A Place To Bury Strangers – “Straight”

Was it your new year’s resolution to ease off the “dad rock” in 2015 and embrace louder, more paint-peeling sounds? Then grab your earplugs, because A Place To Bury Strangers has a new album and tour coming. The New York City trio uses analog electronics and homemade guitar effects to turbocharge a bracing fusion of shoegaze, punk and garage that has earned them the status (unconfirmed at press time) of the city’s loudest band.

On “Straight,” the first single from the forthcoming album Transfixiation, A Place To Bury Strangers hones in with laser precision on a pair of clean, muscular riffs while alarming rumbles, squawks and squeals ricochet about. Connoisseurs of 90s post-punk outfits Six Finger Satellite and Brainiac will recognize the pleasures of this sonic assault. Oliver Ackermann’s deadpan vocals seek to assure listeners that this particular vehicle is under control, and at least over the song’s three-and-a-half minutes that seems to be the case. Of course, it’s in concert where all hell breaks loose, as audiences risk having their senses and minds blown to bits by A Place To Bury Strangers’ legendary attack.

Transfixiation will be the band’s fourth album, and it arrives at a period of transition for the group. Ackermann founded Death By Audio, a Williamsburg-based guitar pedal manufacturer whose workspace became the setting for the beloved Death By Audio DIY music venue. To much uproar, the venue closed last November, Vice Media having acquired the building; perhaps not coincidentally, A Place To Bury Strangers plan to roam North America and Europe on a three-month tour. Find a venue near you, and kiss your eardrums goodbye.

Transfixiation comes out February 17 on Dead Ocean Records.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS TOUR DATES:

02/17 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
02/18 – Philadelphia, PA – Black Box
02/19 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
02/20 – Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
02/21 – Asheville, NC – New Mountain Theatre
02/22 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
02/23 – Nashville, TN – The End
02/25 – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa
02/26 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s Downstairs
02/27 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada
02/28 – Austin, TX – Red 7
03/04 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Conservatory
03/06 – Albuquerque, NM – Sisters
03/07 – El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
03/09 – Tuscon, AZ – Hotel Congress
03/10 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
03/11 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
03/12 – Las Vegas, NV – Beauty Bar
03/13 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst Atrium
03/14 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
03/15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
03/17 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
03/18 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile
03/31 – Dublin, IE – Whelans
04/01 – Belfast, IE – Voodoo
04/02 – Glasgow, IE – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
04/03 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall
04/05 – Manchester, UK – Sound Control
04/06 – Nottingham, UK – The Bodega Social Club
04/07 – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
04/08 – Cardiff, UK – Clwb lfor Bach
04/09 – London, UK – Oslo
04/11 – Lille, FR – La Peniche
04/12 – Ris-Orangis, FR – Le Plan
04/13 – Paris, FR – Le Divan du Monde
04/14 – Lyon, FR – Le Marche Gare
04/16 – Zurich, CH – Viadukt – Bogen F
04/17 – Bologna, IT – Locomotiv
04/18 – Dudingen, CH – Cafe Bad Bonn
04/19 – Munich, DE – Strom
04/21 – Berlin, DE – Lido
04/22 – Cologne, DE – Underground
04/23 – Courtrai, BE – De Kreun
04/24 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg
04/25 – Groningen, NL – Vera
04/27 – Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
04/28 – Copenhagen, DK – BETA
04/29 – Malmo, SE – Babel
04/30 – Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
05/01 – Stockholm, SE – Debaser Strand
05/02 – Oslo, NO – John Dee
05/08 to 5/10 – Austin, TX – Austin Psych Fest