course, there are other influences at work: My Bloody Valentine (and other shoegaze bands) and Nine Inch Nails (and other industrial bands).

It is great that this band has been opening for the aforementioned industrial band: they are a great mix of many styles that are not for weak, Juno/Garden State-ears. Despite the facts that the folks at Pitchfork hype them up, they are not the Shins or the Hold Steady (bands that I enjoy in their own light). This is loud, abrasive, and negative music.

That said, if you like JAMC, the shoegaze bands, or other various industrial type bands, you will love them. Great song-writing, melodies, and lyrics will hook you immediately like a largemouth bass. Sweet.

great album. to be played loud and not for ambient cuddle time on the couch with loved ones or pets.
some say shoegazing but it's more post-punk in my ear....although i'm a huge shoe-gaze fan, but the tracks move a bit too quickly for shoe-gazing.
similar to Novelty, touches of hard-core (helmet or stanford prison experiment - if you listen hard enough).
i haven't seen them live, but i'd probably need earplugs and a flak jacket from what folks say.....
i'd want to protect my spleen from rupturing from the volume....

My favorite band. This album is the best album i have bought in years. every single song is amazing can listen through the whole album over and over again. the best.

Great post-punk sound from a modern band. Very reminiscent of Jesus & Mary Chain, Flesh For Lulu, and especially Joy Division. Some songs even sound more like New Order just after Ian Curtis' death, where their sound was still very dark, but starting to get a bit more electronic and up tempo. Even though very gothic-like, PTBS keeps their sound up to date both lyrically and musically. Good listen from start to finish - great purchase for fans of the sound of the more obscure side of early 80's alternative rock.

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.

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.

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.

Like all recent bands, takes a lot from its influences. loud yet listenable. the feedback of sonic youth or my bloody valentine, and the rhythm of Jesus & Mary Chain/Joy Division/Interpol. Very abrasive & listenable which makes for a unique album. Missing You & To Fix the Gash in Your Head are highlights. Shoegaze meets postpunk