Live Review: A Place To Bury Strangers, Barfly, 29/11/2008

On an arctic night we walk into the Birmingham Barfly and quickly find that checking our jackets in the cloak room was a mistake. The concrete and metal downstairs bar is only slightly warmer than outside - a cool environment for one of the coolest bands around?

Canadian support act Ten Kens work hard for very little reward, before A Place To Bury Strangers arrive on the stage and kick off with Gimme Acid, the small crowd now pushed up against the front of the stage calmly nodding along to the howling guitar and pounding drums.

Fix The Gash In Your Head is just as menacing live as it is on record and the audience responds with pockets of the crowd jumping and dancing around the room. Between songs, one brave punter cries out for the band to play louder, APTBS answer the request with a swirl of feedback, screech of guitars and Don’t Think Lover turned up to 11.

APTBS are obviously influenced by My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus Mary Chain, and like these bands they are more than just noise merchants. Underneath the wall of sound there are lush pop songs, as evident on I Know I’ll See You which has the crowd singing and dancing along with glee.

By now the room has filled with smoke, guitarist Oliver Ackermann is lying on the ground tearing at his effects pedals and the sound, combined with the constant strobe effect, is oppressive. The noise morphs into Ocean, again the vocals are delivered low in the mix as the guitars scream louder and louder. The song and set ends with the band throwing themselves and their instruments around the stage.

New York's loudest band brought a little bit of noise to the Midlands tonight - my ears hurt but I would love to hear a little more.

Lights In the Sky: HD

You may have already seen snippets of the Nine Inch Nails Lights In The Sky tour as captured in cheap mobile phone videos, in stunning still images and behind the scenes. Now we recommend you check out this high definition video promo clip for the tour - Awesome.

Forget Twilight or Chinese Geography or 808s and Constipates or whatever else you may be wasting your time on...

- Reads the latest post on nin.com

Seems the band’s official website is aiming to gather up and catalogue all the NIN content on the web into the ultimate fan generated database.

Can’t wait to see what Aussie fans add when the band tours in February.

Solo Chip

Rubbed Out, the debut solo album from the spectacled Hot Chip front man Alexis Taylor, is very much an album of two halves. The first contains a beautiful collection of tender ballads while the second seems to be an odds and sods of unfinished half ideas.

Fireworks, Rubbed Out’s looping static filled opener, is followed by Plastic Man where Taylor spills his heart out, singing delicately with only a synth organ masking his frailties. Paul McCartney cover Coming Up is equally delicate, though this time the organ is replaced with a sparsely strummed electric guitar. The overall effect is totally different, showing the singer’s strengths rather than human weaknesses.

Baby and Girl are more upbeat groove driven pleas to lovers current and future, while I Thought This Was Ours is another slow love lost ballad.

I’m Not A Robber is a highlight and the closest Rubbed Out gets to the feeling of Taylor’s regular band.

Taylor has said that Rubbed Out was "tailored in places, planes, hotel rooms and at home". It is from Collector’s Item onwards that the disparity of recording environments is felt, nothing really stands out nor does it fit together.

On a whole Rubbed Out could have been released as a brilliant EP; rather, it is half a good album.

Placebo to make live comeback at 12th century temple

Placebo are scheduled to headline a historic concert at the Angkor Wat site in Cambodia, they hope the performance will raise awareness and increase prevention of Human Trafficking.

The MTV EXIT concert on December 7th will be the bands first show in over a year and their first with new drummer Steve Forrest.

Other acts on the bill include Duncan Sheik, Kate Miller-Heidke, and some of Cambodia’s biggest recording artists.

The MTV Exit campaign has been running for a number of years, notable artists to lend their support have been R.E.M. and Radiohead.

Radiohead’s In Rainbows tour: While there is life there is hope.

We all thought the chances of seeing Radiohead play In Rainbows in Australia had ended when the band played their last shows of the year in Tokyo.

But this week the band have started slow leaking dates for the In Rainbows 2009 tour while they are not particularly close to 'Our Land Girt By Sea', the South American dates do show that the band is still thinking of their worldwide fan base.

Cross your fingers, and watch this (dead air) space.

Folk Chip

Following their successful UK tour Hot Chip are teaming up with beardy folk legend Robert Wyatt for a new EP.

The release will consist of Wyatt’s reworking of three Hot Chip tracks: Made In The Dark, Whistle For Will and We're Looking For A Lot Of Love as well a new version of One Pure Thought as remixed by Geese.

The EP will be available on the band's website from December 15th and it will be free.

The Roots Love Your Family

If the rumours are to be believed US hip hop band The Roots are taking a break from touring to become the resident house band on US talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

In other The Roots/television news, this week the group appeared on children’s program Yo Gabba Gabba! they performed Lovely, Love My Family wearing nothing but smiles, sunshine, and primary colours (plus a little black just to keep up the cool image).

Those unfamiliar with Yo Gabba Gabba! might be surprised to hear that previous guests have included Datarock, Rhys Darby, The Shins, The Ting Tings, Jimmy Eat World, Hot Hot Heat and Mates of State. (more videos on fan site gabbafriends)

Early next year Bawley favourites MGMT are due to appear on the show dressed as space Vikings performing a song called Art Is Everywhere we will have to wait and see if it makes it into their live set when they tour Australia.

PS: If nothing else the internet was made for this