JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates A Place to Bury Strangers frontman Oliver Ackermann’s 49th birthday.
Tag: Death By Audio
Led by Death by Audio founder and Dedstrange Records co-founder Oliver Ackermann, New York-based JOVM mainstays A Place To Bury Strangers — currently Ackermann (vocals, guitar), John Fedowitz (guitar) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums) — have long been fueled by Ackermann’s restless creativity and propensity to be surprising: Over the past close to two decades, A Place To Bury Strangers have delighted, astonished — and occasionally destroyed the eardrums of — their audience with a sound that combines elements of post-punk, noise rock, shoegaze, psychedelia and avant-garde music in rather unexpected ways. Their live show is often wildly unpredictable and often sees the band creating a a shamanistic experience that bathes listeners in glorious sound, crazed left turns, transcendent vibrations, real-time experiments, brilliant breakthroughs.
And as the founder of Death By Audio, the company behind signal-scrambling stomp boxes and visionary instrument effect pedals, Ackerman has exported that sense of excitement, surprise and invention to other artists, who plug their instruments into his company’s gear and attempt to blow minds with wild, new sounds and approaches.
With A Place To Bury Strangers’ latest lineup, the band may arguably be at their most courageous and accessibly melodic in their lengthy and acclaimed run. The new lineup has two releases under their belt, 2021’s Hologram EP and their sixth full-length album, 2022’s critically applauded See Through You, which they’ve supported with a seemingly indefatigable touring schedule.
Continuing their long-held reputation for restless creativity, the members of APTBS are releasing a four 7-inch vinyl record series, called The Sevens. The Sevens are a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks from See Through You. The special vinyl collection sees the band inviting listeners to dive deeper into their unique sonic universe to explore uncharted territories and hidden gems. “When looking back at the recordings that were done around the time of See Through You, there were a bunch of great tracks that just captured life back then and really had something incredible going on,” APTBS’ Oliver Ackermann says. “Even though they are a bit raw and a bit personal, I thought it would be a mistake if they didn’t come out. I thought it would be best to go back to my roots and put out a series of 7-inches the way A Place To Bury Strangers started. That strange weird format where the tracks each speak for themselves; no album context to muddy the water. These tracks are such a contrast to the way I am feeling now and the current songs we’ve been working on so slip back into this moment in time.”
Earlier this year, APTBS released the first installment of the series “It Is Time”/”Change Your God,” which featured “Change Your God,” a bit classic APTBS — a bombastic, over-the-top punk and shoegaze sonic explosion rooted in fuzz and feedback saturated power chords, pummeling drumming and propulsive bass lines paired with Ackerman’s reverb-drenched, seemingly detached yet yearning delivery within a grunge-like quieter, extremely loud-quieter song structures.
“The latest installment of the series “I Can Never Be As Great As You”/”Chasing Colors” pairs a relentless motorik-like groove with Ackerman’s punchy delivery and wailing bursts of explosive feedback. Much like APTBS’ growing catalog, “I Can Never Be As Great As You” pairs a relentless motorik-like groove with Ackerman’s punchy delivery and wailing bursts of explosive feedback. Much like APTBS’ growing catalog, “I Can Never Be As Great As You” is meant to be played eardrum shatteringly loud and enjoyed in a sweaty mosh pit.
The longtime JOVM mainstays are currently in touring Europe to support their singles series. They’ll be on a short Stateside tour that includes a May 31, 2024 stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out the tour dates below.
The Sevens European Union Tour Dates:
Tue. Apr. 9 – Milan, IT @ ARCI Bellezza &
Wed. Apr. 10 – Bologna, IT @ Coco Club &
Thu. Apr. 11 – Rome, IT @ Monk &
Fri. Apr. 12 – Palermo, IT @ Candelai *
Sat. Apr. 13 – Messina, IT @ Retronouveau †
Mon. Apr. 15 – Zurich CH @ Bogen F &
Tue. Apr. 16 – Bern, DH @ ISC Club *
Wed. Apr. 17 – Marseille, FR @ La Make &
Thu. Apr. 18 – Toulouse, FR @ Le Rex &
Fri. Apr. 19 – Barcelona, ES @ Barcelona Psych Fest [The Sevens Release Show]
Sat. Apr. 20 – Madrid, ES @ El Sol *&
Sun. Apr. 21 – San Sebastián, ES @ Dabadaba &
Tue. Apr. 23 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain ^
Wed. Apr. 24 – Lille, FR @ Le Grand Mix ^
Thu. Apr. 25 – Maastricht, NL @ Muziekgieterij ^
The Sevens US Release Shows:
May 29 – Providence, RI – Alchemy w/ Pons & Ski Club
May 30 – Boston, MA – Crystal Ballroom ^
May 31 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg ^
June 1 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts ^
^ With JJUUJJUU & SUUNS
* With Ceremony East Coast
& With Maquina (PT)
^ With Plattenbau (DE)
† With Patriarchy (US)
$ With ERRORR (DE)
New Video: GIFT Shares Hazy “Stuck In A Dream”
Brooklyn-based psych rock quintet and newest JOVM mainstays GIFT — TJ Freda, Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky and Cooper Naess — have an uncanny knack for crafting soundscapes that are simultaneously turbulent and gorgeous. As a band, they share the quest of the perfect sound rooted in harmony and radical openness during times of tumult.
As a band, their overall approach is rooted in a desire to live in the moment. And as a result, they’ve created a live show that sees them pushing their material in wildly improvisatory directions. And a result, the’ve been selling out shows in Brooklyn — mostly through word of mouth.
Dedstrange Records, a new label co-founded by A Place to Bury Strangers’ and Death by Audio’s Oliver Ackermann and Kepler Events‘ Steven Matrick signed the rising Brooklyn psych rockers earlier this year. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding the band, the Brooklyn psych outfit’s full-length debut Momentary Presence dropped today.
Inspired by Ram Dass’ 1971 spiritual guide and countercultural landmark Be Here Now, Momentary Presence is a meditation on working through the anxiety and self-doubt that we all, at some point or another, carry. Specifically conceived, written and recorded with the idea of a full-length album being a fully contained work of art, the songs on Momentary Presence reportedly tease something seismic coming around the corner, while featuring dense layered productions that feel and sound self-assured, complete, definitive and impermeable. This is rooted in the band’s belief that each moment has richness, complexity and singularity. And once it’s gone, it can’t be recaptured or repeated.
Thematically speaking, the album asks the listener several key questions: Can you truly be present? Can you open yourself up and appreciate life in its fullness — the ugliness and confusion, as well as the beauty and joy? The members of GIFT believe that the listener can. And their full-length debut is a chronicle of that chase, and a celebration of the eternal now.
I managed to write about three of the album’s singles in the lead-up to its release:
- “Gumball Garden,” a towering ripper centered around an expansive and densely layered arrangement featuring scorching guitar pyrotechnics, fuzzy power chords, glistening synth arpeggios, thunderous drumming and a relentless motorik groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Freda’s gentle cooing. Sonically, “Gumball Garden” brings Join the Dots-era TOY, Minami Deutsch, Kikagaku Moyo, JOVM mainstays No Swoon and others to mind.
- “Feather,” a slow-burning and contemplative song with painterly textures featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering, metronomic beats paired with Freda’s ethereal cooing, a soaring hook and a blazing guitar solo. While simultaneously evoking both a feather floating in the breeze, Autobahn-era Kraftwerk and The Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan, the song was written by the band’s TJ Freda the morning after waking from a lucid dream.
- “Share The Present,” a slick synthesis of Join the Dots-era Toy and The Horrors centered around glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless motorik groove paired with wiry bursts of guitar. The arrangement serves as an airy bed for TJ Freda’s breathily cooed, gentle affirmations. The song manages to present the album’s central theme of being present in the present moment — without attempting to look towards the future or dwell on the past.
“Stuck In A Dream,” Momentary Presence‘s fourth and latest single pairs Freda’s dreamy falsetto with gleaming, retro-futuristic synths, thrumming and fuzzy guitars, enormous hooks and a relentless motorik groove. Much like the previously released singles, “Stuck In A Dream” is a lysergic-induced dream that wraps the listener in warm, hazy cocoon.
“‘Stuck In A Dream’ is about being stuck in a loop,” says Freda. “The idea of being stuck in a dream, stuck in the idea of someone or something, and not being able to look at it from the outside, to reveal if it’s good or bad.”
Directed by the band’s TJ Freda, the accompanying video for “Stuck In A Dream” features hazy VHS colors and scan lines that fits the fuzzy psychedelia of the song, while seeking the eject button from the seemingly unending cycles of fast-forward, play and rewind.
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