A Place to Bury Strangers

For the past few years, A Place to Bury Strangers — New York's ambassadors of "total sonic annihilation," as the band says on its MySpace page — has garnered more and more critical praise. But unlike many of its peers, APTBS has tangible things to support this interweb hype: two well-received albums (including this year's aptly titled Exploding Head), constant tours in the States and Europe and a smoke-filled, strobe-light-laden and occasionally brain-rattling live show. Vocalist/guitarist Oliver Ackermann creates guitar-scapes that mimic the buzzing fury of exploding power tools — and when the rest of the band joins in, the result falls somewhere between the roar of an industrial-era factory and some kind of futuristic intergalactic space battle.