A Place To Bury Strangers - Strange Moon 12''EP

The "Strange Moon" EP by A Place to Bury Strangers is a collection of raw, distortion-filled noise-rock covers of songs by the band Dead Moon. Reviews praise the EP for its sonic similarity to the band's live sound, highlighting how they make each song their own and capturing a sense of their "no-holds-barred" live performance through its authentic, garage-rock feel. The EP is considered a great introduction to the band's sound, serving as a concise showcase of their noise-rock style.

Brooklyn noise-pop lifers A Place to Bury Strangers just released an entire album of newly recorded material for Record Store Day. Tomorrow, Dead Oceans are putting out Strange Moon, a collection of covers that features APTBS taking on songs by Oregon punk vets Dead Moon, including this one, "Don't Burn the Fires". APTBS' Dion Lunadon provided the following statement about his love for Dead Moon, as well as the inspiration for Strange Moon:

"I first saw Dead Moon perform around 1992. Dead Moon was my friends favorite band and soon to become one of mine. It was the first of many shows he booked for them and I was lucky enough to get to know and play along side Fred, Toody and Andrew. They played before a band and proceeded to usurp the room with their straight up, stripped back, raw honesty and unbelievably great songs. Since joining A Place To Bury Strangers, we haven't recorded a single cover, until now. I like that APTBS has never made carbon copy versions of covers and has always made each song their own.  When Oliver came up with the idea to do Strange Moon, it  sounded like such an exciting and interesting project. A Place To Bury Strangers doing Dead Moon? Hell yeah, lets do it!!" — Dion Lunadon, APTBS

Before writing this review, I had a doubt that more than a few reviewers never have: "Am I the right person to write this review?" Yes, because this EP of seven songs, released in April 2013, is entirely composed of covers of Dead Moon, historical proponents of a gritty & dirty garage punk that must undoubtedly be among the favorite bands of A Place to Bury Strangers. And I put my hands up, covering my head with ashes: punk is really not my thing, hence my pangs of conscience. But if punk, in general, continues to refuse my attention, the same cannot be said for the genre that A Place to Bury Strangers play. I hope you know what I mean: that "genre" in which they make a lot of noise and a melody composed of romantic songs or, especially in this case, great post-punk influences. Melody that gets buried under noise, waves of feedback, and distortions only to emerge sporadically.

Shoegaze in short. Or noise rock, noise pop, call it what you want; even raggamuffin, brostep, or power metal, the substance doesn't change. And this genre, though I cannot consider myself a deep connoisseur, I like very much. And I like the New Yorkers APtBS; I like them a lot, as we young people say. Once recommended by friends, freshly out of their concert with bleeding ears, it didn't take long for me to understand that they are undoubtedly, for lovers of such sounds, one of the best bands of recent years. I could even say that their "Worship" from last year and especially the excellent "Exploding Head" from 2009 are albums I would recommend to anyone navigating similar musical coordinates.

And I like this "Strange Moon," I like it a lot. The garage punk of Dead Moon is absorbed by APtBS with great skill, without denaturing the original compositions or the classic style of our New Yorkers. The result is twenty minutes of delightful acoustic daze that will not disappoint the discerning listener. And I don't think there's much to say this time either. I admit to having written an introduction longer than the actual review, if you can call it that. In truth, though, it would have sufficed to say "listen to this nasty & mean shoegaze record by one of the best bands of their kind, this time less sad post-punk than usual and more angry punks than usual". It's just that, not loving verbosity, I don't appreciate excessive succinctness either: I like it when you have to search a bit to find the essence of the discourse. Just like when you have to find the melody under so much noise.

Ripped to MP3

A1 - Don't Burn the Fires

A2 - The 99's

A3 - I'm Wise

B1 - Graveyard

B2 - Dead Moon Night

B3 - 54 40

B4 - Don't Look Back