About a year ago, I went to see almost exactly this same bill at the MHOW: it was Holy Fuck's first headlining show at a venue of that size in New York, and A Place To Bury Strangers were on their way up. That show was my favorite concert of 2008, with a wonderful combination of blissed out, punishing noise rock and super energetic, man with machine dance music. There was also a good crowd that night, with lots of folks eager to get their groove on, which they did.

Fastforward to last night: after last year's smashing success, I've been looking forward to this show for months, and I wasn't dissapointed. A Place to Bury Strangers have now spent a good amount of time on the road, and their live act has become tighter and even more pummeling. It's a pretty rare band that makes their own effects pedals, and then uses them so expertly. Their wave of vicious, enveloping sound finds just the right balance between ear splitting sonic confrontation and trance-inducing atmospheric groove. This is all locked down by highly compressed machine gun style drums that you might mistake for a drum machine, if you didn't see a man behind the kit making it all happen. Naturally, their set is at volumes that are clearly not safe for you ears, but when it ended I was sad it didn't last longer. This band continues to get better, and to be honest, should be (and I imagine will be) headlining whenever they play in NYC.

Holy Fuck brought a good game, mixing in some new material with good success. If anything, their set was a little top heavy, with the second half not quite as strong as the first. But overall, their unique take on electronic music is still very danceable and entertaining.

What makes this bill so compelling to me is that both bands are at the front of the curve in terms of successfully taking very electronic, machine sounds and channeling them in ways that are still very human. APTBS's take is definitely darker and more mysterious than the HF's optimistic dance party, but both bands have impeccable taste in non-organic sounds. Whether it's treble saturated frequency and time shifting, or just well-formed mechanical tones imbued with rhythm, this bill had many aural pleasures on offer for people who are into uncommon noise.

Labels: A Place to Bury Strangers, Concert Reviews, Holy Fuck