A Place to Bury Strangers – A Place to Bury Strangers (Killerpimp) 2007
Have you ever wondered what the Jesus and Mary Chain would have sounded like if they were crossed with the pomposity of Echo and the Bunnymen? Ever wondered what the Jesus and Mary Chain would have sounded like had they had Kevin Shields as their lead guitarist? In fact have you ever wondered what the Jesus and Mary Chain would sound like with synths or with a Cure (think Faith) fixation? Wonder no more. I give you A Place to Bury Strangers.
Look I realise that everything old is new again. We’ve had the whole post-punk rehash thing going on in recent years. 2007 saw the start of the -wave redux period and I suppose it was only a matter of time before some new band of hipsters found themselves a copy of Psychocandy and more importantly Barbed Wire Kisses. Some might suggest that the god awful Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had already been down that path but the two days I had their debut album before giving it ay to a friend were not enough to leave a lasting impression.
A Place to Bury Strangers, despite it’s (I hope) deliberate and obvious influences is not a bad record. It’s certainly not the best thing going around at the moment but it’s pretty good. I won’t be lining up for any more of their records for fear that after a pretty solid debut they may unleash their version of Stoned and Dethroned on me. I was always a huge Jesus and Mary Chain fan, and in to hear the feedback being used in the same fashion by a snotty bunch of kids 25 years after Psychocandy is not without it’s charm. In fact there is not one original idea on this record yet somehow I couldn’t care less.
I Know I’ll See You
Ducks Battle Satan 
August 7, 2008 at 10:20 pm
As someone who saw JAMC a few times in the early 90’s, I hear a lot of originality in APTBS. All of Ollie’s pedals are hand-crafted by him and he makes sounds technically impossible for anyone else to make (without the help of his effects line, Death By Audio). You really need to see them live to fully appreciate what they do.
There were some vinyl singles in the works via Vacancy Records prior to the Killer Pimp release. They took a while to release being vinyl and all and since each record jacket was hand-painted. Anyhow, I know you said you won’t be lining up for the next release, but maybe check out the prequel!
Thanks for the review!