Pitchfork

It wasn't the ideal setting to witness the arc welding feedback assault of Brooklyn trio A Place to Bury Strangers, but in the late-afternoon dusk, on an early-autumn Sunday evening, the amp-shattering Brooklyn-based dream-rockers brought the heat.

Playing to a typical cross-armed crowd at the Ludlow Street Festival on New York's Lower East Side, the band plowed through a quick set featuring tracks from their Pitchfork-adored self-titled debut LP. Despite getting off to a rocky start with "To Fix the Gash in Your Head", during which frontman Oliver Ackermann's percussive guitar effects failed to properly sync with drummer Jay Space, APTBS recovered gracefully, cranking up the volume in an attempt to live up to their self-imposed rep as the city's loudest band.

Apart from the band's blistering decibel levels and swoony dream-pop melodies, Ackermann himself is APTBS's most transfixing live element: Instantly shifting from sincere, close-eyed crooning to brutally thrashing and injuring his guitar, his passionate conviction notoriously converts skeptics.

Still, environment matters for a band like this, and the greasy pork scent wafting from street vendors, the DJ blasting hip-hop radio hits between sets, and the general lack of control that comes with any street fair setting-- let alone one showcasing eight bands in six hours-- left no doubt that the only way to experience A Place to Bury Strangers is in the shadowy confines of a controlled, closed space, where their flame-throwing maelstrom can incinerate with all the concentrated fury it achieves on record.

More photos, as well as APTBS' upcoming tour dates below.

A Place to Bury Strangers:

09-20 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
09-22 Fredericksburg, VA - Walls of Sound Festival
10-18 New York, NY - 200 Orchard (CMJ)
10-20 New York, NY - Glasslands (CMJ)