When performing live, A Place to Bury Strangers present themselves as a noise band with a dangerous infatuation with soul-shredding volume levels and spontaneity that leads to some enormously impressive moments. The band’s fifth album, Pinned, in some sense represents capturing some of that freedom in the context of their post-punk sound, while actually daring to decrease the walls of oppressive feedback that dominated so much of their aesthetic on prior outings.

Like: Bauhaus, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Black Angels, Godspeed You Black Emperor!

No detectable FCC’s

Play: 2, 6, 8

1.Never Coming Back (5:14) - Bauhaus inspired rhythms and increasingly layered vocals within anxious spaces.
2.Execution (2:10) - Clichéd mantras counterpoint pleasingly thunderous crashes and chirrups of treble.
3.There’s Only One of Us (3:17) - grunge, twee indie pop, and the sounds of an Old West saloon to great effect.
4.Situations Changes (5:08) - Crinkle vulnerably atop a reverb-heavy Cure bassline.
5.Too Tough to Kill (2:07) - spooky background vocals, predictably thrashy vibe.
6.Frustrated Operator (2:28) - Hellish buzz-saw guitar riffs & bass-lines that could be the soundtrack to a 1950s heist getaway scene.
7.Look Me in the Eye (1:51) - Torrential spouts of noise and joyful aural violence.
8.Was It Electric (3:46) - A romantic ode to an experience that exists in memory only.
9.I Know I’ve Done Bad Things (4:43) - Explosive mountains of feedback and sharp drum machines flutter between post-punk murmurs and searing pitched riffs.
10.Act Your Age (1:58) - Feels like The Cure’s mid-1980s output.
11.Attitude (2:28) - Hackneyed ideas of ‘rock n roll’ fantastic short and boisterous noisy.
12.Keep Moving On (3:07) - Energy from the cool, fast drumbeats, its clipped, goth vibe making for the perfect closer.