A Place To Bury Strangers at the Yost Theatre

It is hard to believe that it has been almost five plus years since I first caught A Place To Bury Strangers at the Viper Room along with traveling to Texas to see them open for Nine Inch Nails. They tour tirelessly and consistently produce albums that will blow your mind as well as your eardrums. It was Cinco De Mayo and the Yost Theatre had a huge line up of psychedelic bands dubbing the day Psycho De Mayo which had A Place To Bury Strangers hitting the stage a little after 10:15.

Unfortunately, I was really sick at the beginning of the day and was questioning my ability to go to even attend the show but rallied after a few doses of medication and lots of fluids. A Place To Bury Strangers recently released an album of Dead Moon covers for record store day release entitled Strange Moon. I made it to the Yost Theatre maybe ten minutes before they were scheduled to play and got a spot in front of fuzz and feedback specialist Oliver Ackermann.

Under a cloak of darkness and a shroud of noise, A Place To Bury Strangers proceeded to destroy Santa Ana. Ackermann was pulverizing his white battered Fender Jaguar while Dion Lunadon's Fender bass was missing a chunk from the headstock probably due to the abuse these instruments receive every night. "Deadbeat" simply shredded with its fantastic sheets of white noise and feedback. Lunadon took over the vocal duties for "Drill It Up" as Robi Gonzalez tirelessly slammed at his drum kit while sporting a fashionable METZ t-shirt. "Mind Control" was another face melting proposition as I heard a few audience members asking for the volume to be turned up.

The climax of the show occurred at the end for "I've Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart". It was a ferocious moment as Ackermann ripped the strings off his guitar and wildly swung it around producing a hurricane of noise and feedback. Your senses were also assaulted by the unrelenting strobe light that would illuminate the band members for a fraction of a second as it seemed to be coordinated with the torrential amount of unleashed noise. It turns out that A Place To Bury Strangers show was the exact medication I needed and a full dose of fuzz and feedback does wonders for the soul. 

A Place To Bury Strangers at the Echoplex

Check out my photos of A Place To Bury Strangers at the Echoplex over at Stereogum.

The Joy Formidable, A Place To Bury Strangers, Big Black Delta at the Mayan Theater

The Joy Formidable
 
A Place To Bury Strangers
Check out my photos of The Joy Formidable, A Place To Bury Strangers and Big Black Delta at the Mayan Theater over at Stereogum.

A Place To Bury Strangers at Spaceland

As a devoted fuzz and pedal fanatic, A Place To Bury Strangers immediately catapulted into my realm of favorite bands when I saw them in December of 2007 at the Viper Room. Needless to say, my schedule was cleared once A Place To Bury Strangers announced their show at Spaceland.

Useless Keys





My busy concert schedule has prevented me from catching a lot of the local up and coming bands that have been popping up on my radar. Useless Keys have long been on my list to check out and they did not disappoint. Their impressive EP, Is The Painting Changing shows a number of facets of their musical potential.

Michael Bauer (Guitars/Vocals) aggressively attacked his left handed Fender Stratocaster unleashing squeals of fuzz from his Big Muff distortion pedal. Rounding out their sound is Michael Regilio on his Gibson SG guitar, Rory Modica on drums and Guylaine Vivarat on bass. Some of the highlights of their set were "Down Threw", "Seabells" and the fiery closer "White Noise". I will be looking for their full length album when it comes out.

Light Pollution




After the fuzz storm of Useless Keys, the ambient textured synthesizer songs of Light Pollution struggled to grasp the Spaceland audience. If Light Pollution had opened prior to Useless Keys, the dynamics of their sound might have came across better. They did have their supporters as I ran into Martin Klingman of Gliss who came out to check out their set.

Lead singer James Cicero alternated between his guitar and a Korg MS2000b while unveiling tracks from their upcoming album Apparitions which is to be released on Carpark records. Even though the crowd was growing restless, Light Pollution quickly worked through their set. I would need to check them out again to form a better opinion.

A Place To Bury Strangers






Touring in support of their excellent album, Exploding Head and recently released EP I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart, A Place To Bury Strangers wrapped up their West Coast tour at Spaceland. When I caught APTBS at the El Rey, they had a new line up that included Dion Lunadon on bass. While I thought it would be difficult to replace Jonathan Smith's propulsive Gibson Thunderbird bass playing, Lunadon has found his place with a fierce attacking style via his Fender Mustang bass.

Minimal stage lighting and fog soon filled Spaceland disorienting your senses. While I wasn't feeling that well on this particular night, the torrent of noise that was unleashed magically improved my mood. "In Your Heart" was the equivalent of going from 0-60mph instantaneously with its bombardment of sound. The unrelenting drumming of Jay Weilmeister was impressive as his hands were a blur for "I Know I'll See You" which is performed much faster compared to the recorded version.

It was surprising to hear "Girlfriend" from their newly released EP and its sound aesthetic could have easily found a home on Exploding Head. The buzzsaw attack of "Ego Death" was pulverizing as Lunadon crushed the bass riff in between the blasts of noise from Ackermann who triggered the white noise on a modified wah pedal. A see saw guitar riff backed by a buzzy bass line fortified the structure of a new song "Leaving Tomorrow" which made me wish my camera had video.

"Exploding Head" was phenomenal watching Ackermann strum his Fender Jaguar while using the tremolo arm to give the song a watery feel. A severe amount of disorienting tremolo guitars kicked everyone's face in during "To Fix The Gash In Your Head". Ackermann crafted a miniature symphony of feedback as the intro to "Deadbeat" which transitions into a '60s spy movie car chase theme.

Once the seizure inducing strobe lights were triggered,everyone knew that it was time for their epic closer of "Ocean". The band went crazy destroying the stage as Lunadon hammered his bass onto some poor pedals on the ground while Ackermann punctured the bass drum with the headstock of his guitar. It was terrifying and exhilarating being so close to the destruction at the front of the stage. When lights turned back on, the band members had disappeared and a barrage of broken gear occupied a stage. Easily one of the top shows of the year.

A Place To Bury Strangers and The Big Pink at the El Rey Theater

The pairing of The Big Pink and A Place To Bury Strangers was not for those faint of ear. The audience collectively lost a tiny percentage of their hearing at the El Rey Theater. I severely lagged in posting these pictures but figured I would wait awhile to give everyone a reminder that they should get tickets to A Place To Bury Strangers at Spaceland this Saturday.

A Place To Bury Strangers





The Big Pink

A Place To Bury Strangers at the Echoplex

Check out my photos of A Place To Bury Strangers at the Echoplex over at Stereogum.

A Place To Bury Strangers at the Troubadour

My eardrums were still buzzing after two nights of My Bloody Valentine. I proceeded to test my hearing threshold by attending A Place To Bury Strangers at the Troubadour. A Place To Bury Strangers had just wrapped up their tour with the Dandy Warhols and are finishing their tour of the States before venturing out with MGMT in Europe.

In Waves






One of the my most anticipated new local releases has to be the In Waves album. I have been a big supporter of In Waves since I saw them in December of 2007 with A Place To Bury Strangers. You can pretty much relieve their entire set at the Troubadour by watching all the Youtube videos on their myspace page. "I Saw Them" has an ascending watery guitar line backed by Delano Duran's (Drums) cymbal crashing and Tim Gregorio's (Bass) steady bass line.

The sonic urgency of the "Careful Talk" contradicts with Jimmy Strange's (Vocals/Guitars) relaxed vocals but this manages to make the song that much more powerful. In Waves also played a new song to close the end of their set that had me completely sold. Tim used a Death By Audio tone saw to alter his bass tone in various parts of the song. It was easily the best set I have witnessed by In Waves.


Sian Alice Group






Sian Alice Group brought the experimental psychedelic vibe to the forefront with their assortment of instruments. 59.59 is their latest album on the Social Registry label. Sian Ahern (Vocals) added her wistful vocals to the lush instrumentation. I didn't catch any song titles from their set but I think I remembered them playing "Contours" with its carefully weaved keyboards and underlying tension. I need to check them out again to form a better opinion.

A Place To Bury Strangers






I wouldn't have traveled to Oklahoma, Houston and Dallas to see Nine Inch Nails if A Place To Bury Strangers wasn't the opening band. It was awesome to hear such expansive songs as "Ocean" blaring inside huge arenas. As much as I enjoyed the arena shows, I was looking forward to seeing them at the Troubadour because the sound is always mixed well.

My eardrums immediately started to throb with the pounding drums of "Gimme Acid". Oliver Ackermann (Guitars/Vocals) quickly dialed up his buzzsaw tone on his Fender Jaguar. My Bloody Valentine was loud but A Place To Bury Strangers were equally high on the decibel meter and they have one less guitar player. I intended to move around and get different angles for photos but couldn't leave as I found my self studying the various chords played by Oliver.

An intoxicating tremolo swirl of feedback launched "To Fix The Gash In Your Head" as the song was attacked with a punk like ferocity. The bass and drums are loud but Oliver's guitar slices through the mix as his vocals are purposely mixed slightly low to force you to concentrate on the lyrics. I was hoping that Tim from In Waves would come out to sing "My Weakness" but instead came out for "Don't Think Lover".

The demonic surf tones of "Deadbeat" switched between white noise feedback and howling guitars as it was anchored by bass and drum duo of Jono Mofo and Jspace. A new tune was debuted ferociously with Oliver attacking the strings at the bridge of his guitar to coax out some screaming metallic harmonics. "The Falling Sun" and "Ocean" winded down the aural audacities. Two My Bloody Valentine shows and A Place To Bury Strangers show has to go down as the loudest week ever reviewed. I would do it again if my ears would let me.


A Place To Bury Strangers Pedalboard