A Place to Bury Strangers, 'Exploding Head' (Mute)

Auteurs of distortion refurbish noisy void.

Led by effects-pedal guru Oliver Ackermann (the Edge is a customer), this Brooklyn trio further their rep for insane volume on their first proper studio album. "I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadows of Your Heart" is straight-to-the-head industrial rock, bull-rushing into a two-minute coda of pure squall and feedback that's not unlike having hot club soda poured in your ears.

SPIN Picks Siren Fest's Best Sets

Our staffers offer their favorite performances along the Coney Island boardwalk.
The Raveonettes' Sharin Foo

While Coney Island's distractions are many -- especially the ancient Cyclone rollercoaster, for which one SPIN editor made at least two detours -- there's always plenty of incentive to stay glued to the annual Siren Festival's dueling stages, and the 2009 installment was no exception. These four performances stood out as the best of this year's wild ride.

A Place to Bury Strangers Invade Portland

The Brooklyn noise-rock trio assault eyes and ears with extreme volume and dizzying light projections.
A Place To Bury Strangers / Photo by Josh Elliott

Like a menacing wave, Brooklyn noisemakers A Place to Bury Strangers washed into Portland's Doug Fir Lounge Saturday night and won over a small but devoted audience of goths and post-punkers with an impressive combination of mangled, industrial-grade sounds and visually arresting, black-and-white video clips projected against the club's backdrop.

Peter Gaston

Fave '07 AOTD Bands

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