Transfixiation
"That's the most intense fear and feeling—when you go to a show and you're actually scared," says A Place To Bury Strangers frontman Oliver Ackermann, a co-founder of the soon-to-be-shuttered Death By Audio DIY space that's hosted its fair share of frantic, life-affirming shows. "Or you can palpably feel the danger in the music," adds bassist Dion Lunadon, "It's a gutter kinda vibe; everything about it is icky and evil and dangerous." The same could be said the band’s fourth album, 'Transfixiation'. Rather than fixate on the minute details like they may have done in the past, the group, rounded out by drummer Robi Gonzalez, trust their instincts and try to keep things as pure as possible. Music is much more exhilarating when it's unpredictable even on repeat plays, and this is very much an unpredictable record. Gonzalez makes his recording debut with the band here, and it’s obvious that he’s helped pushed the band’s recordings closer to the level of their infamous live shows. Considering how controlled the chaos feels at every turn, it's hard to imagine that 'Transfixiation' almost didn't happen. Having spent nearly two straight years on the road, the musicians figured they'd parlay that momentum into a new record as soon as they got settled back home. And while the self-produced sessions at Death By Audio led to some fantastic material, Ackermann hit a wall near the end of that initial month. "The way it was broken off was so intense," he says. "It got to be too much, where we—or at least I—almost had a meltdown or something. I felt like we had to stop, and I wasn't even sure if the album was going to get finished or if we were going to be friends again." Two months passed by with little communication between the three members. Ackermann pieced together the set: fresh compositions, songs that had already been recorded in Brooklyn, and the fruit of an earlier recording session with Serena Maneesh frontman Emil Nikolaisen in Norway. Thankfully, everything clicked. A Place to Bury Strangers became whole again, with a bond—onstage and off—that's arguably stronger than it's ever been. "The one thing we have in common is this fire when we're playing," adds Gonzalez. "I don't know; it's real intense." The well-oiled Lunadon-Gonzalez rhythm section has adapted to Ackermann's unique style of playing -- the pair has embraced the chain-linked effects (Ackermann has produced custom pedals for such major artists as Lou Reed, My Bloody Valentine, The Flaming Lips, and Nine Inch Nails) and minimized the drum fills. "It's not rocket science," says Lunadon, "but rock 'n' roll shouldn't be. You gotta keep it simple and rock it fucking hard."
A Place to Bury Strangers’ impressive longevity is due in large part to knowing their audience, and their fourth LP expertly caters to the indoor sunglasses crowd. As with all of their previous work, Transfixiation is full of noise, though it’s not necessarily noisy.
A Place To Bury Strangers has gotten a lot of mileage out of its reputation as one of the most soaringly loud bands in the American rock underground. That said, the New York trio has been known to overindulge in its chaotic noise rock whims. It’s easy to be awed by the band’s power, but its earliest work occasionally…
The Brooklyn trio shake off their reputation as mere noiseniks with an intelligent fourth full-length.
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‘Transfixiation’ demands a trance-like attention across its duration, but very little sticks once the ride is over.
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Frenzied wind and screeching subway trains: just a few of the sounds evoked by the shape-shifting cornucopia of noise Oliver Ackermann conjures on Transfixiation.
Brooklyn's A Place to Bury Strangers are a quintessentially DIY trio. Not only do they build most of their own gear — thanks to bandle...
A Place to Bury Strangers' noisy fuzz is its trademark. On the trio's fourth album, Transfixiation, this working noise-rock formula is not much changed.
For a band so obsessed with death, and its erotic possibilities, A Place to Bury Strangers sounds utterly alive on Transfixiation.