A Place To Bury Strangers

Shoegaze is a strange beast - music which, no matter what band we're referring to, provides some strange fascination with its soothing dispersed ambience. "A Place To Bury Strangers" is a band which too obviously pays hommage to these lost days of melodic yet extreme noise. Several confusing releases (concerning the tracklists) and couple of albums, they proved a fascinating force - the one you're either familiar with or immediately dismissing the lot for the rip-off.

However, as much as they don't do much musically but follow specific patterns to their copycat extremes, A Place To Bury Strangers still manage to sustain a beautiful memory of one truly (and undeservedly) lost part of alternative rock history. Here comparisons are simply inevitable - but rewarding; their primary influence is undoubtedly The Jesus & Mary Chain - written all over APTBS's wall of noise and dreamy vocals (echoing 'Psychocandy'). But there are other pleasant reminders - The House of Love, Spiritualized, Sonic Boom, Ride and especially Spacemen 3. (Ok, My Bloody Valentine shoudn't be missed as well).

In trying to fill a horrific time gap between the late 80s and now, A Place To Buty Strangers - alongside other artists, like M83 - manage to deliver a smart, respectful set of replicas, insisting on timeless, nightmarish dreamlike quality of their patrons.