By Samuel Rubenfeld
It is but a rare occasion to see a band perform literally in its own backyard, but that is what A Place to Bury Strangers did on Wednesday night, performing its extreme “noise-gaze” in a packed room at their pad, called Death By Audio, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Front man Oliver Ackermann calls the place his home, and he shares it with five others in five different bands, including members of Dirty on Purpose. In the building, he also operates a business selling custom hand-built distortion pedals that he gives names such as Total Sonic Annihilation, also under the name Death By Audio. The room, which is about the size of a “great room,” (living room and den) fits about 100 people.
The band dubbed “the loudest band in New York,” is chillingly accurate: the noise was so intense that the walls and everything inside the room- including the crowd-shook with the vibration. And the legions of hipsters in attendance did not otherwise move a muscle.
The performance Wednesday night was recorded for a live vinyl-only LP to be released this spring by Important Records, and they performed their self-titled debut-merely a collection of recordings from sessions dating from 2003 through 2007-in order, front to back.
The sound can only be described by repeating the name of the custom pedal: total sonic annihilation. The guitars sound like Jesus and Mary Chain would if they used chainsaws for guitars, the bass throbs like an amputation without anesthesia, the drums sound either disturbingly mechanized or driven to oblivion, depending on the song. The vocals are a despondent Ian Curtis (Joy Division), but they serve as more melody than substance. But in the venue, the vocals could not be heard, at all.
It did not matter.
The record cannot replicate the live sound; no volume on any stereo unit could ever produce the violence screaming off the stage. Clearly, Ackermann must have a scarred past. Prior performances end when he gets so into the performance that he literally tears the strings from his guitar to get the right noise effect out of them.
He didn’t do it this time, though.
Openers Famous Amos and The Muggabears both have a member living at the place as well. Both bands put forth a sound reminiscent of A Place to Bury Strangers, but it is far more restrained. Famous Amos’ equipment kept failing on them, but they laughed it off and played well, its last song being its best. The Muggabears were more driving with their shoegaze sound, trying to sound more like Sonic Youth than Jesus and Mary Chain.
Playing at home definitely made breaking down and cleaning up really easy for the bands Wednesday night in Brooklyn.
A Place to Bury Strangers rocking out at their concert. (aplacetoburystrangers.com)